The Octagonal Study

 

1Study on site Paine[2]
The octagonal study originally overlooked Elmira and the Chemung River from East Hill

History of the Mark Twain Study

Susan and Theodore Crane surprised their brother-in-law Samuel L. Clemens with this study in 1874. It was placed about 100 yards from the main house at Quarry Farm on a knoll overlooking the Chemung River Valley. In this octagonal building, Mark Twain wrote major portions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Prince and the Pauper, A Tramp Abroad, and many short pieces.

In 1952, the Mark Twain Study was moved from Quarry Farm to the Elmira College campus. The Study is staffed by trained student guides daily throughout the summer and by appointment in the off-season.

The study being moved to Elmira College in 1952
Twain peers out the window of his study during his final visit to Quarry Farm in 1903

If you are interested in the life and writings of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, consider a visit to his octagonal writing building – now called the Mark Twain Study.

Twain’s niece, Ida Langdon, a professor at Elmira College, dedicates the study in 1953 at the location where it now stands