Twain New York City

Twain moved to Redding to spend the summers away from New York. But he quickly realized that this would be his permanent home and gave up his 5th Ave. rental.

Albert Bigelow Paine: Dwellers in Arcady

Rough Draft Segment: Albert Bigelow Paine.

Without meeting Paine, Clemens would not have lived in Redding.

In 1919, 9 years after Twain's death, Paine published a fictional account of a families journey to the Connecticut country side to begin a new life. He called the book Dwellers in Arcady: The Story of an Abandoned Farm House. The notes that follow are based on this fictional account. From early 1906, when Twain hired him to write his biography, until Twain's death in April 1910, Albert Bigelow Paine seemed to shape the events he was part of.

In the summer of 1905 Albert Bigelow Pain and his wife Dora took a train to Redding Connecticut to look at property and in particular a farmhouse on what is now Diamond Hill Road. How did they find out about the farmhouse?  A listing in a New York Newspaper? Why Redding? What was Paine's connection?  A visit to a real-estate agent? It was a two hour journey by train from New York City so they had a good idea of what they wanted and where. They wanted a summer home, to raise there young family in the clean country air. They decided to move to the Connecticut hills after falling in love with the house and the people of the town.

"People dead or gone away, and city folks not begun to come yet".

"...he came through the trees, a youngish, capable looking person who said he was the one we had written..."

" the telephone had not then reached the country side...."

"But then all at once we were pulling up abreast of two massive maple-trees and some stone steps"  (steps are still there and I think the big maple to the right could be one of them).

Last note: It's difficult to tell fact from fiction, but the physical part of the story is based on a real farmhouse in Redding (less than a mile from Twain's estate). A place Paine bought in the summer of 1905 (five months before he meet Twain who then hired him to write his biography). The purchase of the farm, filed with the county clerk, is proof of the timeline. A photographer early in his career, Paine provided the illustrator photographs of the countryside and interior and exterior of the house.

"We agreed readily with this view; we were passing, just then, along a deep gorge that had a romantic, even dangerous, aspect; we descended to a pretty valley by a road so crooked that twice it nearly crossed itself; followed up a clear, foaming little river to a place where there was a mill and a waterfall, also an old-fashioned white house Surrounded by trees. Just there we crossed a bridge and our driver pulled up."

The crooked road is now part of the Saugatuck trail, the foaming brook, the Saugatuck River and that old-fashioned house is still their behind waterfall that flows over the stone dam (part of the mill) at the base of Diamond Hill Road.

The character William C Westbury is the real life Harry A Lounsbury, related to the Meekers, he lived the house as the bottom of the hill next to the mill dam. He would help with the construction of Stormfield and work for Twain on occasion.

There are four structures on the downslope of Stormfield. Two of the structures are original. The other two were constructed when the house was rebuilt in 1923 or when electricity was available in this area of Redding. There is an old electric pump in one of the structures. I believe the power for sending water to the house before electricity was facilitated by a ram pump. The first building contained the catch basin (cistern). The water came from a spring in the side of the hill. As you can hear, it's still providing water to the catch basin; now for over a hundred years. The second stone and brick structure is set into the hill about 17 feet below the basin. This was most likely where the ram pump would be located. Ram pumps used gravity to force the water up hill. The source needs to be placed up sloap from the pump. A ram pump had the ability to pump water up a hill without the use of electricity. More on this later.

James

Stormfield Stairway summer

The original concrete and stone stairway that led to the Pergola is still intact. The new house, rebuilt after Stormfield was destroyed by fire in 1923, was built on the original foundation in a style resembling the original Stormfield. Twain would make his way down to the pergola using these very steps (concrete and stone).

Death of Twain

Death of Twain

Mark Twain's body being removed from his home at Redding for eventual burial in Elmira, New York

Photo caption: The Body about to be started upon its railroad journey from Redding to New York.

