A Tour of Quarry Farm’s Historic Interiors and Furnishings

In 2022, CMTS Director Joseph Lemak commissioned Walter Ritchie, Jr., a decorative arts scholar and architectural historian specializing in nineteenth-century American domestic architecture, interiors, and furniture, to create a report, summarizing and detailing important architectural interiors and furnishing at Quarry Farm.

Quarry Farm, on the U.S. Register of Historic Places, remains today much as it did when Mark Twain resided here, containing original 19th century furnishings, artwork, textiles, books, wall finishes, and architectural features and objects that have historic and cultural significance that continue to be unraveled by scholarship. Walter Ritchie has gone far in answering many of these questions.

Few scholars-in-residence at Quarry Farm at any career stage have the opportunity to live surrounded by such a collection over the course of several days, all without leaving the quiet, private, and picturesque domestic space in which many, starting with Twain himself, have found the ideal conditions for writing. Mr. Ritchie’s scholarship gives evidence to the many directions in which academics, creative writers, artists, and preservationists can explore the complex field of Mark Twain Studies.

CMTS invites you to peruse the Quarry Farm collection of historic interiors and furnishings with the following link: