The Mark Twain House & Museum
351 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105

For Visitor Information, call (860) 247-0998

Open year round • Free parking • Air-conditioned

In addition to tours of Mark Twain's home, The Mark Twain House & Museum offers a wide range of educational programs including lectures by major authors and artists, symposia, dramatic performances, concerts and "family friendly" activities.

The museum's operations are funded, in part, by generous support from The Annenberg Foundation, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, ING, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., the Connecticut Commision on Culture and Tourism, United Technologies Corporation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation, the Travelers Foundation, The Mark Twain Foundation, The Katharine K. and Henry R. McLane Charitable Trust, The Saunders Foundation, the Renee B. Fisher Foundation, Inc. the NewAlliance Foundation and the Owenoke Foundation.

To request a free brochure, please e-mail your complete street address to info@MarkTwainHouse.org

Hours of Operation:

• Open Monday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
• Open Sunday 12 - 5:30 p.m.
• Closed Tuesdays January - March.
• Closed January 1, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, and December 24 and 25 and 4th of July.
• Visitors should allow minimum of 2 hours for tour and Museum Center.

Admission is by guided tour only. To purchase tickets‚ enter through the Museum Center adjacent to the main parking lot or through the patio entrance if you park in our Forest Street parking lot. The Main House Tour takes 45 to 60 minutes‚ but we suggest you leave about 2 hours for your entire visit so you have time to see the film‚ Mark Twain by Ken Burns and our exhibits. The separate tour of the servants' wing takes about 30 minutes if you choose to add that to your ticket. Space on the main house tours is limited to 16 people and is sold first come first serve. If you have a group of more then 10 people you should plan a Group Tour in advance of your visit. We do not make reservations for groups of fewer than 10 people.

Tours fill up quickly on weekends and holidays and have been known to sell out before the last tour of the day at 4:30. The tour schedule changes daily‚ but we try to run them every half hour. If you are planning a visit for a Saturday‚ plan to arrive on site by early afternoon and keep in mind that there may be a wait. On Sundays when we open at noon, very often there is already a line. If you do not make it onto the first tour we will put you on the next one. During the school year most school field trips take place between 9:30 and 12:00. Although we offer tours to the public throughout the day there may be a longer wait between them on weekday mornings September through June.

Accessibility

The first floor of The Mark Twain House is wheelchair accessible. Visitors must be able to negotiate 3 flights of stairs for the complete tour. The Museum center is fully handicapped accessible. To arrange tours for visitors with special needs, call (860) 247-0998, ext. 130. For directions to the museum's wheelchair accessible parking lot, click here.

Photography

For the safety of the collection and comfort of our visitors the museum does not allow any kind of photography inside the historic Mark Twain House. We also ask visitors to turn off cellphones while on the guided tour. Visitors are always welcome and encouraged to take photos around the outside of the house. Reporters and film crews can make special arrangements by contacting Steve Courtney at 860-247-0998, Ext. 243, or steve.courtney@marktwainhouse.org.

Museum Store

The Mark Twain Museum Store is easily accessible from the main entrance of the museum center. Paid admission to the museum is not necessary to shop during museum business hours. You will find exclusive products available only through The Mark Twain House & Museum, in addition to unique gifts for your friends and family. Your purchases support the education programs and on-going preservation of this National Historic Landmark.

The kitchen and servants wing provides visitors with a richer experience and a deeper understanding of the life of Sam and Livy Clemens during a period when they were financially secure and able to have a very active social life. Walls, cabinets, sinks, a dumb-waiter and other Victorian kitchen necessities have been reconstructed, allowing visitors to experience the rooms as Clemens servants did.

Because of the narrower working spaces in the kitchen, tours of the kitchen wing are limited to 10 persons at a time and are separate from the tour of the rest of the house. Tickets for a kitchen wing tour are available for an additional $3 fee if purchased with a tour of the house. For individuals who have visited the house in the past, tickets for a kitchen wing tour only are $5 for adults and $3 for children.

Special rates are available for pre-arranged adult group and student tours. A minimum of 10 persons is required to receive the adult group or student tour discount. Reservations are required at least 14 days in advance. Free motor coach parking is available in the museum's lot.

• For adult group tour information or reservations, call Caitlin Thayer at 860-280-3154, or email her at grouptour@marktwainhouse.org
• For student group tour information or reservations, call Caitlin Thayer at 860-280-3154 or email her at grouptour@marktwainhouse.org

Holiday Hours

• Closed on January 1st, Easter Sunday, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, December 24 & 25
• Open Veterans Day and the "Monday holidays" (including Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day)

For directions, map and driving distances, click here