Issue:
January/February 2007

Text:
Geoffrey Kula

Photography:
Geoffrey Kula

Geographic Region:
CT, USA

Pages:
14 - 20

GPS Maps:
Available for download

Visit the gallery for more pictures

Zipping down Interstate 84 from Boston to Hartford, my friend Mike's Honda VTX 1800 has ample torque to spare, and my 1100 Honda Shadow keeps pace satisfactorily all the way to the Mark Twain House in West Hartford, our first tourist destination. The bushy-haired wit, journalist, and social commentator lived in this quirky 19-room mansion from 1874 to 1891 and wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court while residing here. There's a museum featuring an audiovisual presentation chronicling Twain's history in the area, as well as many manuscripts and personal effects on display. For anyone interested in learning more about the greatest of American satirists, this monument is certainly worth visiting.

Look it Up
On our way out the door, I ask one of the employees how to get to Route 4 for our next stop, the Noah Webster House. Built in1748, it is the restored birthplace and childhood home of Noah Webster (1758-1843). Hartford's most famous native son, Webster was the lexicographer who published the first English dictionary of the American language, which eventually evolved into the popular series of Merriam-Webster dictionaries used today. However, he received little reward for this work in his lifetime, and was plagued with debt throughout his declining years. The directions given to Webster's home are as simple as one of his definitions, but they assume a local's familiarity with the area – "Go straight for a few blocks and turn left at the white church." Pressing for additional details yields no discernible results, so we proceed in the certainty that a wrong turn is inevitable....