Visiting Mark Twain and Washington Irving
Greetings from vacation! Gina and I are in the Northeast for a bit of fun (and so I can meet with the Four Horsemen to work on their Ravens Kickstarter project) and we started things off right yesterday by going directly from the airport to the Mark Twain house.
Mark Twain needs no introduction, and the house in Hartford was impressive and wonderful. The house is well worth visiting if you’re a fan of historic sites and literature, but I always compare these homes to the Poe house in Philadelphia . . . and none ever come as close to feeling like the author’s works as that Poe house feels like it belongs in a Poe story.
Today we’re off to the Washington Irving Sunnyside house. Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, and many more stories are what made Irving “the father of the American short story”, and as a fan of short stories there’s no way I could skip this house when it’s only a couple of hours drive. Fingers crossed that the home is a fun visit!
Related articles
- Drinking Chardonnay with Mark Twain (fromnovelstoboardbooks.com)
- Mark Twain’s tips for being awesome (holykaw.alltop.com)
If you are game, you should check out the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in town. Washington Irving is buried there and it is also adjacent to the Old Dutch Church which is featured in his book. Buried in the Old Dutch Yard is Catriena Ecker Van Tessel, the inspiration for Katrina Van Tassel also in his book.
@Jonathan – Damn, I didn’t see your suggestion until this morning. Okay, gives us another excuse to visit the area again.