Mark Twain Cave Complex

Samuel Clemens grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a riverfront town on the Mississippi.  As a boy Clemens often climbed trees and explored caves, spending many hours playing in a nearby cave that was known as Simms Cave, now the Mark Twain Cave.  Clemens grew up to write about his boyhood adventures using the pin name Mark Twain.  Commonly named among the Great American Novels, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are among the first in major American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism.

Today Mark Twain is considered to be America’s greatest humorist. In addition to the many short stories and novels he wrote, Mark Twain was a typesetter, river boat pilot, journalist and prospector.

American Heritage Trees is honored to work with The Mark Twain Cave staff to collect seeds and propagate seedlings from the infamous Burr Oak and the Sycamore tree.  The Mark Twain Cave Bur Oak, known as the Liberty Tree Burr Oak, still grows just outside the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal. This special heritage tree was a seedling in 1721…over 50 years before the United States was created!  The Mark Twain Sycamore is estimated to be over 300 years old.