Nov 15, 2008 12:45 - By: Darren Farrington
I’ve lived over twenty years of my life in Connecticut, but there are still quite a few historic places I haven’t seen even in this small state. That’s because there are so many of them. Living in New England, it’s hard not to drive by something historic almost every day. There are the big attractions of course—places like Plymouth Rock or the Old State House for those who live in Boston. But there are also hundreds of lesser known attractions like Revolutionary War sites, historic buildings, and homes of famous Americans built in the seventeenth, eighteenth or nineteenth centuries.
All within five miles in and around Hartford, Connecticut, are former homes of Mark Twain (1835-1910), Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), and Noah Webster (1758-1843). For anyone interested in vacations packed with visits to historic sites, this area has no shortage. This past summer, my daughter and I took in a few of them.
The Mark Twain House
The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford threatened to close earlier this year because of a lack of funding. I had never been there, and I figured I should do my part to keep open the home of arguably America’s greatest writer and humorist. Twain is better known for growing up in Hannibal, Missouri, but he lived in Hartford from 1874 through 1891. It was here that he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and several other of his great novels. To add to the history, the home was decorated by Louis Comfort Tiffany. In addition to the home, the grounds include a recently built Education and Visitors Center which displays exhibits about Twain’s life and the Industrial and Victorian Ages in America, as well a short biopic of Twain by award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. There, you’ll learn lesser known facts, such as Twain helping to form a Confederate militia during the Civil War, but giving up on it after only two weeks. Hours and admission fees are available at the website.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Immediately next to the Mark Twain House is the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Library, home of the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and one of the most famous American women of the nineteenth century. Stowe lived there from 1873 until her death in 1896. That’s right, for several years, Stowe and Twain were neighbors. Like the Twain home, the Stowe site includes educational exhibits in an adjacent building and a Visitors Center—this one in an 1873 carriage house. Both the Twain House and the Stowe House also offer special holiday tours. Even better for families, the Stowe home schedules Child’s Tours specifically directed at children ages 5 through 12. Admission for that tour is only $5 for children and $4 for accompanying adults and teenagers. Additional admission fees and hours are available at the website.
The Noah Webster House
One town away in West Hartford is the 1758 birthplace of another famous American writer. Noah Webster didn’t write novels, but almost every student in America has read his book. (Most of us in an updated version, I’m sure.) Unlike the Victorian “cottages” of Twain and Stowe, the Webster House is a New England farmhouse built in the mid-eighteenth century. It’s also a great educational resource and its staff has designed tours and Colonial-era activities specifically for kids that are held on the first Saturday of each month. Again, updated hours and admission fees are available at the website.
At first, visits to historic homes don’t sound like a real thrill for families with young kids. Each of these sites however really makes an effort to include children or to offer them special programs or activities. Each of them also has great grounds and gardens for getting some outside time in nice weather. And, if my daughter is like other kids, the Gift Shops are always a favorite too. Your kids might even learn some history without realizing it.
