Happy 70th Mark Twain...in the future!

Although Twain’s birthday doesn’t fall till November, we decided to go to Delmonico’s in the Financial District to celebrate Twain! Mark Twain celebrated his 70th birthday here. While the restaurant has done many renovations it still has the feel of an old time restaurant. The people here were super accommodating and we enjoyed a few drinks in honor of Twain.

 

Also on our trip to Lower Manhattan, we took the subway over to Brooklyn Heights. Brooklyn Heights is the home of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, a pivotal person in Twain’s life, was the preacher there. Beecher organized the trip to the Holy Land, which Twain ended up going on. Mark Twain eventually wrote Innocents Abroad based on this trip and met his future wife because she was the sister of one of the passengers on the trip. Mark Twain also spoke here.  Unfortunately we were unable to visit the church. I seriously never knew churches were not open to the public all the time. I blame this on Rome! In Rome every church is open to the public but probably just to show off. Even though we weren’t able to visit the church, we were able to walk through Brooklyn Heights, which Twain walked at one time.

Henry Ward Beecher. The sculptor also did Mount Rushmore.

“On Sunday February 3, with the thermometer “at 180 degrees below zero I should judge”, Sam boarded a ferryboat that bumped through the ice floes of the East River and walked stiff-legged into the plump, plain-brick Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, to hear a sermon by the Reverend Mr. Beecher.”*

Fun Fact - Other superstars who spoke at Plymouth include Clara Barton, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley and William Thackery.

*This information can be found on page 181 of Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers.