The hubbub could be right out of a Mark Twain tale.
Although researchers say the new paint job on the outside of Becky Thatcher’s house matches the original color, not all of the comments have been favorable. Some have gone so far as to compare it to what you’d find inside a baby’s diaper.
“It’s kind of a caramely chocolate yellow,” said Ryan Murray, spokesman for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. “Not quite brown, not quite yellow. People have asked why we chose that color. But it’s grown on me, I really like it now.”
The home of Laura Hawkins, who was said to be the inspiration for the Becky Thatcher character in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” sits across the street from the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens, who earned international acclaim as an author under the pen name Mark Twain.
The Hawkins home, along with all of Hannibal, is getting spruced up for 2010, which by gubernatorial proclamation will be the Year of Mark Twain. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death, the 175th of his birth and the 125th of the publication of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
“We’re trying to get President Obama to make the same declaration, but that’s a little tougher than the governor,” Murray said.
Visitors to Hannibal can cruise the mighty Mississippi on the Mark Twain Riverboat; visit the Mark Twain Cave, where Tom and Becky got lost while running from Injun Joe; and browse the shops on Main Street, many of which will have special items that commemorate the anniversaries.
Beau Hicks, director of the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau, said downtown Hannibal had grown over the past five years from a “trinket and souvenir lovers paradise” to a “mix of modern boutiques, specialty shops, art galleries and confection shops.”
But visitors should make their first stop the Mark Twain Museum in the heart of the historic district.
On the first floor, the museum has exhibits that feature five of Twain’s books. You can walk through a simulated cave as Tom Sawyer or sit on a raft similar to the one that took Huckleberry Finn down the river. Artifacts on display include Twain’s writing desk, white linen coat, top hat and well-worn pipe.
Upstairs is a gallery with 15 drawings done by Norman Rockwell as illustrations for editions of the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn books. Rockwell visited Hannibal to get an accurate perspective on the town. He found that the famous cave did not have stalactites hanging from the ceiling as previously portrayed, but instead was lined with ledges.
“Each day during June, July and August, we’ll have conversations here at the museum with Mark Twain, featuring two re-enactors,” Murray said. “They’ll be from 2 to 2:20 in the afternoon and free to the public.”
Sign the whitewashed fence
After touring the museum, head up Main Street a few short blocks to Hill Street and the interpretive center and five historically significant buildings, including the Clemens and Hawkins family homes. The museum ticket gets you into the center and buildings, and a $10 contribution to the endowment fund will let you sign the whitewashed fence outside.
The interpretive center tells about the author’s early life in Hannibal. A quote from his autobiography explained his relationship with the town: “Hannibal has had a hard time of it ever since I can recollect. First, it had me for a citizen, but I was too young then to really hurt the place.”
John Marshall Clemens brought his family to Hannibal when Samuel was 4, purchased several buildings on the street and became a justice of the peace. John Clemens died at the age of 49, when Sam was 11. “I was taken from school upon my father’s death and placed in the office of the Hannibal Courier, as a printer’s apprentice,” he wrote.
Clemens left Hannibal in 1853. Twenty years later, he began writing “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” His last visit to Hannibal was in 1902, when he was asked to hand out diplomas to the high-school graduating class. He did so, randomly, obliging the seniors to sort through the paperwork.
The other three buildings are a reproduction of the home of Tom Blankenship, who was the inspiration for Huck Finn, the law office of John Clemens and Grant’s Drug Store, which looks as if the druggist just stepped out for a house call.
Mark Twain sites from Elmira, N.Y., to Calaveras County in California also will be celebrating the anniversaries. Hannibal has created a website, , for festivities that will be happening throughout the year. In Hannibal, the events include:
• National Tom Sawyer Days, held annually over the Fourth of July. Activities include a fence-painting competition and a frog-jumping contest. You can rent a frog if you forget to bring your own. Entertainment, food, a craft fair and fireworks are among the attractions. More information: hannibaljaycees and .
• The Twain on Main Festival will be held over Memorial Day weekend for the second year. The festival celebrates one of Twain’s works: This year’s selection is “Roughing It,” his book about traveling in the West. A Wild West theme will prevail, with actors and events portraying scenes from the book. Western art will be available at the art show and craft fair. More information: .
• Music Under the Stars features free live music in front of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home on Thursday evenings, May 27-Sept.2. More information: .
• First Friday Film Festival at the Mark Twain Museum will show a movie adapted from Twain’s books or life on the first Friday of each month throughout the year. More information: .
• Starting in March, the Convention and Visitors Bureau will be giving out 10,210 copies of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
Insider’s Guide
There’s a special chair in the parlor of Garth Mansion, an 1871 Victorian masterpiece turned into an upscale bed-and- breakfast on the outskirts of Hannibal.
John Garth and his wife, Helen Kercheval Garth, were students at Mrs. Elizabeth Horr’s school along with Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain. “One of the prettiest of the schoolgirls was Helen Kercheval,” Twain later wrote. The three became lifelong friends, and Clemens often visited their home.
Garth Mansion, at 11069 New London Road ( and 888-427-8409), is a historic place to stay during the Year of Mark Twain. Other businesses in Hannibal also plan special products or events, including:
Picture Perfect gallery and framing will offer photos, cartoons and articles relating to Twain taken from the original historical publications, dating from the 1800s through 1910. The gallery is at the corner of Main and Broadway, 573-221-4090 and .
AVA Goldworks, which produces works by master jewelers, is offering a charm that features Twain on one side and a riverboat on the other. The charms comes in sterling silver and 10-karat yellow gold. At 211 Center St., 573-221-1928 and .
Nancy Lee Kaufman Gallery/Studio will be “spinning yarns” during April, with a wheel spinning wool while its operator tells tales and recites quotations related to Twain. The gallery features handwoven, wearable art at 219 N. Main St., 573-248-8256.
The Rooster’s Crow gallery will be offering posters of Twain stories, characters and themes throughout the year. Later this year, the gallery will unveil an original oil painting, “Twain, the Spirit of Hometown America,” and is calling for entries to an exhibit of Twain art, with a deadline of April 1. At 221 Bird St., 573-406-1444 and .
Alliance Art Gallery features the works of 17 area artists, including paintings, sculpture, pottery, drawings, weaving, jewelry and cards. At 112 N. Main and .
Hickory Stick has created a limited-edition Mark Twain fabric collection and a quilt with Twain. At 326 N. Main, 573-221-4538 and hickorystickquiltshop .
Reagan’s Queen Anne Bed and Breakfast, in a lumber baron’s Victorian mansion, is offering “breakfast with Mark Twain.” Twain re-enactor Richard Garey shares breakfast with overnight guests and with other visitors on a first-come, first-served basis. At 313 N. Fifth St., 573-221-0774 and reagansqueenanne .
Mark Twain Cave Complex has reduced the admission fee for children to $2.10 throughout the year. The charge for visitors in bus groups is two for $20.10. The cave has lantern tours at 8 p.m., ghosts tours twice a month and clerks in period dress, including a Twain character. One mile south of Hannibal on U.S. 79, 573-221-1656 and .
Tom Uhlenbrock
