- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
- Location
- Middle Tennessee
Elmira Faces -- Part One
About this blog
By Kirk House
Recent Posts
Elmira Faces -- Part One
Feb. 9, 2015 7:20 a.m.
Feb. 9, 2015 7:20 a.m.
The City of Elmira has a really cool way to greet visitors coming down Church Street from I-86. Just as you reach the edge of the built-up section, you find a billboard from which a number of interesting faces gaze down on you. These are a century and a half of famous Elmirans, welcoming you to their city.
One of these faces is probably recognized by just about everyone, although he's been gone since the 1910 passage of Halley's Comet: the face of Samuel Clemens. In Woodlawn Cemetery you can find his grave, topped by a column that rises in height to twelve feet – two fathoms, or Mark Twain.
Why should Mark Twain lie in Elmira, rather than in Hannibal, Buffalo, Hartford, or San Francisco? Mark Twain's wife Libbie Langdon was an Elmiran, and the couple typically spent their summers here. The family built him a lovely octagonal study, which you can now visit at Elmira College. Here he wrote Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, and that titanic American novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Go to Elmira, spend the summer, write a book – that was Mark Twain's routine.
About this blog
By Kirk House
Recent Posts
Elmira Faces -- Part One
Feb. 9, 2015 7:20 a.m.
Feb. 9, 2015 7:20 a.m.
The City of Elmira has a really cool way to greet visitors coming down Church Street from I-86. Just as you reach the edge of the built-up section, you find a billboard from which a number of interesting faces gaze down on you. These are a century and a half of famous Elmirans, welcoming you to their city.
One of these faces is probably recognized by just about everyone, although he's been gone since the 1910 passage of Halley's Comet: the face of Samuel Clemens. In Woodlawn Cemetery you can find his grave, topped by a column that rises in height to twelve feet – two fathoms, or Mark Twain.
Why should Mark Twain lie in Elmira, rather than in Hannibal, Buffalo, Hartford, or San Francisco? Mark Twain's wife Libbie Langdon was an Elmiran, and the couple typically spent their summers here. The family built him a lovely octagonal study, which you can now visit at Elmira College. Here he wrote Life on the Mississippi, The Prince and the Pauper, and that titanic American novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Go to Elmira, spend the summer, write a book – that was Mark Twain's routine.
Bringing the