(Not Really) Roughing it on the Mark Twain Trail
From Hannibal, Missouri, to San Francisco, California
Categories: Renegade Roads
By: Johnny D. Boggs 11/01/2007
Spirit of St. Louis
“The first time I ever saw St. Louis, I could have bought it for six million dollars,” Twain wrote, “and it was the mistake of my life that I did not do it.”
If he had, Twain could have owned the Museum of Westward Expansion on Fourth Street. It’s not just Lewis and Clark stuff, either, and its unique location—under the Gateway Arch—probably helps bring in more than history buffs. You can enjoy a conversation with Mark Twain and see a re-creation of the 1800s Mississippi River levee, as you wait your turn for the tram to take you to the top of the arch.
Another riverfront attraction includes the steamboats Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. With Christmas and New Year’s around the corner, you may want to check out the dinner cruise. For year-round fun, take the sightseeing cruise to the 1859 German settlement Kimmswick.
Twain also served as a soldier, enlisting in the Confederate militia in 1861. “I was a soldier two weeks once in the beginning of the war,” he wrote, “and was hunted like a rat the whole time.” So he left the cause and headed west. Not that I blame him.
Southwest of Missouri lies Springfield and nearby Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, the site of the first major Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi River. It’s not Twain country, but it does offer some insight into the war in Missouri (which makes it easy to see why Twain left). Yet before you skedaddle out of Missouri, get a historic perspective of Twain’s brief riverboat career, not to mention a belly full of barbecue, by stopping in Kansas City.
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