Hartford, Connecticut - Mark Twain's House and Museum (Sam Clemens)
Arriving a little early for our tour gave us time to have a lovely sandwich in their very welcoming cafe. We were also able to look at their exhibition about Sam Clemens’ US holidays, which was very enlightening. The locations included Elmira, Saranac Lake, and the Onteora Club, all in New York; Old Saybrook, Connecticut; and Dublin, New Hampshire.
The Living History tour of the house was delivered by an actor playing Mark Twain’s black butler, George Griffin. This was such a great way to hear more about the house, the family and crucially more about Mark Twain.
You are not allowed to take any photos inside the house.
We learned that George Griffin was enslaved for the first twelve years of his life, and then served in the Union Army before moving to New England. He is believed to be the inspiration for Jim, the resourceful runaway enslaved man in Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” He owned his own house in Hartford, he managed his money well, and liked a bit of a gamble. Griffin played games with the daughters of the family, enjoyed a good joke with Sam Clemens, but had a more complex relationship with Clemens' wife Olivia. Olivia preferred formality, whereas Sam Clemens who was from a poor background preferred a more relaxed home atmosphere. We really enjoyed the tour of the house and George’s stories in each room.
The house is truly unique, built for the family, right next door to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home, it has been refurbished to how Sam and Olivia Clemens had decorated it. There is a lot of carved dark wood, family photos, stencilled wall paintings by Tiffany, fabulous unique wallpaper, comfortable furniture and old lamps. The house would have been quite dark at this time, as the lighting was gas. The house is a large family home, over three floors. It features a fabulous conservatory full of plants, and when the family lived there Harriet Beecher Stowe would come round and pick flowers from the conservatory, Olivia Clemens did not mind, but she did leave her some shears so she would cut the flowers rather than pull them.
The wallpapers in the house are of the time, and are quite unique, I particularly liked the bee wallpaper (see below.) These have all been refurbished or replaced. We saw the bee wallpaper again in a display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Within the visitor centre there was a 25 minute film about Mark Twain to watch, and an informative timeline of his life versus world events. Plus, there is a small museum about his life and his books.
There was also an excellent gift shop with a number of fun products and a wide range of books. Of course, many of the books were Mark Twain’s in a variety of formats, plus classic books by other writers. I purchased a book of his shorter stories which I’m currently enjoying.
