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The door through which he entered was shielded by a screen, in Victorian style – the divider between the family’s world and that of the people who kept things running under Livy’s supervision. Built in 1874 by architect Edward Tuckerman Potter, the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut is an interesting feast for the eyes. Potter's colors, brick ornamentation, and brackets, trusses and balcony-filled gables are the architectural equivalent of Mark Twain's well-built, exciting American novels. Note here, the patterned rounded brick part of the house surrounded by the horizontal, vertical, and triangular geometric patterns of the wooden porch—an appealing visual contrast of textures and shapes.
Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Next Door
Samuel Clemens and his wife Olivia Langdon asked the noted architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design a lavish "poet's house" on Nook Farm, a pastoral neighborhood in Hartford, Connecticut. The family spent a total of 17 lively years in the house, and it’s where Clemens wrote some of his best-loved works. For Passengers with Limited MobilityFollow the above directions, but continue east on Farmington Avenue and go past the Mark Twain House. Take your first right onto Forest Street and look for the sign on the right for the entrance to the Museum Center’s rear parking lot at 65 Forest Street. Their other two daughters, Susy and Jean, had stayed behind during this time, and Susy died at home on August 18, 1896, of spinal meningitis before the family could be reunited. They could not bring themselves to reside in the house after this tragedy and spent most of their remaining years living abroad.
Inside the Famous Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut
Twain went to work every day on the third floor of his home from 9 a.m. He wrote creatively with children running around, his wife nearby, and a dozen staff. Samuel L. Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was born in 1835 in Hannibal, Missouri when Halley’s Comet soared by overhead. Twain, though nearly as well traveled as the comet, spent much of his life in Hartford where his cherished Gothic Victorian house is open for tours. If you’re a fan of ornate Gothic architecture or American writing, visiting the home is worth a trip.
Entrance to the Museum and Shops
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Katharine Seymour Day, Stowe’s grandniece, Isabella Hooker’s granddaughter, and a dedicated preservationist, played a role in saving both homes and founded the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Today, the Katharine Seymour Day House is the site of the Stowe Center’s library and administrative offices. Twain’s first visit to Hartford led not only to the publication of The Innocents Abroad (1869) but to the beginning of his love affair with the city, a banking and insurance center that was one of the wealthiest towns in the United States.
The office is also a billiards room, where Twain would host guests and take breaks from writing by shooting pool. Large windows let the western light shine in, and a balcony provided the perfect place for Twain to step outside. A red velvet rope keeps us from going all the way into the room, but across the way, we can see the desk. It’s still set with pencils and paper; there are books and an ashtray as if he’d just stepped away.
Guide to Visiting
And the billiard table provided a break from work, or even a workplace, where pages of handwritten Twain prose could be arranged and rearranged as he honed. And adjacent to this is the billiard room, the place where Mark Twain’s creativity flowed. A painting of an Arab scene and a shadowbox of the Alhambra on the wall reflect a fascination with Orientalism that is not only Victorian but also wholly Twainian. A bronze bust of Mark himself, executed by family friend and protégé Karl Gerhardt, peers without a hint of a smile from a corner of the room.
The Mark Twain House & Museum
In the post-Civil War years, Hartford was home to nearly two dozen book publishers, and Twain first came to the city to meet with Elisha Bliss, Jr., president of American Publishing Company. Bliss had read Twain’s magazine tales of his travels in Europe and the Holy Land aboard the steamer Quaker City. A passionate feminist, Isabella Beecher Hooker worked much of her life to secure women the right to vote, a view that many of her day considered outrageous. Women’s suffrage was thought of as so radical that even Isabella’s sisters, Harriet and Catharine, were opposed.
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Named one of the 10 Best Historic Homes in the World by National Geographic, the Mark Twain House in Hartford is today a thriving museum that attracts visitors and Twain fans (not to mention architecture buffs) from all over the world. Whether you’re a Twainiac, lifelong bibliophile, or jewelry connoisseur; Browse & shop exclusive finds and a lovely variety of gifts for everyone of all ages at The Mark Twain House & Museum Store. Games, interesting reads, notebooks, unique apparel...We have it all!
To the right is a large gift shop that sells at least one thing you should buy – Twain’s books. There are also various cups, candy, clothing, magnets and other souvenirs with fun and pithy quotes from Twain. In Missouri, Twain was born into poverty but learned to read and write during an early newspaper apprenticeship. This gave him the foundation for his later renown as a great American novelist, documenting his life and adventures as he advanced his career as a typesetter, river pilot, western gold prospector, newspaper reporter, lecturer, and author. Mark Twain is often cited as the first “great American novelist,” and Hartford used to be the site of a thriving publishing industry that hosted many writers, including Twain’s neighbor, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Construction delays and the ever-increasing costs of building their dream home frustrated Sam. For more information, or to join or renew as a library member, please email The Library Membership application may be found here. In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. And presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands.
In the early 1850s, brothers-in-law John Hooker and Francis Gillette purchased 140 wooded acres just west of Hartford’s last trolley stop on a bend, or nook, of the winding Park River. The men built their homes and parceled out land to family members and friends. In 2003, the Webster Bank Museum Center at the Mark Twain House and Museum opened.
No doubt, Samuel Clemens had seen or heard of the Nott Memorial at Union College, a similarly rounded structure designed by his architect, Edward Tuckerman Potter. At the Mark Twain house, the conservatory is off the library, just as the Nott Memorial used to house the college library. The rambling wooden porch at the Mark Twain House is reminiscent of both Gustav Stickley's Craftsman Farms-type of Arts and Crafts architecture combined with Frank Lloyd Wright's geometric designs found on his Prairie Style homes. However, Wright, born in 1867, would have been a child when Samuel Clemens built his house in 1874.
While we are excited to welcome more visitors into what Mark Twain called “the loveliest home that ever was,” our priority is the health and safety of our visitors, our local community, and our entire Museum staff. Construction began in August of that year‚ while Sam and Livy were abroad. Although there was still much finish work to be completed‚ the family moved into their house on September 19‚ 1874.
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