For one night this fall, fans of Ernest Hemingway will have a rare chance to visit the writer’s last home — the Ketchum, Idaho, house that he bought in 1959, and where he shot himself in 1961 — for a price. The Nature Conservancy, which has owned the house and surrounding 14 acres since Hemingway’s widow, Mary, willed it to the organization, needs money for the house’s preservation. On September 30, 40 guests will dine in the house, which is normally closed to the public, for $1,000 a plate.

Mrs. Hemingway left a $100,000 endowment for upkeep, but a spokesman for the conservancy’s Idaho Chapter, Matt Miller, said that the income it generated isn’t sufficient to maintain the house, which he said costs as much as $50,000 annually.”We’ve had problems with lights, with plumbing,” Mr. Miller said. “When they aren’t used regularly, it’s hard on those systems.”

Marty Peterson, a Hemingway scholar at the University of Idaho, added that the drastic local temperature changes take a toll.”There is four feet of snow in winter; yesterday, it was 95 degrees up there,” he said “When you have temperature changes like that, paint chips and falls off.”

The house has been something of a burden for the Nature Conservancy.Last year, they considered turning it over to a foundation that would transform it into a writer’s retreat and lead limited public tours. But wealthy neighbors protested, so the conservancy dropped the plan. “We decided that the best future at this point is for us to keep the house, manage the nature preserve, and see through the necessary renovations and upkeep,” Mr. Miller said.

The house remains largely as it was when Hemingway died.There are game trophies on the walls from his African safaris, and much of the furniture is original. “There’s a lot of Hemingway sitting there,” Mr. Peterson said.

It is possible to get in the house without paying $1,000, if you’re a scholar or journalist and can demonstrate that seeing the house is crucial to your story, Mr. Miller said.