The Mark Twain House is a designated National Historical Landmark and the winner of a major award for restoration from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Samuel Langhorn Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, and his wife Olivia purchased land at the western edge of the city in a thriving literary community known as Nook Farm, which included Harriet Beecher Stowe. The then author of  The Innocents Abroad  and  The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Claveras County and his wife engaged New York City architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design the house, which was completed in 1874.The Friends of Hartford purchased the property in 1929, and served at the Mark Twain Branch of the Hartford Public Library for many years before a total restoration began in the 1950s. The Mark Twain House was opened as a museum in the 1960s under the auspices of the Mark Twain Memorial, a private, non-profit organization that still owns and operates the museum.

The house contains many of the pieces of Clemens family furniture, including Twain’s intricately carved Venetian bed and an ornate mantle from a Scottish castle. The museum is also fortunate to have a billiard table owned byt eh author, which evokes images of the house during his residency. In 1881, following the success of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and several lecture tours, Louis Tiffany’s design firm, Associated Artists, was hired to decorate the major rooms. Today, the Mark Twain House contains one of only two surviving Tiffany-designed domestic interiors that are open to the public. The author and his family lived in the house until 1891, when financial reverses compelled Twain to move to Europe.

Pictured: Mark Twain House, photograph by Jeff Yardis

Hours: Monday - Saturday 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM, Sunday 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Admission: Adults (19-64): $9; Seniors (65+): $8; Youth (13-18): $7; Children (6-12): $5; Children 5 and under: Free

Location: The Mark Twain House is located at 351 Farmington Avenue, next to a transit shelter at Farmington Avenue and Woodland Street, in Hartford Connecticut.

For tickets/information, call: 860-247-0998, ext. 26
Hours to call: Monday - Saturday 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
The Mark Twain House accepts Visa and MasterCard as forms of admission payment.

Visit their Web site at: http://www.hartnet.org/twain/