Welcome back to the road. Today we are paying homage to my favorite author by visiting his hometown, Hannibal Missouri.
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Hannibal is a river town. It owes it’s existence to the Mississippi River, and the railroads. If you go back far enough the place was inhabited by native Americans, and there are some ancient burial mounds preserved here.Â
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In 1819 Moses Bates laid out the town, naming it after Hannibal Creek. I had wondered where the name came from, it seemed strange to name it after someone from ancient Carthage, but it makes sense now. It also seems that someone felt the creek being named after Hannibal didn’t fit either, so they renamed it to Bear Creek.
In 1845 there were still only around 30 souls here, but then the Clemens came to town. Clemens meaning the family of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Obviously he wasn’t a famous writer yet, being just a tiny kid, but his father John Clemens had a hand in bringing the railroad to town. As a result of this venture, the town grew to be the third largest city in Missouri. After that Hannibal was a place of steam engined trains and steam boats on the river.Â
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There are several museums in town that focus on the famous author who spent his boyhood here. We decided to start with his home. Its more of a tour that starts in a generic museum building. It has a lot of information and great displays. No, this was not his house, but don’t worry, that is part of the tour as well.
You may notice a few things while wandering along the Main Street. There are signs all over the place claiming to be the actual site where events or people from Mark Twains novels happened or lived. Like Huck Fins home. Obviously Huck Fin never lived, yet here is his house. It turns out to be a half truth, they are the sites where the people and places that inspired events and characters are located. Its fun, I suppose, to play along.  I guess the names were changed to protect the innocent.
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Moving along we come to Mark Twains actual boyhood home. It seems pretty nice, its too bad his family fell on hard times later. Outside we find another one of those signs. You can take a selfie by Tom Sawyers fence if you like. Maybe you can fool some people into doing your work for you.
Just next door we find Becky Thatcher’s home, or that is to say the home of Ana Laura Hawkins Frazer who inspired the character. Inside the house they have quite a few displays, including some costumes used for some of the celebrations in town. Apparently each year some children from the town are chosen to dress up as Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.
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As I mentioned, Mark Twains family fell on hard times later on. Their neighbor put them up in their home above the store. It must have been very cramped with all those people in such a small space. Below, in the store, I tried this wheel to see how I would have faired in old Hannibal. I ended up dying at the lumber mill.
Heading up the street there is another museum. This time the Mark Twain museum, not to be confused with the Mark Twain Boyhood home museum. In addition to some relics of Samuel Clemens life, you may find depictions of favorite scenes from his novels.Â
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Mark Twain wasn’t the only famous resident of this small town. It was also the birthplace of the unsinkable Molly Brown.  Her birth home has been turned into a museum.  The museum was not open while we were in town, but it was interesting to see where such a legend started out.
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Finally we’re heading to the Riverview park to take in some views of the Mississippi, and visit the famous statue of Mark Twain. It really is quite a site to see after reading about it all my life. I can just imagine Mark Twain staring out at the same river, watching the boats go by.
I hope you enjoyed this visit to Hannibal Missouri. There must be something in that water, or maybe the soil, to have nurtured such amazing people.Â