The Rock Island Argus from Moline, Illinois • 41

41 THE ARGUS Rock Island 111 Sunday August 29 1982 Travel LasVegas Before making up your mind about critical issues read Pro and Con This week and every week in FAMILY WEEKLY Weekend Magazine Argus photos by Dswn Requst Liz and Jim Mulhern stand on the porch of their newly-opened lodging Twain leaves mark on Hannibal BIG BOVS AFFORDAMEAL BIG BREAKFAST Served Monday thru Friday til 11AM like 2 Big Farm Fresh E8Rs ajmm 2 Breakfasts 2 Long Lean Bacon Strips U1 2 Big Pieces of French Toast Rock Mood lift St at IBdi Am 7M4177 Mokno Mid AM kt kind 81 TW-07B2 Dovonport Brad A Kknbortv M1-M01 Bettendorf 75 MMdto Rood SM-BS06 Big Boy Diner-Take and tour guide The mansion sits high above the town on one of the bluffs and has been well-preserved windows were such that you could step out of them onto a said Hagood Twain attended a dinner at the house during his last visit to Hannibal in 1902 The Garth Woodside mansion outside of town was built by John Garth a prominent businessman in 1871 The 20-room country estate is styled in Italian Renaissance but has all of the antebellum characteristics of a Southern mansion with a cupalo at the top The floating staircase leads to the third floor where the servants had their quarters There are 450 varieties of roses in the garden next to the house The Garths spent their winter months on Fifth Street Row in Hannibal The townhouse has recently been converted into a Bed and Breakfast establishment for tourists This is where I stayed during my visit The three-story home was built in 1865 and house the family until 1878 This second home also has Italianate style architecture with a cupola topping the house It was in the room directly below the cuppola in which I slept The view from the cuppola provides a beautiful view of Hannibal and of the John Garth Memorial Library built in memory of Mrs husband after his death in 1899 The Riverboat Mark Twain provides tourists with river cruises during the day and a dinner cruise in the evening Leap and Cardiff Cliff where the lighthouse is located are beautiful sights from the boat electricity Hagood said was a time when there were 11 lighthouses in Hannibal at one In 1935 the town celebrated the 100th anniversary of Mark birth President Franklin Roosevelt lit the tower light from Washington DC The statue of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn directly below the lighthouse is thought to be the first statue of fictional characters to be made in the world Hannibal is filled with the charm and humble qualities of a small Midwestern town The preserved buildings of the Mark Twain era and the other tourist attractions near by make for a lovely weekend of sightseeing influence has left its mark in this town by the popular books he wrote about Hannibal describing the memory of a special boyhood he spent there Next door to this house is Judge Clemens law office and the Pilaster House It is called the House of the Pilasters because of the wooden columns incorporated into the design of the building There was a drugstore on the first floor When the Clemens family could no longer afford their own home they moved into this house with its residents Dr Grant and his family Judge Clemens died here in 1847 The Mark Twain Cave is one of the few caves designated as a US Natural Landmark Seven miles of passageways were carved out of limestone ages ago by an underground stream This cave was one of favorite places to play when he was a boy He wrote in his autobiography think my mother was never in the cave in her life but everybody else went there It is located one and one-half miles below Hannibal Many excursion parties came from considerable distances up and down the river to visit the cave It was miles in extent and was a tangled wilderness of lofty clefts and passages It was an easy place to get lost in anybody could do it I got lost in it myself along with a lady and our last candle burned down to almost nothing before we glimpsed the search lights winding about in the Today guides escort tourists on a 55-minute circular tour past a variety of formations including: Grand Avenue Palace the Alligator Sign of the Cross (where Tom and Huck found treasure) Hanging Shoe the Spring the Large Parlor and the Post Office (where Tom left love letters for Becky) Tourists should spend one evening at the Clemens amphitheater where the play of Mark is performed The play begins with his birth and ends with his death on which Haley's Comet appeared on both occasions The audience is seated across a small creek opposite the natural outdoor stage Replicas of the buildings in neighborhood equipped with a boat that travels up the creek and docks in front of the stage are part of the interesting scenery The Ice House in downtown Hannibal also presents a variety of entertaining plays The Garth summer mansion and the Rockcliffe Mansion once housed two of prominent families is a much bigger more elite said Hurley Hagood a local historian By Dawn Requet Argus staff writer Memories of Mark Twain emanate from his boyhood town of Hannibal Mo Settled between two bluffs known as Hill and Leap and beside the Mississippi River this town was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens and his ficticious counterpart Tom Sawyer for fourteen years There are a number of places to visit Mark Twain Cave the outdoor Clemens Amphitheater the Garth and Rockcliffe Mansions and the restored buildings in boyhood neighborhood on Hill Street all make for a perfect weekend excursion to this small river town The white frame green-shuttered house his father built in 1844 still stands on Hill Street in the downtown area The home was designated as a National Landmark in 1963 The other structures on the street Becky house his law office and the Pilaster House were later added to the National Register of Historic Places Robert Hogg a native of Hannibal and an employee of the Mark Twain museum (which is next door to the Clemens home) is familiar with much of history His family came to the town to live in 1859 wealth of Hannibal is in lilmber and flour said Hogg whose parents were friend of the noted author was quite a grhin area museum proper was the home of an old family of Hogg said home (next door) is practically all built of walnut It leans a littlethey started building at one and and just kept building back" Although the furnishings are from the Mark Twain period the table desk in the dining room is the only original piece of furniture that belonged to Twain The museum is filled with Mark Twain memorabilia including a huge orches-trelle (a combination player pianopipe organ) 16 original Norman Rockwell prints of scenes from books and one of the typewriters he once used He was one of the first famous authors to use a typewriter One of playmates Laura Hawkins and her family lived in the two-story Becky Thatcher House across the street This friend was the girl behind the Becky Thatcher character in books Better Late Here in Missouri we save our best festivals for Fall Everything good comes to those who wait And those who wait until fall to come to Missouri find her at her best The crowds of summer have come and gone The weather is cool And the days are clear and bright In fall our festivals are at their best Art fairs Crafts festivals Balloon rallies Oktoberfests and everything in between See Missouri at her best This fall take a Missouri Break Dept 9034 Missouri Division of Tourism Box 1055 Jefferson City MO 65102 Please send me more information on enjoying Missouri in the fall Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery Name Address City Robert Hogg whose parents knew Mark Twain is ivailable at the Hannibal Mo museum to fill in isides on the town's most famous citizen Steve Terry captains the Riverboat Mark Twain which takes regularly scheduled cruises on the Mississippi the river Samuel Clemons so dearly loved State Zip 1-800-325-0733 (1-800-392-0711 in Missouri).