A couple of Decembers ago, my flight was delayed out of the Charlotte airport. After having a little nosh, I found myself, tea in hand, lost in the airport bookshop. Now I am a great fan of Sherlock Holmes, and on this particular occasion, I had not enjoyed a terribly long browse before coming across a brand new Sherlock spin, co-starring Henry James. Done, sold. Holmes and James carried me through the delay, on to Dallas, and from Dallas back to Boston. As I was traveling, so were Sherlock and Henry- from Paris to Washington DC, to Chicago, and along the way they made a whimsical little stop in Hartford, CT to visit the inimitable Samuel Clemens. Dan Simmons (author of The Fifth Heart*) described Clemens’ Connecticut home in such rich and enticing detail that I was immediately inspired to see if this was indeed a real place that I could perhaps visit. Google obligingly answered that question in the affirmative, and, after eagerly perusing the Mark Twain Home website, I added the house to my list of places to see.
And then I forgot about it. And then remembered it again. And then forgot. And as things tend to go, two years went by and I failed to rent a car and drive down to CT to see Mark Twain’s home. Then, last winer, my mother started talking of making what has become an annual summer trip north, and we discussed taking a day trip down to Hartford. When I brought up this idea to a friend, she said that we simply must add Hyde Park to the list since it was not that much further a drive, and thus is the plan for a road trip born.
By the time we made it down to Hartford in late July, I will admit that Hyde Park had become the central focus of the trip (as I had spent the year to that point encamped in a fortress of books on FDR, Churchill and other aspects of WWII), but that did not make our stop at Clemens’ house any less entrancing.
It is a livable house, full of nooks and treasures, whimsical wallpapers and trinkets. And lots of books. We took the regular tour through, as we were only stopping for the afternoon, but they offer tours given by multiple characters who inhabited the Clemens’ life in Hartford. Also Clue murder mystery house tours (I also dearly adore Clue). I’ll probably need to make an overnight trip sometime to catch some of those.
The home’s website does feature a truly remarkable 3D tour (or VR tour) of the entire home. I invite and strongly encourage you to take a wander through!
With the various tour options available, and the on-site museum, and the gift shop, you could easily make at least a half-day out of your visit to the Mark Twain House. And spending a few hours at any place, naturally you’ll want to think of food. They do have a cafe upstairs in the museum, but it is not an inspiring one. A very short walk down Farmington Avenue to Sisson Ave. though, you will find the Half Door Pub, which was just the ticket for us. Good pub grub and a Guinness.
Once you are fed and watered, you’ll want to head back to the house (and not just because your car is there). Just across the yard from the Mark Twain House is The Harriet Beecher Stowe House. I will admit here that I have never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and did not know much about its author before our visit here. But Stowe’s home was still well worth the hour we spent there. Like most house museums, they have rooms set as they would have looked when the homes were still homes, but the Stowe house very creatively incorporated artifact displays, audio prompts, and discussion into their house tour. My mom and I did happen to be the only two on our tour, but I have no doubt with a larger group the discussion portions would have been intriguing. So if you are visiting the Mark Twain House in Hartford, pay a visit to the Stowe House while you’re there. Your ticket to one will get you a discount on the other!
As we were only stopping through for the afternoon, I, sadly have no other creative suggestions for a trip to Hartford. I am, though, very glad to have had the chance to explore these two houses, and would definitely return for some of the Twain House’s other programming.
From Hartford, we hopped back on the road and headed down into the Hudson Valley where we were to find another marvelous B&B, some truly delectable food, and more excellent education courtesy of the National Park Service. Stay tuned!
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Recommended Reading
The Fifth Heart: A Novel
I Digress 