Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 330

Travel 16 Section 12 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, May 7, 1989 DonoiEiol beautifully restored with most of its original furnishings. Even Garth family portraits hang on the wall. One of the home's dramatic architectural features is its staircase. Called a flying staircase because there is no visible means of support it is one of only seven currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The 14-foot ceilings on the first floor allow summer breezes to circulate, and 9-foot high doors boast silver hingepins.

Original gas lighting fixtures have been converted to electricity. High on a hill on the north side of town, the Rockcliffe Mansion is an art nouveau masterpiece that was barely saved from demolition. Built in 1900 by lumber magnate John J. Kruikshank, the building has been structurally restored, and its grace shines through the original drapes and furnishings. Mark Twain was entertained here on his last visit to Hannibal in 1902.

The Kruikshanks lived in the mansion until Kruikshank died in 1924. After her husband's his wife moved in with her daughter next door, and for 43 years the home, still partly furnished, was uninhabited. tour guides cautioned claustrophobic visitors to ask for a refund before they begin the tour. The cave is actually quite comfortable and human in scope. During the 55-minutc, five-eighths of a mile tour, it is easy to imagine the youth of Hannibal exploring its mazelike openings, and the thought of being trapped overnight is more thrilling than frightening.

Besides Tom and Becky's imaginary adventures in the cave, there have been some remarkable real-life uses for it. After a train robbery in 1879, it is thought that Jesse James and six of his men probably hid out for three days. He was known to be in the area when five banks were robbed, and his documented signature was found on the wall. In 1849 Joseph McDoval bought the cave (inspiring the name "McDougaPs cave" in "Tom He stored his daughter's body in embalming solution there after she died until some local parents, aghast that their children were playing with her head, made him remove her remains. Judge E.T.

Cameron bought the cave in 1928, and his descendants still own it. Norman Rockwell was lost in it for a short time while doing re search for his paintings. Meetings have been held over the past century in one of its larger chambers, and in the 1950s it was used as a fall-out shelter. Occasionally, marriages are performed in the cave. Hannibal's mansions Two mansions are open to the public for tours.

Although in his later life Mark Twain was a guest at the Garth Woodside Mansion and the Rockcliffe Mansion, tours take the visitor beyond the Mark Twain mystique to the reality of old Hannibal. (The Garth Woodside Mansion also operates as a bed and breakfast; see accompanying story.) John and Helen Garth were two of Twain's schoolmates and his life-long friends. One of Hannibal's wealthiest citizens, Garth made his fortune through banking, cattle, tobacco and lumber mills, and eventually his cement company became the third largest in the world. On the southwest outskirts of Hannibal, the three-story Garth Woodside Mansion was built in 1872 as the Garths' summer home. Now surrounded by 37 acres of rolling timber and farmland, the Italianate house is passengers see Hannibal from a unique perspective and hear a commentary about the river.

Purine the summer the huge Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen cruise boats stop at Hannibal. These passenger cruise boats are not open to visitors, but the excitement that their arrivals and departures generate must surely echo bygone days. But maybe the Mississippi and Mark Twain are best appreciated simply, without a tour. One place you can go on your own is River-view Park, which offers a beautiful view of the Mississippi. An almost vertical drive up Harrison Hill north of town leads to the park, 400 acres of timber and open land donated to Hannibal by W.B.

Pettibone. The left-hand fork in the park road leads to the dramatic view of the Mississippi. Going south along the park's drive leads to a statue of the adult Mark Twain, erected in 1913 by the state of Missouri, three years after he died. He is overlooking his river, just north of his town, and the statue's inscription reads, "His religion was humanity and a whole world mourned for him when he died." Special to The Tribune It became Hannibal's haunted house, according to Catherine Brown, a long-time Hannibal resident whose tours through the mansion are a plaasure to In 1967 the porches began rotting and part of the roof caved in, and the Kruikshank daughter made arrangements to have the building torn down. Three weeks before the wrecking started, three Hannibal families bought the property, and it has been open for tours ever since.

The mansion still has its original Tiffany lighting fixtures, including copper ones in the front hall which are fitted for gas and electricity. Much of the furniture is from Paris, with some woodwork and tables imported from Florence. There are 10 fireplaces and many bathrooms with plumbing that still works. The 30-room house overlooks Hannibal, although its original view of the Mississippi is now obscured by trees. Just as important to Mark Twain as Hannibal is the Mississippi River.

The Mark Twain is an old-fashioned three-story riverboat that makes one-hour sightseeing cruises from May through October. As it goes up the river, Continued from page 15 Hill Street block sits the Haunted House and Wax Museum. About two dozen lifesize wax figures of the Clemens family and Mark Twain's characters eerily face each other in a large case, complete with human hair and dentures (although sculptor Martin Kreusan found a set of real teeth for Tom Sawyer). The adjacent haunted house is an experimental non se- quitur to the rest of the town, al- beit good for a laugh. Perhaps Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher become most real in the Mark Twain Cave, three miles south of Hannibal.

Guided tours of the cave, offered since 1886, i treat their imaginary adventures in "Tom Sawyer" almost as fact. Discovered in 1820 by Jack Simms as he followed his dogs after a panther, the cave winds through 6V miles of clean, dry passages. Soot from torches and carvings in the soft limestone (now punishable with a hefty fine) are echoes of long ago explorers. On a recent tour, one of the Spring a surprise Marriott's Two For Breakfast Weekend fay $CQ per night, JlUiil' jy not per person. Give in to the urge to get away And surprise that special someone with a romantic weekend at Marriott.

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