From Authors to Films, Idaho is Host to Inspiration
Idaho is a refuge for the rich and famous, most notably Ernest Hemingway. The acclaimed Nobel Prize-winning author frequented Sun Valley and Ketchum for 20 years before buying his Ketchum home in 1959.
For a taste of Hemingway’s Idaho experience, visit the Sawtooth Club for a craft cocktail and stop by the Sun Valley Lodge for the atmosphere that fueled his writing and editing of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Pay your respects at Hemingway’s grave at the Ketchum Cemetery.
Wondering which season is best to visit? Take a page from Hemingway himself and travel in autumn. As the Hemingway Memorial inscription reads, “Best of all he loved the fall, the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods. Leaves floating on the trout streams and above the hills.”
Movie lovers may recognize the charming, historic town of Wallace as the setting of the 1997 natural disaster film “Dante’s Peak.” The small-town USA main street and tree-lined mountains provided an idyllic backdrop for the movie about the eruption of a dormant volcano. When visiting Wallace, be sure to take a guided silver mine tour and see the city’s “Center of the Universe” declaration – proudly displayed on a manhole cover downtown.

Ernest Hemingway’s grave at Ketchum Cemetery in Idaho. Photo courtesy of Visit Idaho
For more information on Idaho, visit VisitIdaho.org.