Hartford

Mark Twain House — A costumed "living history tour" led by an actor playing Twain's real-life butler, George Griffin, who worked for the family 17 years and became far more than staff. Many scholars think Griffin partly shaped the character of Jim in Huckleberry Finn. The house itself was wild — bee-themed rooms, star motifs, Islamic-inspired art, hidden doors. Compared to other Gilded Age mansions it felt smaller (25 rooms vs. The Breakers' 70) and more authentic, since Twain earned his money writing and was famously bad with it.

I learned Harriet Beecher Stowe lived right next door in Nook Farm, no fence between the yards — and that there's no real naming connection between "Tom Sawyer" and "Uncle Tom," just a common 19th-century name. She actively supported Black writers' publishing careers too.

Wadsworth Atheneum — Founded 1842, the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the U.S. I loved the "from cabinet to museum" idea — art moving from private hoarding to public sharing. The main hallway, with a famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington, recalled the Musée d'Orsay.