Published August 27, 2023

With bellies full of bagel breakfast sandwiches and the sunny Sunday weather to guide us, my boyfriend and I started the first leg of our summer vacation to Maine.

Hartford, Connecticut was the first stop on our drive. If you know my love for Gilmore Girls, you know I was excited to visit this frequently mentioned location.

As we approached our exit, I was surprised to see the city-like buildings. Hartford was larger than I expected and I was curious to see what the area was like.

We followed Farmington Ave on our way to the Mark Twain House & Museum. We passed small strip malls with narrow parking lots that housed laundromats, convenience stores, Dunkin Donuts, and Dollar General.

I was surprised to think that a historic home like the Mark Twain House would be sandwiched between such businesses. I always imagined historic houses to be situated on open land, the way the Old Manse was.

The Mark Twain House & Museum

We turned left into the large parking lot for the museum. A large lot of grass fanned out in front of the parking lot. A turf soccer field with lacrosse players butted up against the parking lot to the Mark Twain House & Museum. The scoreboard for the Hartford Public High School and the bleachers next to the school building gleamed in the hot afternoon sun.

We crossed the parking lot and climbed the staircase to the museum entrance. A dark brick house peeked through the trees to the left at the top of the hill. That must be the Mark Twain house!

The Mark Twain Museum Entryway and Gift Shop

We stepped into the quiet lobby of the museum. Given that tickets were sold out for the morning tour slots, I assumed the museum would be packed with visitors. However, only a few couples browsed the gift shop, and two middle school children wandered around the lobby.

On the left side of the entryway before the large displays of Mark Twain facts, rested a Mark Twain statue lounging on a bench. The image of the dark brick house behind him confirmed my assumption that the house on the hill was the one we were going to tour.

Strangely enough, a Mark Twain sculpture made out of legos greeted guests on the other side of the room.

The glass doors of the gift shop looked in on displays of book shelves and spinning wire frames of post cards and artwork. We browsed the shelves of notebooks, tote bags, magnets, and even jewelry and games.

We bought some goodies with enough time to be back in the lobby for our tour time. One other older couple from California joined us, alongside a staff member from the museum — whom actually resembled Samuel Clemens with his hair and mustache.

Past the downstairs museum, up a staircase, and exiting next to the cafe, we stood looking at the carriage house. The carriage house was used for the museum’s offices, so we couldn’t go inside. Our tour guide shared the history behind the building and how it was maintained.

We followed the shaded stone path past flower gardens and down the side of the building. The pathway opened up to the side porch of the Mark Twain house, which we gathered under.

As our guide shared the history behind this area of Hartford, and why Samuel Clemens decided to build this home on the property, our tour group expanded to include a family from Luxembourg, a single woman from Texas, and a solider from Chicago who was on leave.

We followed the porch to the large front door — where we were reminded not to take pictures of the interior of the house.

My Favorites from the Mark Twain House

I will not give spoilers from the tour — in which we learned about the architecture of the home, the family’s culture and traditions, and Samuel Clemens life, including his writing career. My favorite fact from the tour was knowing that Samuel Clemens’s daughter helped direct the museum when they were restoring the rooms to ensure it captured the reality of their lives.

Of the three-story tour of this giant home, I love the first floor conservatory, which was off of the library. Of course, I was impressed with the third-floor “Billard Room” where Samuel Clemens did all of his writing too.

The End of the Tour

We descended from the third-story through a side staircase that was formerly for the servants. It deposited us into the kitchen, where we gathered around a wooden table and large metal stove in the fireplace for our last round of Q&A. We exited the home from a staircase that put us at the back of the house.

We followed the stone pathway around the side of the house, bringing us back to the front porch. The group split off now that the tour was over. Some crossed to buy tickets for the Harriet Beecher Stowe house tour, which was across the grass from the Mark Twain House.

We chatted with our tour guide some more, capturing a few more photos of the exterior of the home before the next group arrived.

I still loved the detailed architecture around the conservatory and third floor the best.

Museum Displays

Following the path back to the main building, we stopped at the second floor museum where artifacts from the family were displayed in glass cases. They included books, pipes, patents, handwritten notes and photographs, and additional information about the house and era.

I didn’t capture any photos, as I was unsure if that was allowed. We spent a good chunk of time reading the small plaques of information before moving down to the first floor.

There was a twenty-minute video you could watch, but we elected to cross into the other room that displayed personal and factual artifacts from the family’s lives. Most of the information was a recap and supporting visual of the information that we heard on our tour of the house, so we glided through the room quickly before getting back on the road.

Have you visited the Mark Twain House & Museum?

In total, we spent 3 1/2 hours at the Mark Twain House & Museum. I learned so much about the famous author and the life behind his writing. I recommend anyone interested in literature, history, or lover’s of architecture visit this wonderful museum.

On to New Hampshire

With three more hours left in our journey, we got back on the road and made our way north to New Hampshire.

Click here to read about our visit to Concord, New Hampshire.