On May 7, 1910 the Harper's Weekly published a photo spread of pictures on page 11 entitled: "Last Honors to Mark Twain". These are two photos from an original copy of the weekly. If you look closely you can see the engine steam coming from behind the top of the man's hat. The body arrived in New York that same day. He was buried in Elmira New York next to two of his daughters, a son and his wife Olivia.

Twain's pump house

Water still flows into the concrete catch basin. The pump house is located about 15 yards behind this structure to the left and down the hill a bit. I believe the water was pumped up the hill using a ramp pump. It was invented about 1770-1796. It uses gravity at the water source to push the water up hill through a pulsing action of the pump. I did not find the pump but hope to search with a metal detector in the near future.

Look to Thomas Nast and Albert Bigelow Paine if you want to understand why Twain moved to Redding, Connecticut

Look to Thomas Nast and Albert Bigelow Paine if you want to understand why Twain moved to Redding, Connecticut

This was part of a talk that I gave at the Redding Library on Saturday the 18th of August, 2012. Numbers sync with the powerpoint images (will add soon). There was a bit of ad-lib to fill in some of the gaps, but it should be clear enough to follow.

*2 The story: So how did Mark Twain make Redding his home....Seems like everything I do is a work in progress....well this little piece of research yet another.

We begin with Thomas Nast.....

3. Thomas Nast 1840 -1902. He was a Caricaturist and Editorial Cartoonist. He was the inventor of the political cartoon. He also created the image we know as Santa Clause........most of his political cartoons appeared in the Harpers Weekly published in New York....

4. Nast was a staunch Republican, and he deliberately chose the elephant as a Republican symbol because of the animal's great size, intelligence, strength, and dignity. Without picking sides, I'm not sure this description depicts any people in our political parties today. Except for possibly size. So that's how the Republican's ended up with an elephant!

5. Lets not forget about the Democratic Donkey. Well it was Nast again, but the origins are a little less clear. Andrew Jackson was called a jackass for his popular beliefs and loved the idea appealing to the masses. He loved the Donkey, but I digress.

6 & 7 Here is a couple of Nast's cartoons, there's the Elephant again. They always seem to be falling….

8. Twain is the subject of this Nast cartoon. One evening Twain was staying with the Nast's in their house in Morristown New Jersey. He was kept awake by the noise of the house clocks. He tried to stop them. The amused Nast sent him this cartoon in remembrance. This has nothing to do with our story, except to say that Twain was evidently a light sleeper.

9. So what does Nast have to do with Twain's move to Redding? He was dead 6 years before Twain decided to build in Redding. And as far as I know Nast knew nothing about Redding…..But he did have a significant roll to play in our story non-the-less.

10 Enter Albert Bigelow Paine... Here's a little background: Paine was born in Massachusetts...grew up in Iowa and Illinois....left school at 15 and by the time he's 20 he's working in St. Louis as a photographer. He moves to Kansas and opens up a photographic supply business. But he liked to write and one of his stories is accepted by Harpers Weekly, so with this small success under his belt he moves to New York City in 1895 at the age of 34.

11. And by 1899 he is an editor of the popular young person's magazine, St Nicholas.

12 With a number of books under his belt Paine becomes Thomas Nast's official biographer and publishes the book, Thomas Nast: His Period and his Pictures. We're not sure if it was a best seller, but he gets good reviews. I'm also assuming it was probably a somewhat lucrative endeavor. Nast was very popular. And Nast's death in 1902 probably helped book sales when the book was published in 1904. It was the coffee table book of its day, with numerous Nast Illustrations.

13 Out next character is The Players Club…. The Players was founded as a social Club in New York City by the noted 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. This 1847 building is located at 16 Gramercy Park. But there is another connection to the players club....On April 14, 1865, Edwin's younger brother and actor John Wilkes, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. But I digress again.

