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Sunday, June 10, 2007 -
We headed north this morning from St. Louis to Hannibal, Missouri, the hometown of Samuel Clements, AKA Mark Twain. It was a little rainy at first but the weather cooperated and we arrived to dry weather. We decided to do the all-out tour experience and purchased a passport which enabled us to visit the Mark Twain Museum and Boyhood Home, the famous Mark Twain Cave, setting for a portion of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and a riverboat ride down the Mississippi on the Mark Twain Mississippi Riverboat. We first toured the museum and the boyhood home. Included in this were the homes of Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher, who were fictional characters who were actually based upon real life friends of Mark Twain in his writing. We also saw Twain's father's law office and the apothecary where he worked as a boy.
We boarded the riverboat for a one hour scenic cruise on the Mississippi River where we saw Lover's Leap and heard the legend of the two indians from warring tribes that fell in love. When they were discovered, rather than face the punishment, they leapt from the cliff to their death. We saw Cardiff Hill which is also mentioned in Twain's writing. The weather provided a slight drizzle but with sweatshirts we all enjoyed our time on the river.
From the river we headed over to the cave and spent about 45 minutes on a guided tour of the cave. The cave was the setting in much of Twain's literature and the scene where Tom and Becky were lost. It was exciting to imagine Twain spending time in this cave during his boyhood.
Heading back from the cave we drove up to Lover's leap to enjoy the fabulous view of Hannibal from above, the Mississippi River, and Illinois to the east. We ended our time in Hannibal with a trip up some 200+ stairs to the top of Cardiff Hill and the Centennial Memorial Lighthouse which was erected in 1935 to commemorate the centennial of Mark Twain's birth. On the way out of town we stopped by the Birthplace of Molly Brown, the famous "un-sinkable Molly Brown" from the Titanic. Molly got her start in Hannibal and then moved out west where she made her fortune. She survived the sinking of the Titanic and is credited with helping save others from the horrible disaster. Molly Brown had an incredibly interesting life by anyone's standards, but particularly for a woman living in that era. Unfortunately the birthplace was already closed for the day, but we were able at least get a visual of where this remarkable woman got her start.
All and all a very well spent day in Hannibal, Missouri. We headed north over the border into Keokuk, Iowa to spend the night.
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