Phones:
800-352-4414
305-296-8132
Fax:
305-296-2093
Things to see
and do in
Key West
Last Updated
06/28/2008
The Knowles House Inn. A Historic Key West Bed and Breakfast Accommodation
The Knowles Family History. From Eleuthera to Key West Florida.
The branch of the Knowles
family of Key West emigrated from the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas, where
it is believed that they engaged in farming and, possibly, fishing. Family
tradition maintains that the Knowles' had previously lived in the American
colonies in the 18th century, but remained loyal to Britain during the American
Revolution and were forced to relocate to the Bahamas, where they received land
grants from the British government as compensation for their loyalty to the
crown, when their lands in America were confiscated.
As the agricultural economy of the Bahamas declined in the early 19th century,
many Bahamians sought new opportunities in other parts of the Caribbean. Key
West was an attractive destination because of the island's lucrative maritime
trade, fishing and sponging and growing cigar manufacturing industry. This
promise of a better way of life persuaded some members the Knowles family to
leave Rock Sound on Eleuthera and move to Key West where they knew they could
comfortably fit into the established community of other transplanted Bahamians
living in Key West at the time. The early Knowles' worked in fishing, sponging
and the cigar industry. By the later nineteenth century, David Knowles and his
family were residing at Knowles House. David appears to have been primarily a
sponge fisherman and his house looked out across the open water that lapped up
to the opposite side of Eaton Street. In the later 1880's, the shallows across
the road were filled and the present row of Victorian houses were built in the
1890s, depriving the Knowles family of its water view. David and his wife Rosa
raised their seven children in Knowles House. In 1909 David died leaving his
widow alone to raise their younger their children in the family homestead.
For many years Rosa lived here with her youngest child, Benjamin Rupert Knowles,
who had been born in the house in 1896. Known as Rupert, this son engaged in a
wholesale business dealing in tropical fruit. In 1928 he met and married a young
Swiss girl, Rosalie Weisser, known as Nancy. She was working as a nanny for a
wealthy Miami family at the time they met at the Casa Marina Hotel in Key West.
After their marriage, they continued living at Knowles House, looking after
Rupert's aging mother, until her death in 1929. Rupert and Nancy had 3 children,
Gene, Elizabeth Rose and Joan, all of whom were born in the house. During the
Great Depression, Rupert's tropical fruit business failed and the family
experienced hard times as economic conditions in Key West worsened. Just when
things looked bleakest, Rupert won the equivalent of $10,000 in the Cuban
National Lottery in 1935. This economic boon enabled him to start a restaurant
on Caroline Street near the bustling seaport. He also used some of the money to
enlarge the family homestead, which had seen little change since its
construction. The result transformed Knowles House to its present appearance and
provided much needed space for his children. Although 1935 brought good fortune
to Rupert's family, it also brought calamity to the Florida Keys in the form of
the disastrous Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. Although thousands of people died in
the middle and upper keys, Key West was spared the worst of the storm, only
experiencing torrential rains. Unfortunately, the storm coincided with the
renovation of Knowles House at a time when the roof had been torn off to add the
second story. The children remember their mother Nancy sweeping the rain water
out the front door as it cascaded like a water fall down the stairs. In spite of
this setback, the remodeling of the house was successfully completed and the
family enjoyed many happy years in the old homestead.
As Rupert and Nancy's children grew up and married, they all left Key West,
settling in other parts of the country. Rupert died in 1961. Nancy Knowles lived
on in the family house alone until her death in 1983. After their mother's
death, the children sold the house out of the family. After several intervening
owners, each of whom made improvements to the property, the present owners, Les
Vollmert and Paul Masse bought it in December of 1996. After further
improvements and enlargements, they have continued to operate it as the Knowles
House Bed and Breakfast Inn located in Key West Florida.
Les and Paul
Knowles House
(800) 352-4414 (Toll free in the USA only)
(305)296-8132
http://knowleshouse.com
A Key West Bed and Breakfast