14. Paine like other authors of the day would send copies of there work to the people they though might help promote a book. He sent a copy of the Nast book to Twain in 1904. A acquaintance of Paine's had seen the Nast book in Twain's bedroom. Twain often greeted guests, in bed, proped up by pillows. I think this book siting gave Paine the confidence he needed when he finally got to speak with Twain.

15. To make a long story short Paine crossed paths with Twain at a dinner at the Players Club in early January 1906. After introducing himself to Twain he asked if he could call to see him some day. Twain answered, "Yes, come soon"… Paine, married now with three young girls, is elated.

16. On January 6th 1908 Paine arrives at Twains house at 21 fifth avenue. Built by James Renwick, the architect of St. Patricks Cathedral, the house was once the home of the writer Washington Irving of The legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Wickle fame. 17. And there Paine found Twain as usual in bed with his pillows. Paine mentioned in the ensuing conversation that he would like someday to write a book about Twain.....Twain answered, "when would you like to begin". This begins Paine's journey with Twain that ends with Paine's death in 1937. Buy the way Paine, his wife and two of there daughters are buried in Umpawaug cemetery, at the end of Diamond Hill road here in Redding.

18. Now lets rewind the clock six months before Twain says yes to Paine's biography proposal. It's now August 1905. Paine and his family make a journey to Redding. He has money burning in his pocket and only one thing on his mind: find a summer home for his family.

19. They are here to look at an abandoned farm house on what is now Diamond Hill Road. He must have read an advertisement in the New York papers placed by a Harry A Lounsberry. The same Harry lounsberry who took care of the upkeep at stormfield and eventually became one of the signatures on Twain's will. So with the royalties (I'm assuming) from his Nast book, he buys this abandoned farm house and it's 31 acres. The price, 900 dollars. That's about $20,000 in today's money. Still a Bargain even in 1905. There's no record of a mortgage I can find. so we might assume it was cash.

20. The property is located just passed today's Mark Twain lane on the left side of the road and just before Moffets creeks flows under the road. The Paine farm house burned down in the 70's and the only thing remaining is one of the two mammoth maples...You can see the trunk here.

21. And five stone steps that will elevate you into the property.

22. Paine bought the property form the Meeker family. The Meeker's acquired the land as part of a land grant form the crown. The were given one of the long lots. Not very wide but the property stretched from long Island sound to what was then fairfield county, 15 miles. What was important about a long lot was you had waterfront property. The 15 miles ended right here at Diamond Hill road (just in back of this building). That's why there are so many old meeker houses on the lower end of Diamond Hill.

23. This couple (maybe Meeker's) are sitting on the front stoop of the house posing for this picture. Look closely there's a dog setting beside them.

24. The property was a fixer upper and there was a lot of work to be done before the Paine's moved in. This is chronicled in Paine's book published 1919, titled "Dwellers in Arcady: The story of an abandoned farm house. Even though it was written as fiction, most of the illustrations (done by Thomas Fogarty, a noted member of the Art Student League in NewYork) were probably drawn  from photographs  taken by Paine,and though many of the names were changed it rings true. it's a good picture of what Redding was like in the very early part of the 20th century. I could do a talk on this book alone and may someday. The book is available to check out here at the library.

25. So Pain is living in Redding with his family and working here at 21 Fifth Avenue with Twain. He lives with Twain and commutes to Redding. The train from Grand Central takes about 100 minutes give or take each way. Same as today. A train I've taken for many years.

26. We know little of the conversation that went on between Paine and Twain about Redding, but Paine seemed to have painted a wonderful portrait of the town set in the hills of Connecticut. In Paine's biography of Twain he writes that he had bought a house in Redding and was enthusiastic over the bargain. "His interest was aroused, and when he learned that there was a place adjoining, equally reasonable and perhaps even more attractive, he suggested immediately that I buy it for him; and he wanted to write a check for the purchase price, for fear the opportunity might be lost."

