Steve Courtney

Mark Twain's Hartford Steve Courtney

Samuel L. Clemens, aka Mark Twain, arrived in Hartford, Connecticut, in August 1867. He was there to see the publisher of his new travel book, The Innocents Abroad, and fell in love with the city. "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief," he wrote to his San Francisco newspaper. At the time, Hartford was a manufacturing, insurance, and banking center. Clemens ultimately settled there, built an ornate mansion, raised a family, made lifelong friends, and took part in civic and political affairs. During his two decades in Hartford, he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and the Pauper, and other works. These were his most productive years--and his happiest--until, as he wrote, Hartford became "the city of heartbreak."