At the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, take a walk through the homes that inspired Twain’s famous novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and discover the real people who became the characters in his works.
Tours include access to multiple homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Boyhood Home of Samuel Clemens, a National Historic Landmark; the Huckleberry Finn House, home of the Tom Blankenship family; Becky Thatcher House, the original home of Laura Hawkins; the J.M. Clemens Justice of the Peace Office, Twain’s father’s law office; and Grant’s Drugstore, also known as the Pilaster House (Clemens family lived upstairs with Dr. Grant). Tours also include access to two interactive museums, the Interpretive Center, which contains a timeline of Twain’s life, and the Museum Gallery, which house artifacts, first editions, original works by Norman Rockwell, and much more. The Museum Gallery makes the perfect final stop on the tour. The Gallery is two floors, plus a mezzanine, and it houses unique and precious artifacts and memorabilia, plus the opportunity to see original Norman Rockwell sketches and illustrations up close.
Make your group tour especially memorable by taking advantage of the Museum’s educational programming. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum offers guided tours, lectures, and talks for groups upon availability for an additional fee. Lectures including “Is Mark Twain Relevant Today?,” “Tom and Livy, A Love Story,” “Mark Twain’s Life and Works,” and others are available for groups of 20-50 visitors.
Mark Twain Live performances by seasoned impersonator Jim Waddell are held in the Museum Gallery Auditorium on most Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at no additional charge. Tom and Becky, Hannibal’s goodwill ambassadors, can be scheduled to meet and greet your group at no additional charge, although donations to the Tom and Becky Program are always welcomed. Tom and Becky can also perform “The Engagement Scene,” a short five-minute skit taken directly from the book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”
On Thursday evenings throughout the months of June, July, and August, the Museum hosts Music Under the Stars. Music Under the Stars is a free outdoor live music series featuring local, regional, and national musicians and bands held outside Twain’s Boyhood Home on Historic Hill Street. Food and beverages are available for purchase from area nonprofits and a Hannibal area brewery.
The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is exceptionally well-equipped to provide a wonderful experience to group travelers. Motorcoaches may drop off and pick up passengers at the Museum Interpretive Center or the Museum Gallery. Bus parking is located on Center Street on the riverfront, just one block from the Museum Gallery. As an extra courtesy, the Museum provides free admission to all tour guides and bus drivers.
The Museum can host groups of 20-300, although groups larger than 25 will need to be broken into smaller groups and begin their tours at different buildings. Groups that contain over 20 visitors are eligible for discounted pricing.
Museum staff is happy to assist with scheduling your group’s visit, and additional guided tours, lectures, talks, or a Tom and Becky greet can be reserved through the reservation desk. Call Bob or Karan at 573-221-9010 ext. 409 or Melissa Cummins, admission’s manager and Tom and Becky coordinator at ext. 404. The Museum staff hopes your group leaves with a deeper appreciation of Mark Twain and a desire to delve back into his books and writings.
