USA Guide
The Great Plains
Hannibal
Hannibal might well have been just another medium-sized river settlement, had not Samuel Langhorne Clemens spent his boyhood here. (Clemens renamed himself Mark Twain, after the depth-marking cry of pilots on the Mississippi.) Although Hannibal does have other industries, downtown is little more than a Twain theme park of museums, period buildings, and wax displays.
Hannibal’s riverside location and historical buildings make it almost disturbingly picturesque. Squeezed between two steep bluffs the once-busy community is now quiet except for the occasional creaking of a crane loading cement. Twain’s youthful stomping-ground was the short, cobbled incline of Hill Street, at the north end of town. You can get an intimate look at the Mississippi aboard the slow-moving Mark Twain riverboat (1hr tours 11am, 1.30pm & 4pm, $12; 2hr dinner cruise by reservation 6.30pm, $33; 
573/221-3222).