Mark Twain's Hannibal

Mark Twain used the whole town of Hannibal as a location for his novels. Set on Twain’s Mississippi, Hannibal-esque towns were home to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher. Some of his locations are direct descriptions of what he saw—buildings in the town, places along the river bank and the local cave system—while some came straight out of his imagination. The town is what Americans mean when they say home town USA—its got homey looking houses and a friendly vibe (partly because of its home made apple pie image). While it feels like someone has made an effort to preserve and encourage Twain’s image of Hannibal it has worked and it is really a good place to commune with Finn and Sawyer. In the cemetery is the only marked grave of a slave, who worked for Laura Hawkins on whom Becky Thatcher was based, along the river is Jackson’s Island where Huck meets Jim the run away slave and there are numerous themed river boats. If walking around Hannibal isn’t enough for you to get the feel for Twain’s locations you can go to the vast machine which is the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, which has spread to engulf eight buildings, six historically important to Twain’s work, including the house where Mark (Sam Clemens) grew up, and two more to hold all the museum pieces. The other historic buildings are the Huckleberry Finn house (the home of Tom Blankenship who Twain based the character of Finn on), the Becky Thatcher house, the Justice of the Peace Office, Grant’s Drug Store (Sam also lived here as a child) and Pilaster House. If you visit around one of the special days, like Twain’s birthday or Tom Sawyer Day—you can enter further into the spirit of these characters by entering a watermelon seed spitting or minnow catching contest.