Last Thursday, Jamie and I took a day trip to Hartford to visit the estate of Samuel Longhorn Clemens. Unfortunately, the weather was lousy so we didn't get to walk around much outside, but the house tour was great. The house was actually owned by Livy Clemens, Sam's wife, who inherited a great deal of money from her parents while Samuel was still an up and coming writer. Sadly, despite Clemens' success as a writer, he eventually had to declare bankruptcy; among other problems, he made a number of very poor business investments. They sold this estate to move to a much smaller home. The family took all their belongings with them, so they didn't remain with the house. The historical society has worked hard to reclaim as many original pieces as possible. The remainder of the house is decorated with genuine period pieces. The high Victorian style is a bit much for me to appreciate, but I enjoyed the upstairs of the house, which was more informal. My favorite feature of the house was the conservatory, which you can sort of see from the outside, through the trees. If we had had a little more time, I would have liked to see Harriet Beecher Stowe's house, which is literally across the street. In Wally Lamb's book, The Hour I First Believed, a suffragette grandmother and her granddaughter have dinner with the Clemenses and meet Harriet Beecher Stowe. I'd like to reread the book now that I can visualize what the dining room looked like and can appreciate the area where both author's lived. If you're in the vicinity of Hartford, I recommend a visit to both estates.
Here's a lovely reproduction of the house...in Legos.
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