Tom Sawyer Island

Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in 1835 in Florida, Missouri, and grew up nearby in the small town of Hannibal. From there he rafted over to islands in the Mississippi and watched majestic steamboats pass by. As a young man he became a riverboat pilot, listening for leaders to call out "Mark Twain," indicating the river was two fathoms deep and safe to proceed. As a writer, his two most famous creations, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, sprang from his boyish memories of life on the Mississippi. All the names on the island can be found in the literary classic Huckleberry Finn.

Bay Lake, Florida · United States