So Hartford…um…its a city. I will not elaborate on the positives or negatives of the place where Samuel Clemens had the happiest years of his life or the birthplace of my namesake, Katharine Hepburn. I will only say when Angela and I went looking for a place to have lunch there were no signs of life. Nothing was open and we didn’t see one person walking around. I was pretty sure the rapture had taken place and we were the only ones left behind. It was really creepy!
Mark Twain’s house was AMAZING! The architecture, the wrap around porch, the balconies, everything was just interesting and beautiful. Clemens wanted the exterior bricks to be painted a black and orange pattern throughout the house and it was different but it worked. You couldn’t take photos inside the house but picture heavy mahogany everywhere, ornate upholstery, Steinway piano, large and detailed fireplaces and in most rooms stenciled pattern wall treatments. The house had a lot of the families’ original furniture including Sam and Livy’s bed. The bed had angels carved in the woodwork in both the headboard and footboard. The Clemens’ slept at the footboard so the angels could look down on them. In the library there was a massive floor to ceiling fireplace mantel, which Clemens first saw in a castle in Scotland, decided he wanted it and had it sent to Hartford. It is no wonder they went broke in part decorating this house.
Overall, I think the coolest part of being at the Mark Twain house was it really transported you back in time. It was so easy to imagine Twain in the billiards room, writing at his desk or sitting on the front porch smoking a cigar.
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