In November 1871, Olivia Clemens viewed a parcel of land in what was the budding Nook Farm neighborhood on the outskirts of Hartford. A month later she wrote to her husband, “I think I have decided what we shall do about building. I have decided so you will not have to decide, Dear Heart.” This parcel of land would be the first of many land purchases between 1871 and 1876 that would become the Clemenses eight-acre estate.

When the Clemens family lived here, Nook Farm was a suburban community. The Park River flowed by at the base of the hill and pastures were the main feature of the landscape between the silhouettes of their friends’ homes. The two defining structural features of the Clemens’ grounds were the Carriage House and the greenhouse.