Statue of a young Sam Clemens as a riverboat captain

Today we spent the day in Hannibal, Missouri. Famous for being the home of Samuel Clemens, also known as the author Mark Twain, Hannibal is a really interesting and very historic small town on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River.

Mark Twain is of course everywhere, both in name and in picture.  One local restaurant proudly proclaims that it has Mark Twain fried chicken on the menu. Hmmm I didn’t know that Twain had scooped the colonel.

The orignal homes of Clemen’s family and those of other real life people who became the fictional characteres in the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn books are open for tours.

In addition to all the Mark Twain attractions, this river town is filled with some magnificent old Victorian homes, some restored, some in the midst of restoration and some in need of immediate attention.

Clemen’s (Tom Sawyer’s) home and that famous white-washed fence

Tom Sawyer’s first love, Beck Thatcher, who exisited in real life when Clemens was but a young lad

Well of course there is a Mark Twain Dinette in Hannibal!

” the extensive view up and down the river is … one of the best on the Mississippi.”