Visiting FAQs

The Mighty Mississippi has its (literal) ups and downs. “Flood Stage” does not mean flood. It simply means the river is at or above 17 feet. Our levee, which has protected us for over 30 years, is 34 FEET TALL. There has been NO water in downtown in 50 years, well before the levee was built. The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is dry, open, and excited for your visit, as are all the other Hannibal attractions and lodgings.

View hours of operation and ticket information.

There are two types of tickets. One is for only the Mark Twain Museum Gallery, and the other includes 8 buildings including the Mark Twain Boyhood Home, The WPA era Museum, the Becky Thatcher House, the J. M. Clemen’s Justice of the Peace Building, Grants Drug Store, the recreated Huck Finn House, the Interpretive Center, and the Mark Twain Museum Gallery.

Each building tells part of the story about how Mark Twain drew inspiration from his time in Hannibal as young Sam Clemens. You will walk in the footsteps of Sam Clemens and learn about the people and events that later showed up in various books.

The time it takes to complete the tour will vary from person to person. Most people take between 90 minutes to 2 hours, but some can spend an entire day and still not finish. You can have your ticket marked and return the following day to finish your tour.

Most of the buildings are fully accessible. Two are only partially accessible. Due to the historic nature of some of the buildings, the second floor is not accessible. Those two buildings are the Boyhood Home and Pilaster House/Grants Drug Store. These buildings have videos on the first floor that explain the exhibits on the upper floors.

There are two self-operated lifts at the Becky Thatcher and Pilaster House to get around the stairs.

There are two elevators at the Mark Twain Museum that access the mezzanine level and second floor.

• Mark Twain Home Foundation Members receive free admission.
• The museum Is free for residents of Hannibal, Missouri.
• The museum is free for active military and those who retired with 20 years of service.
• The Mark Twain Boyhood Home has a reciprocity agreement with The St. Joseph Museums, The Toy & Miniature Museum in Kansas City, and History Museum on the Square in Springfield Museums.

We are discussing offering these in 2023. 

No, they are self-guided tours. We do offer a guided option for group tours for an extra fee. 

During the winter, Hannibal can experience snow and ice storms. For the safety of the visitors as well as our staff and volunteers, we may close early when storms are expected, or close for the entire day until it is safe for staff and visitors to return. We will post any closings on social media.

Only service animals are permitted inside the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum properties.

Not as part of the museum tours.

There are youth ambassadors who portray Tom and Becky. They can be found strolling the historic downtown on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from the spring into the fall and major festivals. Learn more about the Tom & Becky Program.

From May through October there is a Mark Twain performance by local actor Jim Waddell in the Museum Auditorium every Thursday - Sunday at 4 pm. The performance is free to the public, with or without a museum ticket.

Learn more about Hannibal area attractions.

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum properties are operated by the Mark Twain Home Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation, funded by admissions, gift shop sales, and donations.

There is no direct state or federal involvement and tax dollars do not support the museum.

The Boyhood Home, Old Museum, and the Tom and Huck statue are owned by the City of Hannibal and leased to the Mark Twain Home Foundation. The rest of the properties are owned by the foundation.

The stone wall was constructed as a fire wall between wooden buildings and a lumber yard. The masonry was a continuation of the WPA project that erected the stone museum building next to the Boyhood Home. The buildings being protected in the 1930s are now gone leaving the big wall.

The Boyhood Home of Mark Twain was given to the City of Hannibal in 1912 and opened to the public on May 15 of that year, making it one of the earliest preserved historic home museums in the United States.