27. Here's a copy of the purchase agreement that is on file in the Redding Town Hall. So from the time Paine walked into Twains life, it was a mere 77 days until Twain owned property in Redding. This was pretty quick. This was followed by more land purchases and the construction of Stormfield which Twain inhabited on June 18th 1908. One last note. Twain never visited Redding, during any phase of construction or to see the land he had purchased. He often said he didn't want to see the place until the cat was purring by the hearth. The new house was to be his summer home and like Paine after living there only a few weeks decided to make it his final residence.

28 This is the train station as it looked about 1918 Probably not much different the when Twain stepped off the train in 1908. Twain needed to get into New York when ever he pleased, but more importantly he needed a steady stream of visitors to keep him happy. I want to underline how important this train was to Twain's ultimate decision to consider Redding other than an investment.

29 So to sum it all up….I feel that without the income from the Nast biography Paine might not have had the money to buy land in Redding. And without the Nast biography he may have not become Twain's biographer. And of course Twain would not have been interested in Redding. And I would of thought of Twain as only someone I read in high school.

30 done

Albert Bigelow Paine?

To All,I've managed to find a great deal of what I would describe as "circumstantial history" for the life of Albert Bigelow Pain (AB Paine). AB Paine was Mark Twain's biographer. I've read some of his work outside the "biography". Dwellars In Arcady give's a somewhat fictionalized account of his early life in Redding. But it rings true in so many way. They bought the abandoned farmhouse and its 31 acres in his wife Dora's name in the summer of 1905. Most of the illustrations in the book, were drawn, I believe, from photographs of the property taken by Paine or at his direction. I have found one of the photographs and it's a near perfect match down to the smallest detail. The illustrations were done by Thomas Fogarty, a well known, long time instructor at the Art Student League in New York. I believe, they sold the property in 1917. I know "Markland", the property given to Paine by Twain in June 1907, remained in the family for many years after the sale of the farmhouse. Markland's single original building remains at the core of this now expanded private home. The farmhouse, a traditional saltbox, burned down in the early 70's. I have visited the family grave site (Umpawaug Cemetery, Redding Ct). Paine is there along with his wife and two of his three daughters. Redding was obviously very close to Paine's heart. Before the trees obscured Redding's hillside views, you would have seen part of his farm, about 3/4 of a mile away, and the remains of Stromfield. All from the top of the cemetery, where the family plot is located. So here are the questions: Did he ever pen anything about his own life, accept in his fiction? Where did his papers find a home? Has anyone done more than a cursory look at his life? How close was his relationship to Twain. And of course the real question, how much influence did he have with Twain? 

James

Updated Script Notes Dec 5, 2011

What follows is a draft of some early scripting for what I'm calling Audio Twain: Story without visuals. I live in Redding Connecticut, a country oasis in northern Fairfield County. We're 60 miles by train from New York City. Search Redding on the web and up pops Redding California. But Redding Connecticut had one thing this California City could not match, Mark Twain. It was his last home, in what would be the last 22 months of his life. It's one of the first things you learn when you move to Redding. OH! Mark Twain lived here?

What little I knew of Twain came from the vague recollection of reading Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in high school. To a high school student like myself, the books were remote, set in obscure locations with difficult dialogue, but no matter, Twain seemed to be part of my dna. Who didn't known the name Mark Twain. At the turn into the 20th century he was one of the most famous people in the world. You can't overestimate his popularity. He was, according to humorist Roy Blunt Junior, “our original superstar”. Author and critic, William Dean Howells, his literary confidant and friend of 40 years, gave him a more measured appraisal calling him the Lincoln of our literature.

(Exterior Old Train Station adjacent to tracks) It's June 18th and I'm standing across the tracks looking at the old Redding train station, a handsome white two-story wooden late 19th century building. In 1908 it was also home to a general store and post office. Today it's a storefront church and a restaurant. The new station, about 100 yards behind me, is actually a platform with a roof with no protection from winter. My camera is set and I'm waiting to shoot the 4:15 from New York. It’s scheduled to arrive at 6:05.

