November 2010

The Monte Cristo Cottage was the only permanent home of Eugene O'Neill from his birth in 1888 until 1917, when he began supporting himself as a playwright. Named in honor of his father, actor James O'Neill's most popular role, the dashing Edmund Dantes in The Count Of Monte Cristo, the 1840's cottage is both a Registered National Landmark and a museum, featuring an extensive collection of artifacts and memorabilia, including an O'Neill portrait and poster gallery and a permanent exhibition on the life and works of the playwright. The Cottage provided the setting for two of his most noted works, Ah, Wilderness! and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

The Mark Twain House and Museum provides a rich treasury of Twain's triumphs and tragedies, contemporaries and the Gilded Age.

At the museum, visitors can experience a biography from award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. And for a penetrating look at Twain's notable peers, period influences, and enduring legacy, visit our 2,000–square-foot gallery with changing exhibits. You'll see rare manuscripts, photos, artifacts, fine and decorative arts never before on display.

Tours of the Twain house reveal both its whimsy and stylistic idiosyncrasy and more importantly, its inspired and sophisticated expression of modernity.

Discover how young Samuel Clemens grew up in the small village of Hannibal to become one of the world's most beloved authors, Mark Twain.

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum properties includes eight buildings; six historically significant buildings and two exciting, interactive museums whose collections include fifteen original Norman Rockwell paintings. A self-guided tour of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum properties gives you the chance to explore the Hannibal of Samuel Clemens' childhood and experience the beloved stories he created as Mark Twain through the power of his imagination.

Museum properties include the Interpretive Center, Mark Twain's Boyhood Home, Huckleberry Finn House, Becky Thatcher House, J.M. Clemens Justice of the Peace Office, Grant's Drug Store, and Museum Gallery.

Details of Samuel Langhorne Clemens’ remarkable life are interpreted through exhibits and audio-visual programs at the museum. Along with the two-room cabin in which he was born, the museum features first editions of Mark Twain’s works, a handwritten manuscript of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and furnishings from his Hartford, Conn., home.

In the village of Florida, a red granite monument marks the original location of the cabin. Surrounding the state historic site is the 2,775-acre state park, providing opportunities for camping, hiking, swimming and fishing and access to Mark Twain Lake.

Longfellow National Historic Site preserves the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of the world’s foremost 19th century poets. The house also served as headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston, July 1775 - April 1776. In addition to its rich history, the site offers unique opportunities to explore the themes of 19th century literature and the arts.

The Museum exhibits include artifacts spanning over a century of the lives of the pioneering history described in the "Little House" books. The life, writings and career of Rose Wilder Lane are also featured in a section of the museum. Recreations of rooms from Rose's homes, her desks, her manuscripts, and souvenirs from her world travels are also displayed.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Park and Museum contains a number of places that informed her life and inspired her books. Visitors can see the places where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew and developed her love of books and words - where stories flowed from the tombstones of Burr Oak pioneers in the cemetery where Laura and her friend Alice found solace in the quiet of summer afternoons on the hill by the Advent Church. Guests can experience the view from the hotel that Pa managed while the Ingalls family lived and worked here -- the view of Silver Creek that still flows as it did when the Ingalls girls waded in it.

Visitors experience a unique journey into Laura's life and history with a trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, South Dakota, the "Little Town on the Praire."

Visitors can step into the original Surveyor's House from Laura's book By the Shores of Silver Lake, or see firsthand Pa's craftsmanship in the house he built on Third Street, The Ingalls Home. At the Ingalls Home, visitors can find out what happened after the books ended and the family members' lives went on. The home contains many original artifacts of the family and of the first school in De Smet. The Surveyors' House was the first home of the Ingalls in Dakota Territory.

Explore Laughing Brook’s 356 acres of woodlands, meadows, and streams along its four-mile trail system. Be on the lookout for the many signs of wildlife that live at the sanctuary, including fishers, warblers, thrushes, various reptiles, and amphibians. Listen for the running brook and for kingfishers and other migratory birds, which signal the return of spring at Laughing Brook. A variety of wildlife tracks can be found in the winter snow. In the fall, enjoy the many colors of the forest and the wildflower-filled meadow.

Surrounded by almost 9 acres of fruit orchards and 326 acres of oak woodland, the site today is just a small piece of the original 2,600 acre ranch. Muir's 14 room Victorian mansion and the Martinez adobe are open for the public.