The ShoreXplorers: Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer, Hannibal MO [July 1, 2016]

Tom and Becky

Some say that Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn’s adventures are based upon Sam Clemens childhood adventures before he became Mark Twain. The town of Hannibal certainly supports that theory. You can visit Sam’s boyhood home. Across the street is the home of his first love Laura Hawkins who became Becky Thatcher. Behind Sam’s home is the small home of Tom Blankenship who was the basis of Huck Finn. Each of these homes have excerpts from Twain’s other writings that identify these individuals as inspiration for these characters. There is an interesting museum with a timeline of Mark Twain’s life and anecdotes that he later wrote about his childhood that are also in the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn books. Another museum a few blocks away highlights some of Twain’s books, and has the complete collection of original Norman Rockwell art created for an anniversary printing of Tom Sawyer.

The Clemens home

Meanwhile another source of inspiration, the Mississippi River, flows beside the town.

The Mark Twain Cave

A few miles from town is the (now named) Mark Twain cave where children from Hannibal played for years, especially young Sam Clemens. Thousands of people have signed their names on the walls of the cave, including some of Clemens’ childhood friends. Twain later wrote about how much he loved to explore the cave. The tour guide pointed out places in the cave that show up in Mark Twain’s books. For instance, we were shown the place where Injun Joe hid his treasure under the cross in the ceiling.

The cross in the ceiling...

The Clemens family was poor, and became poorer when Sam’s father died at a young age. Sam’s mother took in boarders to support the family and his sister gave piano lessons. Sam was apprenticed to a printer. He later became a pilot on the Mississippi, and then left Hannibal to try many kinds of work and to travel to many places before becoming the author that we know today as Mark Twain.

The "Parlor" was used for city council meetings on hot evenings.

Visiting Hannibal MO makes you want to re-read some Mark Twain. The gift shops are full of Twain souvenirs. My favorite (though I didn’t buy the T-shirt) has a slogan that certainly applies to how tardy we have been in publishing our blog entries – “Do not put off until tomorrow things that could be put off until the day after tomorrow just as well.”