The location of Hemingway's Idaho House in Ketchum is a big secret, but we know where it is!

On our road trip throughout the western U.S., we stopped by Ketchum, Idaho because that's where Papa Hemingway lived the last years of his life and where he died and is buried. We weren't sure what we'd find, but what we did find was that Ketchum is essentially Sun Valley. It's full of "beautiful people," and those people don't really appreciate fans of Hemingway crowding up their ski resort. In fact, no one will tell you where his house is located.

IT'S A BIG SECRET!!

The house sits behind a luxury housing addition out on the road to the slopes and the residents do not want tourists driving through to see the house. The access road is on private property. During Ernest and his widow Mary's lifetimes, the owners allowed them access, but they've revoked it for the public. They want the foundation and the library who administer the house to move it. But the location is so important to understanding Hemingway's life at this time. It faces the Big Wood River and the back, where Hemingway wrote, looks out on a mountain. THAT's WHAT WE NEED TO SEE!!!

Anyway, so there we were in Ketchum, Idaho. We'd driven a long way to see this.  It's a long way from anywhere!

We visited his grave site. We walked down through town in a light rain.  You know, it's named Sun Valley because it hardly ever rains there, but we hit it on a rainy day.

When you arrive at the Ketchum Cemetery,  look out, slightly to your left and back a little way. His grave, and Mary's and Jack's are all under two pine trees. We were not the only ones who visited that day, and mementos had been left on his grave, including a book of his stories in Russian.

After visiting the grave, we wanted to see his house, at least the outside. We knew we couldn't tour it. First, we walked up the hill to the Ketchum Library, but they would not tell us where it was. 

I think that they couldn't. They probably would have liked to do so. They did direct us to his memorial, so we drove out there.  The story goes that some of his friends erected this memorial to him here, since the house is not available. It's in a beautiful area. He probably enjoyed fishing and hunting near here.

We thought maybe his house was in the area, so we walked down the path toward the water. There's a golf course down there, and several houses on the hill beyond.

The walk down the hill was interesting. We heard a guns firing in the distance and saw a BIG animal bone in the grass. Must have been an elk leg or something. And we could see grass pushed down in one area where a large animal had been lying.

The trail at the bottom was obviously used for running. We met one woman and asked her if Hemingway's house was near and she said, no, she thought it was out toward the slopes. I think she mentioned Canyon Run. AHA!!  So we started searching Google and Google maps.  With all the clues we'd gathered, we figured out where the house is.

We drove out as close to the house as we could get, through a housing addition. We drove through twice and recorded it the second time. That time, we were also tailed by the police.  We didn't feel very welcome. 

In fact, we felt pretty pissed off at the Beautiful People's attitude toward Hemingway. So we are sharing what we discovered with you. The following video shows where the house is on maps and with a video of us driving there. 

So if you want to get as close to you can to the house, we've given you what you need to do to find it.  We also point out our evidence that it is, indeed his house up there.  

So until it's opened for the public, that's as close as we can get. We've been to his house in Key West. Next is his home in CUBA!!