Mark Twain's Hometown of Hannibal, Missouri

Between the riverboats on the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer's whitewashed fence, and a lively street fair going on, I found it pretty easy to get swept up in the small town charm of Hannibal, Missouri. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) grew up here, and it's a claim to fame that the town has wholeheartedly embraced.

The settings of Mark Twain's novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were both inspired by Hannibal, Missouri. Samuel Clemens boyhood home, where he lived from 1844 to 1853, also still stands here and has operated as a museum since 1912.
    

Huck Finn House

Mark Twain's boyhood home (on the right).

Downtown St. Louis, Missouri

From the Old Courthouse to the iconic Gateway Arch, here are a few visual highlights captured for my Middle America series while in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.