Hannibal, MO

Hannibal is where Samuel Clemens lived from ages 7 - 17.  This site is set up as a walking tour, which includes his family's house, the office where his father was Justice of the Peace, the house where the girl he modeled Becky Thatcher after lived, the "Huckleberry Finn House" where Tom Blankenship lived, and a large museum.  The boyhood home was the real highlight here.  The rooms are glassed off, and there are white statues in every one of them.  Each room has a quotation from Mark Twain.  There is an "interpretive center" that has a detailed timeline.  This museum has the feel of a museum, but it also was moving.  I think the emphasis on Twain's writings is what makes this museum work.  Twain's writings make his legacy.

They say that the raconteurs of one age become the emblems of conservatives in the next.  The Twain displayed in Hannibal does have some rough edges, but there is an attempt to emphasize the whimsical side of his personality and cover up the subversive edge.  There is very little mention of Twain's views on religion, for example.  The upside is that Twain's writings are so well known that it is not possible to sanitize him completely.  

The absolute highlight of this trip was a performance of Twain's A True Story Told Word for Word as I Heard It by Gladys Coggswell.  This is the story of a woman whose family was broken up and sold.  Here is a link to a Youtube video of Ms. Coggswell singing "The Three-Eyed Cat."  Splendid.