Since my horse show schedule has somewhat taken over my vacation travel, I try to make the most of it and look for interesting stops on my road trips across the USA. From Dallas to Chicago, I took a slight detour to Hannibal, Missouri to visit The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.
Mark Twain was by far my favorite author in school. In fact, I basically hated reading and his books like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may have been the only ones I ever finished during the school year! I liked his writing so much, that I took an entire class in college dedicated to his works.
So to me, stopping to visit Twain’s boyhood home was a very exciting endeavor. I wished I had made more time to wander Hannibal’s charming downtown too. But with the black sky and ominous storm approaching, I only took a few hours to check out my favorite author’s childhood abode.
Historic Homes
I probably should have done a little more research, but upon arriving, I found out The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum was a collection of homes and buildings along Hannibal’s Main Street and I was a little confused about which ticket to purchase. More on this later.
Most of the historic buildings are clustered around the corner of Main Street and Hill Street. Such buildings include Mark Twain’s home as well as homes of his childhood friends that inspired his stories. Two such houses are the Huckleberry Finn House and the Becky Thatcher House. The homes varied in size and stature based on how affluent the families were in the late 1800’s. Of course, in Twain’s stories, Huck was poor while Becky was well to do. Other buildings in the complex include Grant’s Drug Store, JM Clemens Justice of the Peace Office, and the Interpretive Center.
The Museum Gallery
In addition to the historic buildings, a few blocks down the street stands the Museum Gallery. I actually stumbled across the museum first and initially only bought a ticket to it instead of buying a ticket for the historic campus. If you only have the time or budget for one ticket, I recommend only purchasing the ticket for the interpretive center and houses over the museum.
While the museum is nice, the downstairs exhibits which cater more toward children were a bit underwhelming to me. Upstairs, however, features some of Mark Twain’s personal effects, and a Norman Rockwell Gallery of illustrations that were commissioned of Twain’s work in 1935 by Heritage Press. Historians and art lovers would enjoy this section.
As a Mark Twain enthusiast, I liked the historic houses better as I pictured he and his friends playing in the small town and coming up with all kinds of shananigans. I am glad I took the detour to Hannibal and wish I had allowed for more than a two hour stop. It would have been fun to take a riverboat cruise and explore some nearby caves too.
Who Is Mark Twain?
Though I feel like most Americans know of Mark Twain, I suppose I should provide a short biography as with today’s environment, he might not be as well known worldwide, despite having lived abroad during his lifetime.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Twain grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River. He was an American writer, humorist and essayist. Much of his material came from his life in Hannibal and from his river pilot days on the Mississippi.
His novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brought him from humble beginnings to be known as the father of American literature. While I find his famous novels to be adventurous and entertaining, now his historic, satiric, and witty writings are considered controversial by some due to the inclusion of racial slurs and stereotypes.
Though he is best known for the two above mentioned novels, he was a prolific writer and highly sought after speaker praised by critics and peers who ranged from presidents, artists, industrialists and royalty.
Twain also tried his hand at mining in the west and made many poor investments in science and technology which unfortunately led him to bankruptcy. He returned to writing, paid his debts, and spent his later years in Connecticut and New York.
He outlived his wife and some of his children, but ultimately succumbed to a heart attack in 1910. His funeral was held at the Brick Presbyterian Church and he is buried in his wife’s family plot at Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmire, New York.
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