Twain arrived in Redding on the Berkshire Express a little before 6pm. Travel time, 110 minutes, same as today. After Redding Twain's train headed north, ending its run a few hours later in Pittsfield Mass.

What's important about this branch line is that its been taking people and freight up and down its tracks for 160 years. Access to New York City by train was one of the reasons my family choose to buy a home in Redding. I was still working in the city and driving was not an option. Yes it's a long commute, but think of all the work you can do on the train. Then of course there's sleep. Would Twain have considered moving to Redding without easy access to New York City? He may have seen Redding as the perfect summer home (site unseen), but year round living, I'm not so sure. Is the Redding Mark Twain only possible because of this branch line?

For more than a year before he arrived, Twain's new home could be seen rising above the treetops on Birch Spray Hill (Diamond Hill today). After the installation of the acetylene house lights, there was no electricity in this part of Redding, the intense glow of the lamps, they burned white, made the house visible for miles around. Twain once remarked after arriving home late one evening that the place looked like a factory working overtime.

Word spread that Twain's train would arrive on Thursday, June 18th about 6pm. Twain boarded the Berkshire Express' Pullman car at the Lexington ave. station. He traveled with his biographer Albert Bigelow Paine and one of Paine's daughters, Louise, home from school for the summer. The place we know as Grand Central was being rebuilt from top to bottom, literally. They were sinking the train yard two stories below grade to accommodate the new electric fleet. Coal fired engines would be banned in the rail yard and the new Park Avenue tunnel.

The whistle sounded as the Express made the turn into Redding and again as it approached the grade crossing. The engine eased to a stop with an exhalation of steam. According to Paine "There was a sort of open-air reception in waiting. Redding had recognized the day as historic. A varied assemblage of vehicles festooned with flowers had gathered to offer a gallant country welcome." A photo was taken of Twain with some of the town's children and then Twain sat in his carriage for the trip to his new house which he had ordained "Innocence at Home". There are no pictures of this day anywhere!

Redding's population numbered about 1,400 at the turn into the 20th century. The town had been loosing population since the 1860's. At Twain's death in 1910 the US census reported 1,500 residents, mostly farmers and trades people.

The three mile trip to his new home took about 25 minutes. Recent rains keep the dust at bay as the procession wound its way through the Saugatuck river valley. They passed fields of daisy's swaying against green fields. Dog-wood and laurel stood amongst the trees. This was open farmland, with stone walls flowing with the contours of the land.

The road along the Saugatuck river was straightened in the mid 20's. What's left of the original road can be seen through the trees if you know what where to look. Along the side of the road about a half a mile from the middle school are the remains of an old bridge with most of the original support beams intact. Although impossible to cross except stealthily. 

Later to help the uninitiated find his estate Twain had small signs, with the letters MT and an arrow placed at every significant turn.

The procession turned west and crossed the Saugatuck river. Water was flowing over the mill dam at this time of the year. The wagons climbed. Twain remarked that the little brook cascading down the hillside remined him of some of the streams in Switzerland, the Giessbach he thought. At the top of the hill Twains carriage turned south onto today's Mark Twain lane. On the west side of the lane stood Albert Bigelow Paine's land and home. And to the east a piece of property given to Paine by Twain the year before.

As we approach the gate to his estate we pass another piece of land given to his private secretary, Isabel Lyon. She was deeded the property on the same day he gave a piece of land to Paine. I believe they shared a border. 

As we move down the carriage lane Twain would have seen his new home. The cleared, pasture land would have allowed him a unobstructed view of the house.

So how did Twain know about Redding? When did he buy the land?

They saw a brook cascading down the hillside. He compared it to some of the tiny streams in Switzerland, the Giessbach he thought. the last of the procession had dropped away as they reached todays Mark Twain Lane. 

