mark twain house, nook farm houses, colt mansion, hartford, ct
TRANSCRIPT
Mark Twain’s Home
Hartford, CT1874-1891
c.1884. left to right: Clara, Olivia, Jean, Sam, Susy & Hash (dog)
c.1884. left to right: Clara, Olivia, Jean, Sam, Susy & Hash (dog)
Between 1871-1873
Twain leased the Hookers’ house
while building his own Hartford
home.
On January 21, 1868Mark Twain first visited Hartford.
1864 City View of Hartford By John Bachmann
Welcome to Nook Farm,
Twain’s Hartford house in the 1800’s.
Nook Farm
The Hooker HouseThe Harriet Beecher Stowe House
“Its spacious Victorian homes stood amid carefully landscaped grounds that emerged imperceptibly
into each other to create the effect of an extensive park.” p. 7 Nook Farm, Van Why
Charles Dudley Warner House
Francis Gillette House
“The houses appeared to be irregularly spaced on one enormous
fenceless estate. Winding among the trees were paths and shortcuts which neighbors used without going to the street. Doors were always unlocked and residents of the Farm walked in
and out of each other’s houses at any time of day without knocking.”
p. 84 Nook Farm: Mark Twain’s Hartford Circle
Nook Farm
The Twain House on the
Park River, Nook Farm
Photo of Hartford home, 1800s fromDave Thomson collection
Explore the
house...19 rooms & 5 baths19 rooms & 5 baths
http://www.marktwainhouse.org/house/floor_plans.php
As you explored the house, what themes were present?The First Floor........Guests/Entertaining
The Second Floor....FamilyThe Third Floor.....Sam's interests
In the book Papa, Susy Clemens describes her father’s story telling. Twain comments:
and into that romance I had to get all that bric-a-brac and the three pictures. I had to start always with the cat and
finish with Emmeline. I was never allowed the refreshment of a change, end for end. It was not permiss-
Notice the objects on the mantle? Write your own story using the objects
Twain describes and the objects you see. Click for rubric.
As you tour Twain’s house, make a list of descriptive
phrases about the exterior and each room.
Later, you will use these to write a descriptive narrative about Twain’s house to your
local paper. Click for rubric.Click for rubric.Click for rubric.
Explore descriptions
Text
Read The Hartford Daily
Times 1874 description of the
house.
Read another description of
the house from the Elmira
Advertiser, 1874
Read this description from Living Leaders of the World, 1878
Twain’s description in a letter to his wife Olivia Clemens, dated July 3, 1874
“You may look at the house or the grounds from any point of view you choose, & they are simple exquisite. It is a quite, murmurous, enchanting poem, done in the solid elements of nature. The house & barn do not seem to
have been set up on the grassy slopes & levels by laws & plans & specifications--it seems as if they grew up out of the ground& were part & parcel of Nature’s handiwork.
The harmony of size, shape, color--everything--is harmonious. It is a home and the word never had so much
meaning before...”
Why did he leave?
Initially, the family left to live in Europe to save money.Later, the family does not return because of Susie’s death.
Nook Farm: Mark Twain’s Hartford Circleby Kenneth R. Andrews
1950“His exaggerated grief over Susie’s death convinced him that his misery
would be deepened if he were to live again in Nook Farm where life once, in bitter contrast, had been full and pleasant...Until his death he returned
frequently for brief visits and looked upon his surviving cronies, all of whom he remembered with more than ordinary pleasure and mourned when they
died.” pg. 233“His exaggerated grief over Susie’s death convinced him that his misery
would be deepened if he were to live again in Nook Farm where life once, in bitter contrast, had been full and pleasant...Until his death he returned
frequently for brief visits and looked upon his surviving cronies, all of whom he remembered with more than ordinary pleasure and mourned when they
died.” pg. 233“His exaggerated grief over Susie’s death convinced him that his misery
would be deepened if he were to live again in Nook Farm where life once, in bitter contrast, had been full and pleasant...Until his death he returned
frequently for brief visits and looked upon his surviving cronies, all of whom he remembered with more than ordinary pleasure and mourned when they
died.” pg. 233“His exaggerated grief over Susie’s death convinced him that his misery
would be deepened if he were to live again in Nook Farm where life once, in bitter contrast, had been full and pleasant...Until his death he returned
frequently for brief visits and looked upon his surviving cronies, all of whom he remembered with more than ordinary pleasure and mourned when they
died.” pg. 233
Samuel Colt Mansion
James L. Goodwin Mansion Hartford’s Elite
Resources:Clemens, Susy. Papa. Doubleday & Co, Inc., NY, 1985
Faude, Wilson H., Mark Twain’s House:Handbook for Restoration. Queens House, NY, 1978Andrews, Kenneth R., Nook Farm:Mark Twain’s Hartford Circle. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1950
“Mark Twain’s House”, The Hartford Daily Times. March 23, 1874Wallace & Parton, Living Leaders of the World. 1878
“Mark Twain’s House”, Elmira Advertiser. January 30, 1874 (reprinting the Titusville Herald, PA)Clemens, Samuel, Letter to Olivia L. Clemens. July 3, 1874 (The Mark Twain House Collection)
All photos courtesy of The Mark Twain House Collection. For classroom use only.Special thanks to Patricia Philippon, Chief Curator, The Mark Twain House, Hartford, CT