National Register of Historic Places

Quarry Farm

Elmira, Chemung County, New York
Listed
March 13, 1975
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
75001177

About this property

Quarry Farm is located on East Hill overlooking Elmira, New York, and the Chemung River Valley. In 1869, Jervis Langdon purchased the property as a vacation home for his family. When he died the following year, it was inherited by his eldest daughter, Susan Langdon Crane. It remained in the Langdon family until 1982, when it was donated to Elmira College as part of the founding of the Center For Mark Twain Studies. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was married to Susan Crane's younger sister, Olivia Langdon Clemens. During their courtship, Sam promised Livy that he would never allow her to feel the homesickness he felt, and from this promise emanated their annual summer pilgrimage to Quarry Farm. All three of the Clemens' daughters would be born at Quarry Farm, and during the three decades the family regularly summered there, Twain composed many of his books and other literature, including Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He wrote most of this work in an octagonal study built expressly for him by the Cranes about 200 yards (180 m) from the main house in 1874. That study was relocated to the campus of Elmira College in 1952. As part of the stipulation of the gift, Quarry Farm is not open to the public, but is reserved exclusively for the use of scholars researching and writing about Twain and his circle. At least 10–15 of these Quarry Farm Fellows spend anywhere from a week to a month living in the house, surrounded by an extensive library of Twain-related materials, with access to the Mark Twain Archive at Elmira College, and assisted by the Center For Mark Twain Studies, which employs a full-time archivist and resident scholar. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Location

Elmira, Chemung County, New York
42.11164, -76.78478

Categories

LITERATURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Fire Station No. 4
Industrial
1.2 mi
Pentacostal Holy Temple Church of Jesus Christ
Industrial
1.2 mi
Pratt House
Industrial
1.5 mi
Jones, John W., Court
Industrial
1.5 mi
Stowell House
Industrial
1.6 mi

Nearby Battles

Sullivan's Expedition - Battle of Chemung
1779Revolutionary War
1.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Quarry Farm listed on the National Register?

Quarry Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 13, 1975.

What type of historic resource is Quarry Farm?

Quarry Farm is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Quarry Farm?

The period of significance for Quarry Farm is recorded as the industrial era.

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