The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Hannibal, Missouri

On a bright summer morning Tom appears on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush, facing a very long fence. It is the novel's best-known scene, and Hannibal places it here: Samuel Clemens, the future Mark Twain, lived in this house from 1844 to 1853. It has been a museum since 1912, and a legendary whitewashed fence of Tom Sawyer borders the property.

Visitor guidance: Open as the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum on Hill Street; check opening times before you go.

Even while Tom sulks over the fence, Cardiff Hill rises beyond the village, green and dreamy, "just far enough away" to feel inviting. In Hannibal, a statue of Tom and Huck stands at the foot of the real Cardiff Hill. Erected in 1926, it is one of the earliest known statues to honor fictional characters.

Location precision: The pin marks Cardiff Hill in Hannibal; the exact statue spot is not pinned.

Visitor guidance: The statue stands at the foot of the hill; the museum maintains it.

In school Tom meets the new girl: "Becky Thatcher. What's yours? Oh, I know." She becomes the novel's sweetheart, and Hannibal ties her to Laura Hawkins, Clemens' own childhood sweetheart. The museum acquired the "Becky Thatcher" house, where Laura Hawkins lived, and it is now one of the buildings of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum complex. Its exterior was restored in 2010, and the interior reopened in 2016.

Location precision: The pin marks the Boyhood Home complex; the Becky Thatcher House is one of its buildings, not pinned on its own.

Visitor guidance: Part of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum complex in Hannibal.

Bored with school, Tom and Huck run away to Jackson's Island to live as pirates. The novel puts it three miles below St. Petersburg, in the Mississippi, where the river is a trifle over a mile wide: a long, narrow, wooded island. Hannibal sits on the west bank of the Mississippi, so the real river is the setting you can see.

Location precision: The novel's island is not tied to a real one; the pin marks the town of Hannibal on the river.

Tom and Becky wander into the maze of the cave, "a vast labyrinth of crooked aisles" that run into each other and lead nowhere. The real cave behind it, near Hannibal, is the oldest operating show cave in Missouri, giving tours since 1886. It became a National Natural Landmark in 1972.

Visitor guidance: Tours run at the cave near Hannibal; check the schedule first.