Historic Marker number one is located at 410 Caroline Street, between Duval and Whitehead Streets, in the Key West Historic District.

This house was built in 1834 by Captain George Carey, an Englishman who ran a seaport bar and wholesale liquor business. The original house consisted of two rooms with a cookhouse located at the rear of the property and is likely the second oldest building in Key West. In 1844 Captain Carey married a woman from Germany who was rescued along with her four sisters from a shipwreck off the coast of Key West. He enlarged the house to its current size. The sisters all married men in Key West and the shipwreck became known as the Wreck of the German Brides.

In 1934 the house was restored by Jesse Porter, a fifth-generation Key Wester. Miss Jesse, as she was known to her friends, lived in the house from 1934 until her death in 1979. Her home became the gathering place for many of Key West's famous visitors and residents, including Gloria Swanson, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Ernest and Pauline Hemingway, John Dos Passos, and Wallace Stevens.

A small single story cottage is located to the right of the house, opening onto the back yard. It is named for the poet Robert Frost who spent sixteen winters as a guest of Miss Jesse.

Jesse Porter was instrumental in saving the historic structures of Key West and creating our historic district.

The Oldest House in Key West is located around the corner at 322 Duval Street.

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