The Mark Twain House and Museum is a house museum and literary center in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. It is dedicated to the memory of noted author Mark Twain. The museum is open to the public year-round. The mansion was designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and built in 1874 for Clemens and his wife Livy. Clemens, who was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, wrote under the pen name Mark Twain. The family occupied the house from 1874 to 1891.
Mark Twain was especially fond of the home’s library which features a carved fireplace and marble mantelpiece. He wrote: “In my library I am monarch of all I survey…I reign supreme in utter loneliness.” In 1907, the Clemens family gave the house to the newly founded Mark Twain Memorial Association. The Association opened the home to the public as a museum in 1910.
The museum features period furnishings and artwork, and offers tours of the home and its grounds. It also houses a research library which is open to the public. The Mark Twain House & Museum was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963. Today, the Mark Twain House and Museum remains an important center for Mark Twain scholarship and serves as a resource for teachers and students worldwide. It is also one of Hartford’s most popular tourist attractions. In addition to guided tours, the Museum offers a variety of educational programs, including lectures, workshops, and summer camps for children.
The Mark Twain House and Museum was designed by prominent Victorian architect Edward Tuckerman Potter (1831–1904) and built in 1874. It is located on Farmington Avenue in the Nook Farm section of Hartford, Connecticut. The museum is operated under the auspices of the City of Hartford’s Board of Park Commissioners, which operates eight other museums.
Mark Twain lived in this house for 17 years with his wife Olivia Langdon Clemens and their three children, Susy, Clara and Jean. The family moved into this seven-bedroom house on September 19, 1874 after having spent five months renovating it. Twain called the mansion “a palace” that he had purchased for $30,000 () at auction. It is located in the Nook Farm neighborhood on land that was part of a farm owned by Andrew Judson, “Connecticut’s only millionaire at the time”, who sold it to Twain for $200.
There are many reasons for you to visit the Twain House. If you are a fan of the author, it’s the place to see where he and his family lived and some of the original furnishings remain including his writing desk and chair. Even if you are not familiar with Twain’s work, the house is still an interesting example of Victorian architecture, and the gardens on the premises are lovely. Allow yourself plenty of time to tour the house and its grounds – it’s definitely worth it!