Travel Article: The Great American Author Tour

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Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Postage Stamp¹

A good story can have a variety of effects. It can bring out a hard-to-find smile, increase the heartbeat and even turn cheeks wet as the reader is transported into another world. Although thousands of talented American authors have mastered the craft of holding one's attention there are a handful of writers that are still a page ahead of the rest. This WorldWeb.com guide invites readers on a literary tour across the United States to get to know some of the nation's greatest authors and their best attractions.

MEET EDGAR ALLAN POE

One of the first authors to try to survive financially solely on writing, Edgar Allan Poe struggled with money his entire life. Although Poe died poor in Baltimore, Maryland, his tales of macabre and mystery and his contributions to the literary genres of detective fiction and science fiction will never be forgotten. A few of Poe's most talked-about pieces include the dark poem The Raven and the chest-thumping short story The Tell-Tale Heart.

Featured Author Attraction
Located on Amity Street in Baltimore is a cramped two-and-a-half-story brick duplex, which was once the residence of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe lived in this humble home with his grandmother Elizabeth Poe, his aunt Maria Clemm and her two children Henry and Virginia from roughly 1833 to 1835. While living in this house Poe worked on a series of short stories and also developed a close friendship with his younger cousin Virginia, whom he married in 1836 when she was 13. A few highlights visitors will discover as they embark on a tour of the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum include Poe's bedroom and desk, the delicate china and glassware collection of Poe's foster father John Allan and a large colorful portrait of Poe's wife Virginia.

MEET MARK TWAIN

Although Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote under various pseudonyms, he will forever be associated with the pen name of Mark Twain. Twain's most-loved classic stories include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Born in Missouri in 1835, the author is celebrated throughout America with a wide range of attractions bearing his name, from forests to caves to schools.


	Edgar Allan Poe House, Baltimore²

Featured Author Attraction
As visitors arrive at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, images of a young Tom Sawyer painting the house's whitewashed fence can't help but come to mind. Twain's inspirations for Tom Sawyer can be seen all around the area from the close-by Mississippi River to Hannibal itself, which is the community that Sawyer's hometown of St. Petersberg is modeled on. After touring Twain's home, which is furnished with period pieces and various personal items of the author, guests can see where some of Twain's other characters grew up. The museum also comprises the Becky Thatcher House where Twain's childhood sweetheart Laura Hawkins lived and the Huckleberry Finn House. The Huckleberry Finn House is a replica of the home of Tom Blankenship, the friend on whom Twain based the legendary character Huckleberry Finn.

MEET MARGARET MITCHELL

Stuck at home in Atlanta, Georgia with an ankle injury, Margaret Mitchell began to write to keep herself entertained. The pages flew off the typewriter as Mitchell followed a spoiled young southern belle named Pansy, later changed to Scarlett O'Hara, through the American Civil War. Mitchell's first and only novel Gone With The Wind became an instant bestseller when released in 1936 and won a Pulitzer Prize a year later. The 1939 epic film adaptation of the story continues to be the highest ticket-selling movie in Hollywood history.

Featured Author Attraction
Declared a city landmark, the small Atlanta apartment where Mitchell wrote the bulk of Gone with the Wind is open to the public. As guests visit the Margaret Mitchell House, which the author fondly referred to as “The Dump,” they can learn more about Mitchell and her writing through guided tours of the restored and furnished apartment. The house also features an exhibition on the Gone with the Wind film that contains an assortment of movie memorabilia.


Hemingway Home & Museum, Key West³

MEET F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

F. Scott Fitzgerald was only 44 years old when he died, but his diverse collection of stories continues to live on in films, classrooms and on family bookshelves. His great works range from the tale of the mysterious millionaire in the novel The Great Gatsby to a boy who aged backwards in the short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fitzgerald is known for capturing the feel of the 1920s in his stories and entwining his own life experiences into his work.

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Although Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda were globetrotters, they did settle down for a year in Zelda's hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. The Fitzgeralds leased a house on Felder Avenue, close to Zelda's parents' home, from 1931 to 1932. It was in this house that Zelda outlined a destructive marriage in her semi-autobiographical book Save Me the Waltz, while Fitzgerald also wrote about a failed relationship in his Tender is the Night. Saved from demolition in 1986, the house now serves as the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum. As guests tour through the property they can learn more about the history of the talented but turbulent couple and view Fitzgerald memorabilia and paintings by Zelda.

MEET ERNEST HEMINGWAY

A friend of Fitzgerald and a famous American writer himself, Ernest Hemingway is a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize recipient. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway started as a reporter for the Toronto Star then went into writing short stories and novels. A few of his well-known works include his first major novel The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man and the Sea.


	Postage Stamp Commemorating Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"⁴

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Situated in warm and sunny Key West, Florida is the 19th-century home where Hemingway lived during the 1930s and wrote the majority of his work. In fact, guests touring the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum can see the studio where Hemingway wrote early in the morning on his Royal typewriter, which still sits on the table. In addition to venturing around the rest of the furnished house where the author lived with his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer and family, visitors can also stroll through the property's beautiful gardens. The luscious gardens are home to over 60 friendly, lazy, furry cats, some of whom are descendants of Hemingway's own feline.

MEET LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

Born in Pennsylvania and raised mainly in Massachusetts, Louisa May Alcott is perhaps best known for her creation of four vivacious sisters in the classic children's book Little Women. The second oldest of four sisters, an avid reader and deeply saddened by the loss of one of her younger sisters to scarlet fever are all experiences and traits of herself that Alcott tied into her protagonist, Jo March.

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Designated a National Historic Landmark, the Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts is where the March sisters came to life. Not only did the Orchard House serve as the Alcott's family home from 1858 to 1877, it was also where Louisa wrote and set the semi-biographical novel Little Women. As guests tour the home they can learn more about each Alcott family member through displays and period rooms furnished with many of the family's belongings. A few popular sights inside the house are Louisa's bedroom, the vintage kitchen, family portraits and vibrant paintings by youngest Alcott sister, May.


John Steinbeck's Salinas Home⁵

MEET JOHN STEINBECK

A Salinas local, author John Steinbeck used his first-hand knowledge of the California farming community to create a strong sense of place in novels. Steinbeck was so good at capturing the state's central coast region in his writing that the area is often referred to simply as Steinbeck Country. A couple of Steinbeck's most famous works include The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, which are both set in California during the Great Depression.

Featured Author Attraction
Located in Steinbeck's hometown, the National Steinbeck Center offers insight into the author's life and work. The center's exhibition hall lets visitors brush up on their Steinbeck trivia through interactive displays and artifacts, while the attraction's Rabobank Agriculture Museum focuses on the role the agricultural industry has played in Salinas Valley, which is nicknamed "The Salad Bowl of the World." The center also features a collection of bright art and cultural exhibits that are changed on a continuous basis.

If you enjoyed this feature, take a look at these great WorldWeb.com articles:
• American Folklore Heroes
• A Movie Buff's Tour of North America

PHOTOS COURTESY OF:

Postage Stamp featuring a Portrait of Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain); USA
Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum; Baltimore, MD, USA
Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum; Key West, FL, USA
Postage Stamp commemorating Louisa May Alcott's novel, "Little Women"; USA
John Steinbeck House; Salinas, CA, USA

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The Great American Author Tour