Lear is a name that is known to Marion County, Missouri.  It is a name known to much of the world, in fact, because a man born in Hannibal in 1902 gave us first the car radio, the 8-track, and then the Lear Jet.  He held over 150 U.S. Patents.  His...

Drive west from Palmyra for 13 miles, to the town of Philadelphia, which is on State Highway 168.  At Philadelphia take a turn north on State Route D, which you will follow for about 12 miles.  There is a bend in the road here where you will find the...

The town of Perry, Missouri, bills itself as the gateway to Mark Twain Lake, and it is in southwest Ralls County.  Perry is just west of the intersection of Missouri Routes 19 and 154.  It is the home of the Ralls County Historicial Society. South...

A July sun, in torrid clime, gleamed on exile band, who in suits of gray Stood in mute array On the banks of the Rio Grande. They were dusty and faint with their long, drear ride, And they paused when they came to the river side; For its...

Grant’s Memoirs contain a very famous passage, when he talks about his first near-encounter with a Civil War enemy.  The enemy was Brig. Gen. Thomas Harris of the Missouri State Guard.  The place was near Samuel Clemens’ birthplace, the town of...