Hannibal, MO

After leaving St. Louis we headed north to Hannibal, MO

We took Hwy 79, which runs parallel to the Mississippi River.

 

Hannibal, MO, is famous for being the home of Mark Twain. His books, although fiction, were based on people and locations of his childhood in Hannibal.

The downtown area is full of historic buildings, each with placques denoting their importance and how they were included in Mark Twain's books.

Max whitewashes the same fence which Tom Sawyer convinced his friends to pay him for the privilege of whitewashing. I don't think Max paid Tom though.

In front of Huckleberry Finn's home.

The home of Mark Twain, or Samuel Clemens. Behind the home is a Mark Twain museum. It was very good. I don't remember reading many of Mark Twain's books as a kid, but the museum has made me want to go back and read them now.

In front of the 'Becky Thatcher' house. Becky was Tom Sawyer's first sweetheart in Mark Twain's book, Tom Sawyer.

Down at the Mississippi River in Hannibal this building is on stilts.

And with good reason. During flooding the building would be under water if not on stilts. In fact, in 1993, the water still rose above the bottom of the building.

Just outside of town was a city park.

It had a beautiful view of the town and the river.

Down the road just a few miles is a now defunct town of Ilasco.

The green area was once the home of the local school. Ilasco was at one time the largest town in the county.

The old jail.

The church is the only thing left now.

The town was settled by immigrants from eastern Europe.

Instead of just one predominant European immigrants who settled in this area, there were 7 groups.

When the Atlas Cement plant opened in 1903, the immigrants found a place for work and a new land to settle. This town once had 3000 inhabitants living here.

Can you imagine what it sounded like walking down the street and hearing 7 different languages being spoken.

The flags of the immigrants. The descendants of the original inhabitants still have reunions.

A picture of the town in the early 1900s.

We stopped at the Mark Twain cave and found Tom and Becky there.

Wow, here's another Tom and Becky.

We chose not to pay for entry into the cave, and also not to scramble up the hill to what is probably one of the original entrances.

There was a street concert in the evening.

Kathy Brink and Mike Coultas entertained us. They were very good.

The lighthouse overlooks the harbor at Hannibal, on the Mississippi River.

The Mark Twain Cafe served homemade root beer and great root beer floats.