Who are you, Mr. Twain?  Samuel Langhorne Clemens ( it is the real name of the man known as Mark Twain) was born in 1835 and was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, a little town on the Mississippi River  In Hannibal you bump into Mark Twain everywhere you go.

Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home  Sam Clemens was four years old when his family moved to Hannibal.  His boyhood home at 206 Hill Street is now a museum.  Sam lived in this house from 1844 until 1853, and many of the things that happened there found their way into the stories about Tom and Huck.

Becky Thatcher’s House  Across the street from Mark Twain’s boyhood home is the house of young Sam’s sweetheart, Laura Hawkins.  She became the model for Becky Thatcher, Tom Sawyer’s young love.

Huck Finn’s House  Huck was modelled on Tom Blankenship, the son of a drunkard who lived in a small poor house behind the house where Sam Clemens grew up.  In his autobiography Mark Twain said that in creating Huck he had drawn Tom Blankenship “exactly as he was”.  He was always hungry, dirty and untidy

Jackson’s Island  In “Tom Sawyer” Tom, Huck and Joe Harper spend a week on the uninhabited island playing pirates.  Mark Twain sais that he modelled Jackson’s Island on a real island near Hannibal that was known as Glasscock’s Island in his time.

Tom Sawyer’s Fence  You can read there, “Here stood the board fence which Tom Sawyer persuaded his gang to pay him for the privilege of whitewashing. Tom sat by and saw that it was well done.”

Tom and Huck Statue  The bronze statue of Tom and Huck was created by Frederic Hibbard in  These friends have stood together for 84 years on the site of the original Cardiff Hill.

National Tom Sawyer Days  Every July the town of Hannibal celebrates National Tom Sawyer Days.

National Tom Sawyer Days  Both children and adults take part in whitewashing and frog-jumping contests and other interesting events.

National Tom Sawyer Days  Local kids compete to become the official Tom and Becky.