Mark Twain’s final home, a mansion in Connecticut, lists for $4.2 million. Take a look
“I begin to see that a man’s got to be in his own heaven to be happy,” the title character of Mark Twain’s “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven” observes in the short story.
Tucked away in the lush greenery of Redding, Connecticut, sits Stormfield, a mansion named after that very story, which is about a man who visits heaven only to discover it’s unlike anything he dreamed it would be.
And now, the 6,300-square-foot mansion that served as Twain’s final home before his death in 1910, has landed on the real estate market for $4.2 million.
Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the man known as the father of American Literature stipulated the home “should be built in the style of a Tuscan villa, after having enjoyed time in Italy,” the listing on Realtor.com said.
After it was finished, Twain reportedly said, “how beautiful it all is. I did not think it could be as beautiful as this,” according to Realtor.com.
“To some people, [Twain’s tenure is] priceless,” Laura Freed Ancona, one of the listing agents, told Mansion Global. “Redding is a small town rich in history, and Mark Twain’s time spent there is an integral part of the town’s legacy and many of its current affairs.”
The original house, which was damaged by a fire in 1923 and rebuilt in 1925, is a tourist attraction of sorts, drawing in fans of the author known as “Twainiacs,” according to Mansion Global.
The estate main residence has four to five bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms and three fireplaces. Also on the property is a carriage house and a second floor guest cottage with two bedrooms and a bathroom. The entire property sits on nearly 30 acres.
“Feel like you’ve stepped back in time where exquisitely appointed period details artfully blend with today’s modern amenities,” the listing says.
Twain, who grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, is best known for his novels “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” according to Biography.com. Both books drew inspiration from his childhood in Missouri.