Day 152: Hartford, CT to Dover, NH

This morning we learned all about Sam Clemens, aka Mark Twain, famed author of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. We visited his home and the accompanying museum. It was clear that Sam Clemens and his wife Livey were very wealthy. Livey inherited generational wealth from her family who was in the coal business and Mark Twain’s first two books were best sellers generating substantial profits. They used these funds to build a 25 room mansion for $45,000 in 1874. The inside of the house was beautifully decorated. There was fancy stencilled wallpaper and ceiling art in each room (except in the servants’ quarters), numerous paintings and sculptures, ornate carved wood furniture, and a gorgeous attached solarium just off the elaborate library. Sam Clemens and his family lived in the house for 17 years and he wrote several of his most famous novels here. Unfortunately, he invested heavily in a failed typeset machine leading to bankruptcy. At this point, he closed up the house and he and his family adopted a nomadic lifestyle in Europe, living in hotel rooms and rental accommodations. He was apparently one of the biggest celebrities of his time and considered one of the greatest authors of all time.

Stable and carriage house.

Library.

Alistair chilling with the literary great.

In the afternoon, we continued our journey North into New Hampshire, to just before the Maine state line. We stopped in Dover, New Hampshire to meet up with Shayne of New England Superior Oysters for a unique farm to table experience. Shayne is a small scale oyster farmer and he gave us a lesson on oyster farming and a tour of his boats and equipment. We learned about growing seed oysters in the bay, how they are shaped by tumbling, and how they hibernate over the winter. Did you know that oysters are hermaphrodites? Also that a single female oyster can produce up to 100 million eggs in a single spawning season? Holy cow (or holy oyster, I suppose)!

We were treated to a feast of fresh oysters on the half shell after the tour. It turns out that Seamus really likes oysters but everyone was adventurous and tried some. We also cooked some in garlic butter and onion to be made into oyster chowder later. 

We are camping tonight at the oyster farm and will get an early start tomorrow because we are going lobster fishing!