Mark Twain's happiest days - and his next door neighbour

In the second half of the nineteenth century the city known for having the highest per capita income in the United States was not New York, Philadelphia or Chicago, but Hartford, capitol of Connecticut. Its money came from insurance, banking, railroads (five of which converged on it) and manufacturing - including the Colt gun company. You can still see evidence of the wealth in the rows of jaw-droppingly massive houses that almost put Beverly Hills to shame. 

The 'highest income per capita' line was well-known but may not have been strictly true. A reporter with an interest in the city's prosperity originated the claim in 1876 in a cover story for Scribner's magazine, without any reliable figures to back it. 

True or only almost true, Hartford was a prosperous place in 1874 when Mark Twain - or, by his real name, Sam Clemens - and his wife Olivia Langdon commissioned and built the house which is today restored to how it was during their 17 year tenure. It was probably the happiest time of his life, and certainly the most productive.  

The family had moved to Hartford from Buffalo, to be near his publisher. They had rented for three years in the town before building their 'American high gothic' style house which combined influences of her wealthy background (her father made a fortune in coal mining) with his love of modern technology - such as central heating, tubes through which to summon servants and an early, unreliable telephone.

Today's tours of The Mark Twain House emphasise their joyful family life - this was where the couple's three surviving daughters were born - without glossing over the many difficulties, both personal and financial, that Twain faced. 

We can see evidence of their wealth in the massive fireplace bought and shipped from Scotland and the heavy carved bed from Italy, bought for $4000, complete with removable angels that the girls enjoyed playing with as dolls.

At the top of the house is Twain's work, smoking and billiard room, with two large balconies. He would have had a view down to the river at the bottom of a small hill. Today the river has been diverted underground, running beneath the car park that we tourists can use. 

At the far end of the room is what looks like Twain's writing desk. But our guide explained that Twain was so easily distracted that he forced himself to use a little table in the corner facing the wall. Here he wrote Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court amongst other works. 

In the evening, his storytelling skills were honed, we were told, by his daughters. They insisted on him inventing a bedtime story which involved a sequence of objects on the mantelpiece above the library fireplace (see below). Twain's challenge was to incorporate each object into the story in the correct order from right to left. Any repetition meant he had to restart and try again.

Picture by Mark Twain House

The construction of the Clemens house, on empty land, must have been something of a nuisance to their next door neighbour, Harriet Beecher Stowe, twenty five years older than him and also recently moved in to her house. The fact that two of America's literary giants - and the two most commercially successful - lived within shouting distance of each other was a pure coincidence: they had independently chosen this part of prosperous Hartford to put down roots. 

Relations between the two households were cordial enough. One biographer claims that the conservatory off the library in the Twain house (on the far right of the above picture) was "of a pattern which his friend and neighbour, Harriet Beecher Stowe, had popularised in the district".

More directly, Twain's friend Moncure Daniel Conway describes an evening when he was visiting the Clemenses and they practically invaded the Stowes' house - apparently to everyone's satisfaction:

"Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe was residing in Hartford , and one evening - perhaps her birthday - some young people made up a group of “Jarley Wax Works” for her amusement. Mark agreed to be the showman, and we called on her under the pretext of my desire to have a talk with her. The old lady was in fine spirits, and glad to hear from me about the Argylls and other English friends, when she was startled by the invasion of costumed figures. Mark, well advised concerning each character he was to introduce, began with a knight in full armour, saying as if aside, “Bring on that tin-shop,” then proceeded with a romance of this knight's gallant achievements. It was all charming , and I never forget the evident affection for Mark felt by his neighbours.”
 

Those kind of jolly japes didn't last. Twain made a disastrous investment in a typesetting business, as a result of which he and his wife and one of their daughters travelled to Europe where he could earn money lecturing and they could live more cheaply. In 1896, while they were away, their daughter Susy died of spinal meningitis at the house. They never wanted to live there again and sold it in 1903.

You can go on a well-organised tour of the house for about 45 minutes and watch a nice 20-minute film by Ken Burns about the whole of Twain's life in the visitor centre. There is a degree of officiousness in online communications about the tour (see below), but our guide Ella was patient and well-informed and the overall experience was very satisfactory.  

You have 2 tickets for Mark Twain House Tour (General Tour, Daily) on 08/20/2022 at 02:30PM.

Your tour of the house steps off at 02:30PM on 08/20/2022. Please be here at least 10 minutes before that start time. Leave enough time for traffic. If you are early you can spend the time watching the film, browsing our exhibits, or museum store.   

**IF YOUR ETICKETS SAY "CT SUMMER ADULT" OR "CT SUMMER CHILD" and you are not here 10 minutes before start time we will void your tickets and sell them to people who are waiting.** 

Whoever wrote the above putting the fear of God into visitors, must have been having a bad day. Everyone we met who was working at the house was pleasant and relaxed. Fear not!