Mark Twain Home, Connecticut

Hartford (like Albany, New York, also an up-river state capitol) was settled in the 17^th century, at the most inland point for commercial navigation at the time. Like many other cities too, modern Hartford ignored its river in the 20^th century. After the Second World War, as its economy moved from machine tool industries to insurance companies, the city built dumps and interstates along its waterfront. In the 1870s, though, Hartford was among the nation’s most affluent cities, and still a river town. This was asserted by the fact that America’s most famous river-man, Mark Twain, built his 25 room dream home here in 1874, where, over the following 17 years, he wrote his most famous novels about the Mississippi River. His next door neighbor was the famous abolitionist and writer, Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose house is preserved, along with his, as a historic site.