First…. here’s a view from Lovers Leap… a high bluff overlooking the town. Historic Hannibal is on the left bank of the Mississippi… Illinois to the right. And 225 feet over the edge to the ground below. Lovers Leap is the rock outcropping at the bottom right of the photo.
This week our adventures took us to Historic Hannibal Missouri. Hannibal is the famed boyhood home of Samuel Clemens, otherwise know as Mark Twain. Located along the Mississippi River, Hannibal is a sleepy little town with lots of mid 1800 buildings… which included Mark Twains House, The Thatcher’s House, the Clemens Law Office, and many other buildings from the era. 
The architecture is something worth seeing, and while many things have been updated over the years, you still get a good sense of what things looked like 150 odd years ago. Some well maintained, and some showing signs of 150 years of aging. While many of the buildings have historical significance, they now have a new life as tourists attractions such as antique shops, restaurants, gift shops, museums, pubs, ice cream parlors, and the like. We had lunch in the famed Mark Twain Dinner… pretty much in name sake only… but the service was friendly and the food was good. As we walked the main street area, we sampled vanilla caramel popcorn ( best I’ve ever had) in the candy store, and stopped for an ice cream at Becky’s Ice Cream Parlor. The building was original (store front, walls and ceiling), the updates were old, and the name sake was the only attraction… ice cream is ice cream. A quick visit into the many shops made for not only a great diversion, but in many cases a look into things of the past.
Antique shops had lots of old stuff from years gone by and brought back some memories of things my grand mother owned. I’m sure she would be amazed at the prices that those everyday items would fetch today. Historic Hannibal kinda reminds me of Mt. Airy, Nc…. also referred to as Mayberry of Andy Griffin fame… mostly everything in the town cashes in on the Mark Twain name. Lots of touristy stuff and touristy prices… but ya know… we all have to make a living. There are several gardens and mini parks about the town. Most notable is the statue of Tom & Huck at the beginning of Main Street… and nice garden and fountain round out the park at the base of the hill. A short walk of perhaps a hundred stairs takes you up to the hillside garden and the old bridge access road, which is now another little park. The old bridge is gone, but the access road has been transformed into a park with Becky’s Butterfly Garden and part of the old bridge as an overlook to the river, complete with the original dedication plaque and the new park plaque. Continuing up the stairs for the remaining 400 or so steps gets you to the top of the bluff and the Hannibal Lighthouse overlooking the river. We are saving this for another day trip, perhaps an early morning adventure when the sun is not so hot, and the legs are not too weary yet. Walking down to the river, past the levees to the riverfront, there’s another little park and a statue dedicated to Mark Twain, depicting him at the wheel of a riverboat, it’s among the flower gardens… and provides a great view of the river. Nearby is the Mark Twain Riverboat that takes tourists for a cruise on the Mighty Mississippi.
Either a daytime sightseeing cruise, or the evening dinner cruise… both of which we are saving for another day. As for the riverboat… it’s kinda funny. I always seem to compare “real” things and “real” places we our Disney experiences. Somehow I feel that the riverboat might not live up to the Disney version that is always in pristine condition… Disney has a way of doing that. Disney’s “Main Street”, Riverboat, and everything else Disney does, always seems to take a book from history, things and places… captures the flavor of them to the finest detail… and makes them pristine and perfect. Kinda makes the real thing seem a bit less impressive… but, not withstand this, we always expect to have a great time… after all, this is real history, live and up close, give or take 150 years or so. After our walk around town we went back to the truck for a little drive around which took us through town and up to “Lovers Leap”.
Located on the southern edge of the town on a high limestone outcropping, Lovers Leap gets you a spectacular view of Hannibal, the river, and the flat lands of Illinois across the river. It would seem that you could look on forever. What seemed like 300 feet above the river valley below is actually only 225 feet as per “Google”. So it’s 225 feet high, or if you prefer, 225 feet over the edge to the bottom. 300 / 225 feet “high” or “to the bottom”… makes little difference if you plan to jump. And leaping off the edge is where the original story, and the outcropping derives it’s namesake from… a young Indian couple in love, from different tribes, forbidden to see each other, take the leap over the edge together as the boy faces emanate death from the girls father, the other tribes chief.
The overlook offers the best view in all of Hannibal. A little further down the road took us past Mark Twain Cave… another day trip planned for no doubt a hot afternoon when it’s near 100° outside and a cool 55° in the cave. Our drive took us south a little ways… and when activating the GPS… we were promptly told to turn around… “NOW” … in order to get back home. Another wonderful day with my sweetie Shelly. Since we are in the area for several months, we have all the time we need to explore Hannibal and the surrounding area on day trips. One of our trips will be to Marceline, Missouri… the boyhood town of Walt Disney. Okay… ya didn’t think we go 1200 miles from Disney without some underlying connection to something Disney…now did you? To quote Walt… “To tell the truth, more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than ever happened since or likely to in the future”. Personal note: I’m sure Walt actually said this, but it was probably early on in his life when he first left Marceline… because there certain was many things of importance since then. Just in case you didn’t realize it… the town of Marceline was the inspiration for Walt’s creation of “Main Street U.S.A” in the Magic Kingdom. But more on that story later.
