Mark Twain’s Hannibal Missouri

June 10, 2016

This road trip was planned in stages; Houston, Longwood, New Hartford, Buffalo, Yellow Springs. Then there was a big gap before getting back to Olympia on the West Coast. As we turned the corner in New York State and began to head west I looked at the map and realized Hannibal Missouri could be a convenient stopover.

Until looking at that map I had no idea where Hannibal was. The three things I did know was it was somewhere on the Mississippi, it was where Samuel Clemens grew up and it was the model village for the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn yarns he authored under his famous nom de plume Mark Twain.

I was a heavy reader as a youth and the tone and style of Clemens’ books struck a chord with me. Sawyer and Finn were the epitome of freedom for a youth in a small town similar to my own. When I discovered Hannibal on the map I knew we had to stop and give it extra time.

Indianapolis
After leaving Yellow Springs we stopped overnight in Indianapolis in order to have dinner with Don and Vicki Williams. Don and Lady Anna and I worked together in the seventies and eighties beginning when we were all three neophytes in the cable tv business. We learned the business together; Don has remained in that ever changing world, moving upward with seemingly every acquisition and industry roll-up.

Don cooked up some fine steaks on his lakefront deck. His last move up took him from San Diego to Indianapolis. Selling his 2800 square foot home in a San Diego subdivision bought them a 6500 square foot lakefront home in Indianapolis. An eye-opener for me and for Geezer Gal, a licensed real estate broker. The weather that evening was perfect, everything was green and lush, making the story even more impressive.

Hannibal Missouri
The next day we moved on, crossing the mighty Mississippi at Hannibal and checking in a Best Western with an indoor pool and within an easy walk of the historical district.

Mark Twain owns Hannibal, or Hannibal owns Mark Twain, I’m not sure which. His boyhood home in the center of the village remains and has become the centerpiece of a collection of buildings preserved from the era of steamboats on the Mississippi and his family surroundings.  Laura Hawkins, the inspiration for his Becky Thatcher, home is across the street, his father’s law office is nearby and there are mementos for sale everywhere, yet somehow it all projects real pride and affection for their favorite son.

That evening we took a two hour sunset riverboat dinner cruise. Being veterans of tours we have hardened to the fact that dinner on anything moving will be disappointing, we were not surprised with the dried out roast beef chunks and soggy vegetables on buffet. We know better; we weren’t there for the food but the ride and view.

After dinner we sat at the bow on an upper deck and enjoyed the perfect evening and a glass of jug wine. The crowd was sparse and the river itself wide and impressive, perhaps more so for us as we have been exploring the California rivers the last couple of years in our own boat.

Thursday we took another tour, this time on a converted trolley driven by a knowledgeable and humorous narrator.

This ninety minute tour taught us the real history and backstories of Hannibal aside from the Clemmons. The story of the changes, fires, floods, industries and boom and bust as the industrialized nation moved west, used the river then abandoned it for rail, is a miniature for so much of the mid-west.

Geezer Gal headed for the pool and a nap and I roamed the historical district, visiting all the restored homes, the museums and theme shops. There are many local stories of ghosts, but I didn’t see any myself.

I bought cds of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to listen to on the road. In my roaming I learned of two Mark Twain impersonators (Mock Twains?) scheduled for that afternoon and made note of the times and places.

I picked up GG and we took in the impersonators. Each was dressed in traditional white suit, grey beard and heavy moustache of the elderly Clemmons. They were both good and entertaining, each taking a slightly different approach, one more as Clemmons, the other as Twain.

GG wanted spaghetti and meatballs so we drove out a few miles to Rustic Oak Grill & Pub for dinner and wine.

After dinner we returned to the hotel to find a free, bring-your-own-chairs evening street concert in progress a block away on a gently sloping street between Clemens’s home and the fictional Becky Thatcher’s.

Locals and visitors mixed together enjoying the music and the pleasant evening. I believe we all knew and appreciated where we were.

-Geezer