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The Mark Twain House & Museum The Mark Twain House & Museum The Mark Twain House & Museum The Mark Twain House & Museum

The Mark Twain House is the 25-room Victorian home where legendary author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), lived with his family from 1874 to 1891 and  wrote his greatest works, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Recently named one of the Ten Best Historic Homes in the World by National Geographic,  the house features interior decor designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, including elaborate stenciling and carved woodwork. Visit the Billiard Room where Twain did his writing and see the bed carved with angels where he slept. Collections include some 50,000 items belonging to the author and his family.

Tours include the restored kitchen wing and butler’s pantry, allowing visitors to experience the rooms as the Clemens' servants did. The modern, LEED certified museum center features orientation and changing exhibition galleries, a Ken Burns documentary and The Nook Café, serving sandwiches, salads and other light fare. 

The museum store is open during normal museum hours and features Twain memorabilia, gifts for the reader and writer, and a large selection of books by and about Mark Twain. Lectures and special programs offered throughout the year. Join us from late November to January when the house is decorated for a Victorian holiday. Allow two hours for tour of the house and a visit to the museum center. Air conditioned. Free parking.

Tour time: 2 hours

Other amenities: catering, concessions, dining nearby, gift shop, parking, parking, restaurant

Other Amenities

• Bus Parking
• Food/Beverage Services
• Groups welcome
• Guided Group Tours
• Indoor Activity
• Meeting/Event Facilities
• Restaurant on Site
• Special Rentals

351 Farmington Ave. Hartford , CT 06105 United States

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Connecticut Office of Tourism

450 Columbus Blvd., Suite 5 Hartford, CT 06103

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Virtual Tour

Enjoy the magic of mark twain's house from the comfort and safety of your own home.

While the virtual tour is free at this time, please consider a donation to The Mark Twain House & Museum if you have decided to virtually visit us, as the financial impact of the coronavirus is taking a serious toll on our strained resources and shortfall budgets. We must stick together in these increasingly dark times. Any contribution made to The Mark Twain House & Museum or any other cultural institution is an investment in your community. We thank our amazing community for its unwavering support.

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The Mark Twain House & Museum

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The Mark Twain House & Museum - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Exploring The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut

On a bustling city street in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, the Mark Twain House & Museum offers a vibrant, intimate look at the Clemens family during some of their happiest days.

By Aimee Tucker

May 24 2021

The Mark Twain House & Museum

In 1874, Samuel Clemens — better known by his pen name, Mark Twain — moved into a 25-room Farmington Avenue mansion in Hartford, Connecticut, with his wife, Livy, and their two young daughters, Susy and Clara (baby sister Jean would come along in 1880). The family spent a total of 17 lively years in the house, and it’s where Clemens wrote some of his best-loved works.

The family left the house when they moved to Europe in 1891. Given Susy’s sudden death from meningitis in 1896 at the age of 24, and Jean’s death from drowning in 1909 at the age of 29, the Clemens’ time in Hartford came to represent some of their happiest years.

The house became a boys’ school and then an apartment building before being rescued in 1929 by the Friends of Hartford, which established the Mark Twain Memorial and Library Commission to restore the house to its original appearance.

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Named one of the 10 Best Historic Homes in the World by National Geographic , the Mark Twain House in Hartford is today a thriving museum that attracts visitors and Twain fans (not to mention architecture buffs) from all over the world.

Here’s a look at my visit to the Mark Twain House in the summer of 2016. My thanks to Deb Cohen for assisting with my visit, and to Steve Courtney and his book  The Loveliest Home That Ever Was  for the information in the captions below.

Virtual Tour: The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut

Have you ever visited the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut? If you want more, check out their 3-D Virtual Tour .

This post was first published in 2017 and has been updated.

Mark Twain House & Museum . 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CT. 860-247-0998;  marktwainhouse.org

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Aimee Tucker

Aimee Tucker is Yankee Magazine’s Home Editor and the Senior Digital Editor of NewEngland.com. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.