Literary Giants Galore (and a hike to the top of Connecticut)

Jill's Journal: It was Literary Giant Day here in Connecticut. The girls and I started with a tour of Mark Twain’s home in Hartford. Twain, then better known by his real name of Samuel Clemens, built the elaborate mansion and lived there with his family from 1874 to 1891. It’s where he and his wife raised three daughters and where he wrote his most famous works, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. He often said the happiest years of his life were spent at the home. It is an exotic and exuberant place, very fitting of the mirthfulness of one of America’s greatest storytellers.

In a proud Mommy moment, I can see the girls are really absorbing what they’re seeing. They came home and tried to regale Rob with tales of the favorite things they learned about Mark Twain and his home. It’s very special to see it all through their eyes!

Literally next door to Mark Twain's house, believe it or not, is the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe. The abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin lived in the home for 23 years, including for all the years Twain lived next door.

And not far away in West Hartford, we took a quick peek at the place where Noah Webster was born in 1758. He was the dictionary man, the American patriot who began adapting the English language into our American version. It took him a lifetime, but when he finished, his American Dictionary of the English Language contained nearly 70,000 words. He also wrote the famed “Blue-Backed Speller” textbook that taught American children how to read for over a century and was the best selling book of its time, selling nearly 100 million copies (beginning in the late 1700s)!

We were ready for some outdoor time after all that and went to nearby Talcott Mountain State Park. We embarked on a one-mile hike up the mountain to Heublein Tower, a former summer retreat for a prominent Hartford citizen. I had to laugh – for anyone wondering, a one-mile hike of medium difficulty with three small children takes a good 90 minutes. There’s so many rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. to explore. Ascending 120 steps up a 165-foot tall tower to get a spectacular panoramic 1200-square mile view of Connecticut, Long Island Sound, and Massachusetts takes another 20 minutes. Their interest in the view? It lasted all of 20 seconds. And then we had the return hike! Well, at least they got their exercise today.

Another Proud Mommy Moment: A man pulled me aside after the Twain House tour to tell me that he normally groans when he sees children in museums because they take away from his enjoyment of a place. But, he went on, my girls were outstanding. He told me they were respectful and beautifully behaved. He said he was very impressed and that he hoped I kept doing whatever it was I was doing. Yay! And another random man at the tower said something very similar. They’re good girls.