The organization seeking funds to restore the for-mer Ketchum home of acclaimed writer Ernest Hemingway has received a $20,000 donation.
Zions Bank has given The Nature Conservancy a $20,000 check to maintain operations of the Hemingway house and to catalogue its historical and cultural artifacts.
"Since 2005, Zions Bank has had a presence in the Wood River Valley, and we've been dedicated to the community and to preserving the arts and the history in the area," Wanda Allred, Wood River Valley branch manager, said in a news release. "Zions is proud to make this donation for the maintenance and restora-tion project in the Ernest Hemingway home."
The Nobel Prize-winning author lived in the circa 1953 home for eight months. He committed suicide there in 1961.
In 1986, Mary Hemingway, Ernest's widow, be-queathed to The Nature Conservancy the 13-acre prop-erty, which is located next to the Big Wood River on East Canyon Run Boulevard. The group, however, de-termined that the maintenance of the house was too costly and the possession of it too removed from their mission of establishing nature preserves.
TNC formed an alliance with the Idaho Hemingway House Foundation to transfer ownership of the building, while retaining the surrounding property as a na-ture preserve.
News of the foundation's desire to hold limited pub-lic tours of the home prompted protests from neighbors. Although the group said the tours would help pay for the home's upkeep, the idea was eventually scrapped in the face of a lawsuit over the matter. The foundation disbanded and The Nature Conservancy opted to maintain ownership of the home.
In September 2006, the conservancy held a private, $1,000-per-plate dinner to help raise funds for its up-keep.
Last year, the conservancy spent many thousands of dollars repairing the electrical system, installing a new water heater, constructing a patio and outside stair-way and repainting the house's exterior.
Preserve caretaker Taylor Pasley said last fall that an inventory of the home's contents was long overdue.
Zions Bank?s Wood River Valley branch manager Wanda All-red, left, presents a grant award to Laura Hubbard, The Nature Conservancy?s Idaho state director, before a crowd at The Nature Conservancy offices in Ketchum Jan. 9. Photo courtesy Zions Bank.
