The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum — Attraction in Hannibal

On 11/29/2023 at 12:35PM I visited Hannibal to visit the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum. I, like most people visiting, wanted to see the main boyhood home and accompanying museum (i.e. Interpretive Center). Unfortunately, because this experience is housed in 7 different buildings (8 if you include the Becky Thatcher house) it can be tricky to find the "main area" including Twain's boyhood home which is located at the end of Main Street. I had the misfortune of going to the wrong Mark Twain location. I went to the "Mark Twain Museum Gallery" and had the misfortune of dealing with a very unpleasant woman who was working at that location at that time. I was inquiring about how to get to the main area (the one that everyone wants to see) and she was very snarky in stating that I was at the Mark Twain museum when she knew full well what I was really trying to find was the boyhood home. I bet she gets that all the time from visitors and that's why she isn't friendly. I will say though that even though 95% of the Mark Twain exhibits that visitors want to see are all grouped together at the end of Main Street that the individual museum that isn't over there is actually worth visiting as well if only just for the original Norman Rockwell paintings. Just do your best to avoid the woman at the front counter I had to deal with.

With regard to the rest of the Mark Twain buildings and staff elsewhere they...

Whether you are a Mark Twain fan or not, you'll see, learn, and enjoy much about Hannibal! Start with a visit to the central Central Museum area and wander through the well-designed, interactive, well researched interpretive exhibits and signage. Few will have time to view the entire 90 minute film in the Welcome Center. It's actually part one of a two-part documentary, commercially done by Ken Burns, but it is fascinating and is the perfect backdrop for everything else you'll see in Hannibal. If you won't have time to spend 2 hours in the Welcome Center watching the film, try to catch the documentary in advance on streaming media, or order it on line. From the welcome center you'll visit various buildings which are part of Mark Twain's story (WAY more interesting if you've seen the film) then head for the separate museum /boyhood home which houses the Norman Rockwell collection. Its first floor exhibits and automatronics are uninspired but fun for selfies, but the collections upstairs... especially the Norman Rockwells......

A better than expected visit to a small but consequential town in American history. The museum tours are worth a visit. The town evokes turn of the century middle America - right up there with Disney's Marcelline Main Street USA. The connection between Ulysees S Grant and Mark Twain is explained indirectly and may compel you to visit Galena Illinois to complete the connection. If you're a writer, this place is something like visiting Mecca. Twain's motivations and experiences are definitively expressed by the times and places of his boyhood home. Related place of interest is Angels Camp east of Stockton California where his story of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was written. Angels Camp has bronze plaques like the Hollywood Walk of Fame for each frog that jumps the farthest at the yearly contest. The Twain boyhood home has many surprises worth your visit. The Best Western hotel next door is as good a place to stay...