MTV cribs: Mark Twain

So on Friday Kelli, myself and our friend Rhys went up to Hartford, CT. It wasn't to see the insurance capital of the world, as interesting as that might have been, but to read a dissertation in German....from the 1930s. As if we needed another reason to take a day to go to Hartford, we decided that stopping by Twain's crib would help ease us off of our German dissertation exuberance.

So, here are some pics of Rhys and I at Hartford Seminary.


You may have noticed that Hartford Seminary looks a bit like an elementary school sugar-cube castle, but upon closer examination (namely, by licking it) it was not.


Rhys and I won the kings of the castle game.

Here are some pics of Hartford proper ("proper" being used in the sense of general township and not in the MC Hammer sense - although it could certainly be used either way). Speaking of MC Hammer, and proper, this brings us to our installment of MTV Cribs: Mark Twain.

It is interesting being in the historic regions of the USA, because you finds seeds of our present cultural experience. For instance, what does a hometown Missouri boy do who writes some best sellers and marries rich - he builds a phat crib. This is the main house, that in its time overlooked a valley and a river, and was completed in only 16 months in 1874.

As you can tell, the house is built out of red brick, with differing patterns in the brick. It was designed by the most desired architect of the day, in the town that Twain said: "Of all the beautiful towns, it has been my fortune to see this is the chief.” The house is 11,000 square foot, and has 19 rooms.


Just as any present day rapper who finds himself going from a poor family to the elite and sophisticated realities of the rich, Twain has to make a statement. Not only was the house a very peculiar design, but he hired Tiffanies to come in and do silver and gold stenciling throughout the whole house...all three stories. He furnished the house by taking shopping trips to Venice, Scotland, and elsewhere throughout Europe, and built the house with every technological invention of the day. This included: speaking tubes to the rooms and to the servants quarters, central heat, telephone (he was one of two people in town with one), gas lighting throughout, buzzer system to the servants, and even a battery operated burglar alarm that evidently didn't work so well.


The deck at the top of the house overlooked the river valley below, and was directly off of Twain's favorite room - the pool room. Evidently Mark moved his desk in this room and tried to work while attempting to ignore what he thought was the greatest game every invented.

As you can see, Mark Twain laid the cultural seedbed for what has become an identifying cultural reality for Americans. The rags to riches story is always told from the house that typifies the American dream - absurdly massive, overly ornate, and filled with the most high-tech gadgets of the day. Twain would make Nelly proud.