REDDING, Conn. – Samuel Langhorne Clemens was fascinated by thoughts of adventure as a boy, dreams that he later wrote about when he took on the pen name “Mark Twain,” which is a steamboat slang term for 12 feet of water. Later in his life, he moved to Connecticut to be closer to his publisher, and he eventually purchased a stunning estate outside of Redding that he called Stormfield – named after his last published story during his life, Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven. He was only able to live there for two years before he died in 1910.  It is now on the market, listed at $4.2 million.

Mark Twain was a prolific writer who produced a wide range of literary works, magazine and newspaper articles, poetry, short stories and novels. Many claim his most notable are The Gilded Age, written in 1873, and, of course, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, written in 1876. Twain was an avid traveler who visited a good portion of the world and wrote about the countries he visited, which he both praised and criticized. His experiences broadened his critical thinking on many subjects, including religion, leading him to form his famously strong, sharply worded opinions.

At age 72, Clemens purchased Stormfield, where he lived until his death. Sited on 28 acres adjoining a 161-acre land trust, the 6,300-square-foot home is built in the Tuscan villa style, which Clemens fell in love with during his Mediterranean travels. Clemens especially admired the beauty of the rural countryside surrounding it. After his death in 1910, the house was badly damaged in a fire but was reconstructed in 1925 to reflect the same look, original gardens, stone walls and pillars.

There are four bedrooms and six baths, three fireplaces, large formal rooms and a big eat-in kitchen with adjoining family room.  The living room has a delightful hand-painted, wood-beamed ceiling as well as a fireplace and a library alcove; its floors are hardwood and marble. The house also has a detached pool-carriage house with a heated pool, as well as a three-car garage with a caretaker cottage above that has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen and a deck. There are multiple terraces around the main house, ideal for outdoor dining.

Although people usually associate Twain with Missouri and the Mississippi River, he lived in many places, including San Francisco, Nevada, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York. He spent most of his adult life in Connecticut, including Stormfield and his home in Hartford, which is now the Mark Twain House & Museum.

The listing agent for Stormfield is Laura Freed Ancona of William Pitt Sotheby’s International, Ridgefield Brokerage, Ridgefield, Connecticut.

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