Mark Twain
Hannibal, Missouri
Just as Huckleberry Finn wouldn’t exist without Twain, Twain wouldn’t exist without the boyhood influence of his hometown, Hannibal, Missouri. The city will celebrate its bicentennial in 2019 with a jam-packed year of activities, “so it would be a great time to visit,” said Megan Rapp, assistant director of the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, spent the ages of 4 to 17 in Hannibal. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum complex includes seven buildings: two museums with exhibits, while the rest are “historic buildings that played an important factor in his life and his works,” Rapp said.
The most notable is his boyhood home. But visitors can also see the Becky Thatcher house, the Huck Finn cabin, his father’s justice of the peace office and Grant’s Drug Store. Except for Grant’s Drug Store, which is closed for a full restoration and will reopen in a couple of years with new exhibits, all are open for people to explore.
The Mark Twain Riverboat is a replica paddle wheeler that cruises the Mississippi River from May til November. The triple-decker riverboat offers one-hour sightseeing trips with live narration about different points of interest that Twain mentions in his books, as well as evening dinner cruises complete with live music and dancing.
Twain “was known as much for his stage performances as he was for his writing during his life,” Rapp said. Local historical interpreter Richard Garey performs “Mark Twain Himself” at the Planters Barn Theater, and Jim Waddell performs “Mark Twain Live” at the Cave Hollow Theater.
The theater is part of the Mark Twain Cave Complex, which includes the Mark Twain Cave along with the Cameron Cave and the Cave Hollow West winery. Groups can take guided tours of the labyrinth caves, watch the performance at the theater and enjoy a tasting at the winery.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Abilene, Kansas
Before he ever became president, Eisenhower had a museum. His boyhood home in Abilene, Kansas, opened for tours in 1947 and still has all the original furnishings nearly as they were when Ike’s mother passed away in 1946.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home sits on a 22-acre campus that features five buildings, including a visitor center, his family home and the Place of Meditation, where Eisenhower, his wife, Mamie, and their firstborn son are interred.
“The campus itself is one of the highlights,” said museum curator William Snyder. “We are unique among the presidential libraries because we have more than one building.”
Those buildings will remain open to the public when the museum closes this spring to renovate its five major galleries and exhibits. The museum plans to reopen June 1, 2019, to start the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Snyder said.
Exhibits will be more interactive, with more touch screens and technology, “to enhance, not to overpower” the extensive collection of artifacts from Ike’s 40-year military career and eight years as president. Among the artifacts are the 1914 Rauch and Lang electric automobile that belonged to Mamie’s parents, along with a picture of Ike driving it, and Eisenhower’s 1942 Cadillac staff car that went all over Europe with him during World War II.
The 14-foot table around which Allied Forces planned Operation Overlord, the code name for the D-Day Battle of Normandy, will be “stunningly displayed in the new exhibits,” Snyder said. “It’s a Sheraton table, and it was over 100 years old when Ike was sitting at it.” The renovation project will also add theater experiences that show actual footage throughout the galleries.
