Oldest House Museum and Tom Majors Garden

The Oldest House Museum and Tom Majors Garden is a small historic-house museum at 322 Duval Street in Key West. The house dates to about 1829 and is known as South Florida's oldest surviving residence; a self-guided visit pairs furnished rooms and maritime displays with the garden behind. Keep it for a focused piece of Key West history and architecture, not a sprawling museum day.

The Captain's Room holds maritime artifacts, original maps and navigational charts. They make Key West's wrecking trade easier to picture: this was a working waterfront where knowing the reefs could mean saving a cargo and a ship.

Ship's carpenter Richard Cussans built the house around 1829. Its mortise-and-tenon joinery, horizontal wallboards and ventilation hatches called scuttles are part of the construction credited with helping it endure hurricanes, fire and salt air. It first stood on Whitehead Street and moved to this Duval Street site as a natural saltwater pond was filled in; accounts disagree on the move date, so the construction date is the firmer story.

Captain Francis Watlington and his family were associated with the house from 1840. He worked as a pilot, port warden and wrecker, then served as a naval captain during the Civil War. The charts and maritime objects in the Captain's Room make more sense when you know how much of his life depended on navigating Key West's waters.

The Tom Majors Garden sits behind the house, with native and tropical plants, shade and benches. Its detached cookhouse is described as Key West's oldest surviving cookhouse. The garden is also a quieter pause off busy Duval Street. For a photo of the whole property, frame the house and cookhouse through the garden foliage instead of taking only the street-front facade.

The included mobile tour is self-guided, and tickets are sold in the museum store beside the house. Nearby parking is limited metered street parking rather than a museum lot. An access ramp reaches the house, but published visitor information does not settle access to the upper floor or garden paths; check ahead if either affects your plans. There is no regular café or meal service at the museum, so plan to eat elsewhere.