Hartford and Bristol, Connecticut (19 July 2025)

Mark Twain House, Hartford

Today was a day to see local museums. Our first stop was at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. We had a delightful young guide who skillfully led us through this beautiful home. 11,500 square feet, it was built for $40,000 beginning in 1873. No photos were allowed in the home, so all I can share are exterior shots. It was an amazing home with statement stenciled walls and ceilings, wallpapers, imported furnishings (including a carved hearth that was too tall for the 12 foot ceiling!), rich bannisters and the overall architecture were all stunning. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit, especially the anecdotes about Sam Clemens!

A beautiful conservatory was planted thick like a jungle in Clemens’s day, seen here through the covered porch.

 

A good reminder for us all.

Impressive brickwork and stickwork design.

Samuel Clemens’s pipe and spectacles. Apparently the bridge fit was subpar on this pair. Note too the wired right temple join and the broken right temple tip! YIPES.

Mark Twain’s twin…in Legos

Hal Holbrook made a nice career out of playing Mark Twain on stage. He had a traveling trunk that he himself would pack with all his Twain gear, including the prosthetic noses he used!

An actual photo of the interior three-story stairwell in the center of the Twain home, interpreted by Adrien Broom. This photo was part of an exhibit call “Holding Space: Reflections on Artists, Writers, and Creative Domesticity”. I found it to be a really interesting concept and Broom really brought it to life. I stumbled upon it as we were heading out of the visitor’s center.

Next door to the Twain home is the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe. While we did not tour the home itself, we did visit the special art exhibit “Revolutionary [RE]Imagining Literary Activism Through Visual Art” by artist David Jackson.  This one is Maya Angelou.

James Baldwin by David Jackson

A stairway connecting the Mark Twain house area to the Mark Twain Visitor’s Center.

The Carousel Museum, Bristol

This just looked like it would be a fun place to visit. I was a little disappointed that there was no actual working (full-sized) carousel, but the animals they had did NOT disappoint at all! I especially found myself pulled to the old ones with most of their paint gone. 

Even smaller museums were attached to this one: “The Fire Museum” (actually a museum about fire fighting, but I feel like a nit picker pointing that out!) and an even TINIER “Greek Museum”.

What do they discuss at night when no one is around?

LOVED this guy

It’s not just horses!

Look at all the carved details on this tandem mount

One of my favorites for the happy pose, the pretty face, the lush tail

Carousel horse hospital patching one up

💜

Even a TURKEY; this one from Europe. There are no known turkeys on any American carousels.

Torso of a man, body of a horse. So weird.

Model with hand-carved and hand painted carousel figures. Nicely done!

One of my weird shots. I just liked the linear pattern of the stacked chairs. This would work in BW too.

American Clock Museum, Bristol

I never knew Bristol was the center of American clock making for over 100 years, but I do now! This was a really lovely museum with an emphasis from clocks and watches from the area. Fun to listen to the chiming on the quarter, half, and top of the hour. All the ticking is somehow soothing, but it was jarring to note that there were as many different clock settings as there were clocks! I especially liked the pendulum clocks with the weights! One was two stories in height!

After our visit, I had to go to the garden in the back to get a photo of the sundial. It was pretty accurate except it hadn’t been reset to reflect DST!

Kit Kat Clock

Braille clock with Braille writing on the top, telling the time

Words of wisdom from a watch company ad

Classic old travel alarms

One of my favorites just because he was so CUTE!

🕰️ Clocks clocks clocks ⏰ 

Somewhat unique spring mechanism in this one

So THIS is how they press designs into wood—using a metal die!

Stained glass from the E. Ingraham Company, a large manufacturer of timepieces.

This lady never tired of holding the pendulum that kept time

Clever packaging of the Gilbert Alarm Clock, here in an unopened “coffee” tin!

A still photo doesn’t do justice to this beauty. Carved out of walnut by James Borden of Zumbrota, MN, it was mesmerizing to watch and had a subtle clicking sound to it. Instead of a pendulum going back and forth, the long bent piece surrounding the gears would rock back and forth. So soothing to watch. Probably my favorites of all the clocks I saw. Organic and mechanical.

Watch keys for wrist watches. I’m not sure I knew that was a thing!

Tomorrow we will attempt a bike ride and then possibly explore New Haven if the weather gods agree.