Day 4: 9/10/14

Today we are headed to visit Samuel Clemens aka. Mark Twain.  

6 ft.Mark Twain in LEGOS

The tour through the home was great and I wish we could share it with you but we hit a snag.  All photography is prohibited within the house and the museum gallery.  Yep: No way Hose’, ain’t gonna happen, forbidden, proibito, interdit, verboten, απαγορεύεται, 禁止, not on your life!  So all I have is the outside to show you.

No, this is not the house
It's only the carriage house

As a guest, this is the view you would see as you arrived.

The kitchen and servant's quarters faced Farmington Street
where all the trolley traffic and other noise would be.  The Clemems's
quarters were on the other end near the carriage house.

When the house was completed in 1874 it was on the edge of town next to pond with a stream and a wood.  Beyond the woods were farm fields.  Today the pond is the parking lot the stream runs through underground pipes and there isn't a farm for miles.

Samuel’s wife actually oversaw the construction of the house.  She told the contractor that Sam doesn't understand anything on paper that resembles a blueprint. 

Trivia: They had three dogs named... I know, You Know and Don’t Know.  There were numerous cats and they were known by Satan, Devil, Pernicious and other not so favorable names.

During the 17 years the Clemens’ lived here he wrote the most of his famous stories.  It was a happy and peaceful time.  But he was also a business man and suffered a loss of $200,000 when the printing machine he heavily invested in would not perform.  At that point he moved the family to Europe where it was cheaper to live.   His oldest daughter returned back to the house to visit.  She contracted spinal meningitis and died there at the age of 24.  Samuel, and wife Livy, could no longer feel at home there and remained in Europe.  The house was sold in 1903. 

Links for you to visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain
www.marktwainhouse.org

The Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Sturbridge, where we are tonight only has a wifi hotspot at the office about a quarter mile away. I will have to get this all together tomorrow.


Mark Twain House: 41°46'01.11" N    71°42'50.20" W

Yogi Bear's:             42°05’21.70” N   72°05’02.40” W