March 3, 2020
From Connecticut History:
“Samuel Clemens visited Hartford in 1871 to arrange publication of his first book, Innocents Abroad, staying with John and Isabella Hooker, who were friends of Olivia’s mother. In 1872, he bought three acres of land in Nook Farm, eventually amassing eight acres. In 1873 and 1874, architect Edward Tuckerman Potter, architect of Elizabeth Colt’s Church of the Good Shepherd in Hartford, was kept busy with two commissions: the Clemenses’ 19-room, 5-bath house on Farmington Avenue, and the George Warners’ house to the rear. The Clemenses moved in in 1874. Their three daughters, Susie, Clara, and Jean, were all born in Nook Farm. During his time in Hartford, Twain wrote seven books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).”
Harriet Beecher Stowe was his next door neighbor and this was her house. It’s just a stone’s throw from Mark Twain’s mansion, across a park-like lawn. They could walk across to visit one another in under a minute, easily.
