40 US Historical Homes That Are Worth the Visit

26.Mark Twain House

Mark Twain, whose actual name was Samuel Longhorn Clemens, was raised here in Hartford, Connecticut. The house is a stunning example of Victorian Gothic Revival design with its asymmetrical window layout and incredibly steeply pitched roof. The notorious author’s father built the home with his wife’s inheritance, but part of the family fled to Europe in 1891 due to poor financial management. His father earned money by lecturing to attempt to pay off the family’s debts. After Mark Twain’s younger sister died in the home, the rest of the family could not bear to return to it. Thus, they sold the house. It now is a public museum dedicated to Mark Twain’s life and legacy.

Justin Kaplan, the biographer for Mark Twain, described the home as “part steamboat, part medieval fortress, and part cuckoo clock.” Mark Twain penned many of his most well-known books at the Mark Twain house, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince, and the Pauper, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Life on the Mississippi. After his sister’s death and the home’s sale, people used the building as a school, an apartment building, and a public library. In 1929, they saved it from being demolished. A non-profit group called the Mark Twain Memorial created a restoration effort that eventually led to its opening as a house museum in 1974. Stay tuned to find out more about yet another historical home: Castle Hill.