Anyone who lives or works in Elmira knows about Mark Twain’s influence on the community.
The signs are everywhere.
But most people who live outside the area probably aren’t aware the celebrated author had a summer home in Elmira, married a local girl, and wrote most of his famous works here.
Twain is usually associated with Hannibal, Missouri and the Mississippi River, or Hartford, Connecticut.
Elmira College hopes to change that perception with a new digital Mark Twain Trail, which allows visitors to virtually explore a multitude of locations around Elmira and Chemung County associated with Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
“(People) don’t think of Elmira at all, at least in the national identity of what Mark Twain is,” said Joseph Lemak, director of the Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies. “I think that one way to kind of bring awareness to people about Mark Twain is to maybe bring something that Elmira has.
“Hannibal and Hartford both have big places for people to see. And Elmira, they kind of have things spread out,” Lemak said. “So I thought that if we make a sort of a Twain trail, we can show and educate people about Mark Twain’s legacy here.”
The free self-guided tour helps improve visitors’ experience with an interactive map that helps them locate and learn about each landmark. Every stop includes historical information, visitor details, and hours when available.
Featured sites include the Mark Twain Study and Mark Twain Archives at Elmira College, the John W. Jones Museum, the Chemung Valley History Museum, Woodlawn Cemetery (where Twain is buried), and other Twain-related destinations throughout the Elmira area.
The virtual trail is expected to boost tourism and was funded through a 2025 Chemung County room tax tourism grant.
“We’re so excited to have this resource to share with our visitors. As a tourism promotion agency, we are consistently fielding questions from visitors about where to go, where to see these sites that are connected to Mark Twain,” said Alexis Rolston, manager of tourism for Discover Chemung (Chemung County Chamber of Commerce).
“This is a way for tourists to stay here longer, visit more places that they may have never, otherwise not discovered and stay in the county longer and hopefully turn those day visits into overnight visits,” Rolston said.
To experience the new digital Mark Twain Tour, go to map.elmira.edu and click on “tours” on the upper lefthand side of the page.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: New digital Mark Twain Trail highlights author’s Elmira connections
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
