----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Henry Sweets <[log in to unmask]>Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 11:12:26 AM EDTSubject: Please Post for Forum Members
  
Mark Twain Forum Members –
 
  The landmark in Hannibal known as “Cardiff Hill” inThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer was originally known as “Holliday’s Hill” after the family living atop the hill.
 
  
 
A question has come up regarding why Mark Twain chose the name “Cardiff Hill.” TheHannibal Courier-Post of March 6, 1935, has an interview with Mrs. R. E. Ireland who had lived on Cardiff Hill many years. She recalled meeting Mark Twain (probably 1902 visit) and asking him why he changed the name from Holliday’s Hill to Cardiff Hill. She stated:
 
  
 
“I asked him why he named it ‘Cardiff Hill’ and he replied that it reminded him very much of a similar hill he had once seen in Cardiff, South Wales.”
 
  
 
Tom Sawyer was published in 1876. Did Mark Twain visit Cardiff before then? In David Fears’Mark Twain Day by Day, one finds descriptions of three pre-1876 visits of Mark Twain to England.
 
August 31 to November 18, 1872
 
May 27 to October 21, 1873
 
8 November 1873 to 13 January 1874
 
  
 
From the information Fears provided, Mark Twain did not visit Wales on any of these trips.
 
  
 
Does anyone have documentation of Mark Twain’s having visited Cardiff, Wales before publishingTom Sawyer or at any other time?
 
  
 
Is there another explanation why Mark Twain chose the name “Cardiff Hill” forTom Sawyer?
 
  
 
Henry Sweets
 
  
 
Henry Sweets, Curator
 
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
 
Hannibal, Missouri
 
573-221-9010 extension 405