ABOARD QUEEN OF THE MISSISSIPPI-Historically linked to the Mississippi River as the town that most inspired America’s greatest author and humorist, Mark Twain, Hannibal proved the perfect first port of call on our voyage to St. Paul.
Twain spent his boyhood years in Hannibal – a young rascal then known as Samuel
Clemens – where childhood experiences sparked his huge imagination, leading to some of the world’s most widely read novels. Naturally the town is all about Twain.
Key historic properties on every visitor’s must-see list include the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum (a National Historic Landmark), Becky Thatcher House, Huckleberry Finn House and the J.M. Clemens Justice of the Peace Office. We found that the museum and its neighboring complex of restored houses offers a comprehensive, easy to follow interpretation of Clemens’ life. Interactive exhibits, aimed at engaging youngsters but suitable for kids of all ages, involve visitors in some of Twain’s most famous novels – exploring a cave with Tom and Becky, riding a raft with Huck and Jim, or taking a turn whitewashing that famous fence.
Worth seeing here too is the museum’s prize collection of 16 original Norman Rockwell illustrations of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The rest of Hannibal’s downtown area is typically touristy, sporting the likes of a haunted house, wax museum, toy train museum and rows of gift shops, ice cream parlors, sweet shops and antique stores.
ACL offers guests two included tours in Hannibal – one taking in the Twain Home & Museum complex as I’ve described – and a Trolley Tour that roams around the town and includes a stop at Rockcliffe Mansion. This turn-of-the-century Gilded Age mansion is situated on a limestone bluff overlooking the town and river and is well worth seeing – but it is a long uphill walk from the river landing (as we can testify) —
so, for most, it is best visited on the Trolley Tour.
