Mark Twain
A century after his death, Mark Twain is still one of the most well known and popular American writers. The centennial of his death (April 21, 1910) will be commemorated this week and you're likely to find Mark Twain events held throughout the year, as 2010 also marks the 175th anniversary of his birth (November 30, 1835) and the 125th year since the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
If you'd like to celebrate Twain's life or learn more about one of the country's most beloved authors, two of the best places to do so are in Hannibal, Missouri, which was Twain's boyhood home, or Hartford, Connecticut, where he lived for 17 years and penned some of his most famous books.
Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri
The boy Samuel L. Clemens grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri, where he lived from the time he was four-years-old until he was 17. Mark Twain was a pen name that Clemens took when he began writing. The town of Hannibal figures prominently in many of Twain's most popular works, and the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are based at least loosely on Twain's own boyhood escapades.
In Hannibal, you can spend several hours touring the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. The facility includes not only the author's actual boyhood home, but also the Becky Thatcher House, Huckleberry Finn House, Grant's Drug Store, and Clemens Law Office, all of which were real life homes and workplaces for some of the characters in Twain's books. After that, you can stroll the Mississippi River, which had such a profound influence on Twain, stop at the Twain statue in Riverview Park, or enjoy a cruise on the Mark Twain Riverboat. You can also visit the Mark Twain Cave Complex, another popular site that shows up in his writings.
Mark Twain in Hartford, Connecticut
Although Twain spent his childhood in Missouri, he lived in a 19-room manor in Hartford from 1874 to 1891. It was here that he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi and other works. Today, the Mark Twain House and Museum offers house tours, exhibitions about Twain's life and work, and frequent lectures and performances. There is currently a yearlong exhibition called Legacy, which explores the public perception of Twain and the legacy of his writings. It includes numerous historic items from the author's life, as well as quotations from several dozen celebrities both past and present about Twain's influence on American literature.
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Photo credit: Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
Comments
Great story about Twain. I write a blog called twaintoday.com which celebrates his work and am also @twaintoday on twitter. There are still millions who appreciate him a 100 years later.
You can't go wrong with an icon like Mark Twain.
I'm such a fan of Twain. I enjoyed a visit to Hannibal a few years ago.
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