Literary Site: Mark Twain House and Museum - Hartford, CT

Mark Twain House and Museum

Hartford, CT

GPS: N41° 46.018; W072° 42.070

Short Description: 

The Mark Twain House and Museum is located at 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT.
Location: Connecticut, United States

Long Description:

Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens who was born in Florida, MO on November 30, 1835. Early in life his family moved to Hannibal, MO on the Mississippi River. His experiences with the people of the river inspired his most famous characters and novels - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Samuel and Olivia "Livy" Clemens were married in 1870 and moved to Hartford in 1871. They then purchased land on Farmington Avenue and in 1873 they commissioned New York architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design their house. The three story house is 11‚500 square feet and has 25 rooms. When built in 1874 it was lit by gaslight, had seven bathrooms with hot and cold running water and flush toilets, and a shower. Cost of construction was between $40,000 to $45,000.

Mark Twain lived in this Gothic mansion in Hartford, CT from 1874 until 1891. During the seventeen years that he lived in the Hartford home, Mark Twain completed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)., The Prince and the Pauper (1881), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889).