Terrell Dempsey is right! I visited Hannibal as a
fifty year old kid a couple of years ago, on the 4th
of July, and had an unforgetable time. Fireworks over
the river, Tom Sawyer's cave, a river boat ride, and
all the chintz and touristic plastic you can
imagine--but also some wonderful book stores and
several remarkable statues and sculptures of Sam and
Tom and Huck--it is the all-American town for July 4
and perhaps best of all, the natives weren't just
friendly, they were Southernly hospitable--not a bum
in the whole lot that I encountered--go with a smile
and you will leave with a bigger one and count
yourself lucky. ---Unashamably, a Twainiac, Doug
Bridges
--- Terrell Dempsey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hannibal is a place.
> Hannibal is a place with people.
> The people are not perfect.
> The people are very nice.
> The people are in many cases the direct descendants
> of the people who lived here from 1839 to 1861.
> Some aspects of the culture have not changed very
> much.
>
> If you just blow in and out,
> you may not leave with more than you brought.
> But you can:
>
> Go to service at the First Presbyterian Church where
> Jane and Pamela Clemens were members. Sam didn't
> come here, but his mother's funeral was held here.
>
> Go to service at Willow Street Christian Church or
> Scott Chapel United Methodist Church and share with
> descendants of slaves from 1839 - 1865. They will be
> nice as pie to you and the music is incredible. Tell
> my friend Joe Miller hi.
>
> Pick up a copy of the Hannibal Courier Post and see
> what a small town newspaper looks like today.  This
> was Joe Ament's old paper. Sam learned an awful lot
> here.  He first set dialect stories in this paper.
>
> Eat a giant pork tenderloin sandwich (and don't tell
> your cardiologist or if male and married, your
> wife.)
>
> Go up to the old Baptist cemetery and see the grave
> of Agnes Flautleroy, slave of the Hawkins family.
>
> While you're in the Baptist Cemetery walk around and
> look at the graves.  This is where John Marshall and
> Henry Clemens were originally buried. They are now
> south of Town in Mt. Olivet.
>
> Come for the Fourth of July and see unabashed
> patriotism and people having a great time.  Yep, it
> is a sea of white faces, but we are seriously trying
> to change that.  It is a lot like the patriotism
> that was here between 1839-1861. John Marshall
> Clemens gave the July 4th Speech in the park in the
> mid-40s.
>
> Go to one of the many scenic overlooks on Highway 79
> and look at the river.  The Mississippi is
> astounding.
>
> If you know enough about Twain to be on this list,
> you aren't going to learn anything at this museum,
> but you ought to at least see the house.  The
> Clemens boys put out the Journal from the Parlor!
> A cow once walked in and ate part of the press!
>
> A lot of Hannibal is bunk.  John Marshall Clemens
> never practiced law here. You can laugh at his law
> office. You can laugh at the genuine historical
> markers denoting fictional events from Tom Sawyer.
> You can even feel smug because you know better.  But
> you need to see it.
>
>  If you want real history, you can come up to the
> Molly Brown Birthplace Museum and learn about a
> fascinating woman who was born in Hannibal, got rich
> in Colorado and became a legend.  Margaret Tobin
> Brown was active in the suffrage movement, the labor
> movement and ran for the U.S. Senate.
>
> You need to come to Hannibal to know where Clemens
> came from.  Everything Shelley wrote is true.  But
> there is more to the story.
>
> Terrell


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