Mark Twain Slept Here

Literary Tourism: A Plethora of Places Claim Samuel Clemens

As an adult, far removed from the trials of middle school and any controversies about its reading lists, then or now, I don’t think much about Mark Twain, formerly known as Samuel Clemens, commonly known as the uber Americana author, creator of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, a progressive-ish fellow from Hannibal, Mo. who started out as a travel writer, took a detour as a riverboat captain, and apparently did a short-lived and seemingly half-baked stint as, of all things, a member of a Confederate militia.

Mark Twain is an influencer before that word becomes a title.

What do I really know about Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens? What I’ve learned in film and also at Disney—he’s a wild-haired fellow in a white suit, maybe a little pompous, maybe a master marketer for his day and time, an adapter to media—much photographed, much publicized, much talked about, many book sales.

Mark Twain Slept Where? Welcome to Elmira, N.Y.

So I am minding my own business on a tour of the Finger Lakes region of New York when Mark Twain unexpectedly pops up as a main character. Mark Twain spent quality time in Elmira? Mark Twain spent quality time in Elmira. It turns out that while touring the world, the man many knew as Samuel Clemens struck up a conversation with a fellow who happened to have brought a photograph of his pretty sister along with him. Twain apparently fell in love with the image and not long after with the real thing, who just happened to be Olivia Langdon, of the fairly well off Langdons of Elmira, N.Y.

A part of me likes this part of Twain’s story, but a part of me, knowing what comes afterward, thinks seriously?

The guy with book sales of the Tom Sawyer/ Huck Finn ilk still had to marry well to keep his writing career going?

Back to Twain in Elmira. Although Clemens and his family ended up living in Hartford, Conn. for many years, summers were spent at his sister-in-law’s place in Elmira. Although Quarry Farm is not open to the public (a shame, because the house seems just as beautiful as the Hartford one, and there’s a porch and a river view and plenty of reverie about how Twain must have sat on that porch, looked at that river, and recalled the Mississippi of his youth and poured those memories into his writing), Twain’s little home office there—a walled and windowed gazebo, essentially, with a fireplace—has been transported to Elmira College, where it can inspire plenty of younger generations.

Twain also makes a fairly hefty appearance at Elmira’s Chemung Valley History Museum and a similarly large one at the city’s Woodlawn Cemetery, where he and his family are buried beneath markers bearing their family name of Clemens.

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Mark Twain in Hartford

Intrigued by Elmira’s claim to Twain and assertions that he worked on some big manuscripts while there, I wonder how he landed in Hartford, Conn. and how the home and museum bearing his name there compare, so off to the Mark Twain House & Museum of Hartford, Conn. we go.  As in Elmira, Twain is both present but not entirely accessible; the house may only be accessed by guided tour, and,  unfortunately (particularly given Twain’s being something of a publicity hog), no interior photographs are permitted. (George Eastman House, you have forever spoiled me. Visitors may snap away at the Kodak founder’s home.)

On a living history tour with an actor in period clothing impersonating maid Katy Leary, who in real life was with Twain’s daughter Susy when she died, we see the sumptuous interior of the Hartford house with its hand-stenciled walls and high ceilings, and it is from Leary that we learn that the deed to the house was in wife Olivia’s name. I’m thinking brava for Olivia Langford Clemens, but I also can’t help but wonder how much she actually appreciated funding the Clemenses’ existence.

Mark Twain the Failed Writer?

Twain is described as not the best businessman, so much so that he has to close up the Hartford house and go on a speaking tour to pay back debts accrued via various bad deals. I’m thinking as we proceed through the house, what does it mean that the fellow who created Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and Innocents Abroad and a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court had to rely on his wife? And how did the fact that they seemed to plow through her inheritance and his book earnings and had to hit the road to keep things afloat really affect what’s described as a blissful marriage where nary a harsh word was exchanged? I make a mental note to take the wife’s tour the next time around. I have a few questions for her. (Tours with the butler, with daughter Susy, and with Lizzie Wills, a gossipy maid, are also available.)

For those who travel to try out other lives, try on Mark Twain’s for a while. You can do that in any number of places.

I like that, like so many writers today, Twain had multiple careers. He couldn’t make it full-time, really, as a travel writer and turned to other things. I like that he tried various business ventures, and, although they often did not quite work out as he had intended, he kept trying. I like that Twain did what he had to do when not enough money was pouring in; l like that his publishing company, which he owned, at least in part, published the memoirs of Ulysses S Grant, a fellow also challenged by financial difficulties.

And sure, the more I hear about Mark Twain, the more I can’t help but think that he was a bit pompous and affected, the storyteller in the white suit, with the cigar; and, yet, he was an influencer before that word became a title; he was an abolitionist from a Confederate state; he did not exactly endorse a lot of the false piety of his time; he advocated the rights of women. And so, although I don’t think about him much anymore, and still haven’t managed to plow all the way through his autobiography, I can’t help but like him and am glad I get to know him in various places. But I’d still like to talk to Olivia.

Other Mark Twain Appearances

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Mark Twain Birthplace in Florida, Mo.

Twain, the sixth child of his parents, was born in Florida, Mo. not long after Halley’s Comet streaked by in 1835.

Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Mo.

Twain spent most of his formative years in Hannibal, Mo. experiencing some of the adventures that would later appear in his books.

Orion Clemens House in Carson City, Nev.

Twain lived with his brother Orion Clemens in Carson City, Nev. for a bit in the 1860s. Orion’s house still stands but is privately owned and not open to public.

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Mark Twain in Manhattan

Not exactly a stranger to Manhattan, Twain lived for a while at 14 West 10th Street.

Mark Twain in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Late in his life, Twain purchased Hillcrest in Tarrytown, N.Y. The estate, formerly owned by Captain William Casey, known today as Abigail Kirsch’s Tappan Hill.

Mark Twain in Buffalo

Set up nicely by his father-in-law following his marriage, Twain and his bride lived in Buffalo on Delaware Ave. Their luck was not so good in Buffalo, though; their only son died at a young age there. The house did not fare well, either.  It later burned and eventually was torn down.

—Lori Tripoli

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