(hear train whistle) begin discussion of the documentary

Today, some residents might call Redding overgrown. There is now a thick green canopy. Before the American revolution the forest was made up of white, red and black oak. There was also American chestnut, hickory and birch. Twain's house was said to have been built on Birch Spray Hill. 

Redding was, like most of Connecticut, a town of small farms.

To never have seen the land you've purchased or the house you had designed and built would strike many as foolish. Remarkably, this was Twain's first trip to Redding. He was fond of saying, "I don't want to see it until the cat is purring on the hearth."

Sent from my iPad

Paine and Lyon property

A.B. Pain (Markland) and I.V.Lyon (Lobster Pot) received the gift of property from Twain on June 8, 1907, a year before Stromfield was completed. james

He talked astronomy a great deal...

Twain loved astronomy. "He was always thrown into a sort of ecstasy by the unthinkable distance of space, the supreme drama of the universe. The fact that Alpha Centauri was twenty-five trillions of miles away -- two hundred and fifty thousand times the distance of our own remote sun and that our solar system was traveling, as a whole, toward the bright star Vega...." ABP From his hilltop home Twain had an unobstructed view of the sky. I can imagine him sitting by the loggia with one of his small cigars staring into the Milky Way stretched out before him.

James

Dangerous Intimacy

I've just finished reading the last two chapters of Karen Lystra's book, Dangerous Intimacy: The untold story of Mark Twain's final year. It's a fascinating reappraisal of Twains last years. Is it closer to the truth? Only the cat knows for sure. James

a brook cascaded down the hillside...

"A little farther on a brook cascaded down the hillside, and he compared it with some of the tiny streams of Switzerland, I believe the Giessbach" , (Mark Twain: A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine, Chapter 268). The brook cascades down the northern side of Diamond Hill road, emptying into the pond created by the mill-dam on the Saugatuck River. The photo was taken from behind one of the homes on Diamond Hill. The stream drops about 100 feet from the small plateau near where today's Mark Twain Lane begins. The cascading stream (with few trees to obscure it) would have been highly visible to Twain on his right, as his carriage climbed the hill on the way to his new home.

James

The old train station

Im off to Arizona for a week to work on a non-Twain video project. The above photo of the old train station will remind me of home whenever I long for wind swept snow; cold nights and a leaky kitchen roof caused by ice filled gutters. On second thought I'll think of the children. I'm taking this book with me: "Mark Twain Social Philosopher" by the late Louis J. Budd. I started reading a few days ago and am looking forward to finishing it I  before I return. It's a fascinating study of Twain's development.

James

Who was Mark Twain

Notes for video segment

We begin in New York. We're outside what was once his home at 21 fifth Avenue (now a large apartment building). It's June 18th, the day Twain travels to Redding to see his new home for the very first time. At Grand Central, Twain and his biographer Albert Paine board one of the new electric commuter trains newly mandated by the State legislature. They would leave on the 4pm Berkshire Express, which would make a special stop in Redding (you could actually take a train from Grand Central to western Massachusetts at the time). The Grand Central of 1908 was undergoing a transformation. It was being rebuilt as part of plan to rid the Park Avenue corridor of the steam locomotive and the residue of combustion that fouled the air. Two levels of track were being sunk under a new Park Avenue to accommodate an ever-expanding service. This was not the Grand Central we know today. The new terminal building was still a few years from completion. When Twain and Paine reached Stamford, Connecticut they changed engine. There was no electric service on the branch line to Redding. They would finish the journey pulled by a steam locomotive. Electrification of the system was still a work in progress. They arrived in Redding a little before 6pm, June 18, 1908.

(notes) I'm also looking at the early 20th century world that the aging Twain now inhabited. He was born in 1835, less than 50 years after the ratification of the American Constitution. Alexis de Tocqueville published "Democracy in American" the year Twain was born. Twain lived most of his life, not at the beginning of our democracy, but in the first full decade of its development which included a civil war. It was a remarkable period of adolescence.