Mark Twain House, Elizabeth Park Rose Garden & Capitol – Hartford, CT - September 7

Mark Twain House, Elizabeth Park Rose Garden & Capitol – Hartford, CT - September 7


Today we toured the Samuel Clemens’ house. (pen name, Mark Twain) He called Hartford home for a number of years at the turn of the 20th century. His gothic style home was converted into a museum. Mark Twain House was named as “one of the ten best historic homes in the world” by National Geographic. 


Much like the Gillette home, there was a lot of his own design and they both had very unusual doors. There was also a lot of the same quirkiness throughout the home. They did know each other and visited each other. 


The stories told by the guides in each room really made the home come alive. (both the Gillette and the Twain homes) There was a 20 minute film that explained a lot about the man and his family. There were also rooms with many possessions that are not displayed in the house, a museum and an art gallery. We spent a couple of hours there. No photos were allowed in the home which was too bad since it really was unique & beautiful.

 Mark Twain house

Carriage House

 inside the Carriage House - they use it for functions now

Harriet Beecher Stowe House

We stopped for lunch at J’s Crab Shack. It was “just ok”. We got one Maine style Lobster Roll and one Connecticut style Lobster Roll. (one is cold with mayo and the other was warm with butter) They did have a nice saltwater fish tank with a couple of moray eels and some puffers. 

 J's Crab Shack

this little guy liked the camera, it just kept coming up to it

After lunch we went to the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden which is located in Elizabeth Park. It has the distinction of being the first municipal rose garden in the United States and it is also currently the third largest rose garden in the country.


There are not a lot of roses in bloom this time of year, but they had Dahlia flowers and some were as large as your head. Just beautiful. It was a lovely day out to walk around the park. There was a wedding that had just finished, and Greg got a shot of their dog who was in their wedding. Cute!

 geese crossing the road

 Painted Lady butterfly

 Red-tailed Hawk

On the way back to the hotel we drove by the Capitol building to get some photos since we couldn't tour inside.

We did some grocery shopping and had dinner back at the hotel.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/rv26AR725GSAZToa7


Tomorrow, we are doing a Thimble Islands boat tour.