MARK TWAIN IN BERMUDA

LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE ISLAND.

KNOWN BY HIS PEN NAME MARK TWAIN, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was America’s first literary celebrity and an icon of his time. Clemens’s gentle humour, extraordinary wit, and mastery of dialogue are not the only qualities defining him. His insight into what makes us human, so compellingly told through satire, essays, and novels, set him apart and continues to inspire us today.

Clemens had an ongoing love affair with Bermuda. His deep affection for the island was well chronicled in his writing and captured in his numerous quips and comments. He came to Bermuda eight times between 1867 and his death in 1910, for a total of 187 days, during which he interacted with the locals and observed the idiosyncrasies of life on the isolated but bucolic island.

His first introduction in 1867 was aboard the Quaker City. It was the final stop on a return voyage to the Mediterranean, and he was impatient to reach America. What was originally a one-day stop turned into a five-day stay due to the quickly found enthusiasm Clemens and the other passengers had for the island. In 1877, Clemens returned to Bermuda as a travel writer. His musings and observations of Bermuda were published later that year in The Atlantic Monthly as “Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion.”

Clemens actively promoted the island as a tourist’s paradise, which, due to his international reputation, was extremely influential with Americans, who, in the post–Civil War years, had strayed away from Bermuda’s shores. Clemens extolled the climate and called Bermuda “the

Islands of the Blessed where the British have decorum and cleanliness prevailed; a place where snow-white houses peeped from dull green vegetation…”

Visitors and locals alike fondly recall his love of Bermuda through the nowfamous phrase from his final time on the island: “You can go to heaven if you want to. I’d rather stay in Bermuda.”

In 2014, the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, in collaboration with the Mark Twain House & Museum and the Bermuda National Trust, celebrated the enduring influence of Twain in Bermuda, and of Bermuda on Twain, with the exhibition Ever the Twain Shall Meet. The Masterworks Museum still holds numerous artworks, letters, archival photographs, and memorabilia related to Clemens’s time on the island.

Continued from page 23 fortress with a well-preserved interior. This imposing structure is nestled on the northeastern tip of St. George’s and offers pretty beach views along with comprehensive exhibits and artefacts that provide a glimpse into life in the 17th century, when the fort was first constructed, along with towers, tunnels, ramparts, huge cannons, and even a drawbridge. Visitors can easily spend an hour or more here as they explore the period weapons, crown jewel replicas, and models of the fort’s evolution throughout the centuries.

St. Peter’s Church

As you amble along through St. George’s picturesque avenues, be sure to dedicate some time to St. Peter’s church, where history and stunning architecture go hand in hand. The oldest Protestant church in continuous use in the New World, this once-wooden church was rebuilt several times since its 1612 establishment, eventually in stone, and is known for being the birthplace of Christian worship in Bermuda. St. Peter’s is open to visitors Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a $2-per-person donation, and visitors are also welcome to attend the church’s worship services as well.

Unfinished Church

As the name of this destination might suggest, this church was never completed; but its dramatic weathered stone remains are captivating in their own right. Construction on this Gothic-style church began in 1874 as an intended replacement for St. Peter’s church, which had been badly damaged in a hurricane. Arguing amongst the parishioners and issues with funding stalled construction, and the last known work was completed in 1897, when the church’s roof was installed. Yet another hurricane came through in 1926, damaging much of the construction that had been done, though the haunting windowless Gothic arches remain.