New London, Missouri: Giant Mark Twain

Impressively large, but with disproportionately tiny hands. Appears to be made of stucco. An alarming behemoth vision of America's favorite cigar-smoking author.

This area experienced a lot of tornadoes this year. Fortunately the statue still stands. It appears that Mark Twain has been secured with new cables.

This isn't the ordinary bronze-type figure you usually think of when you hear about a statue depicting the likeness of a famous person from history. This is an oversized, sculpted statue, with body parts that don't necessarily seem to bein proportion with other body parts. I was lucky enough to happen upon this fabulous roadside giant while on a cross-country road trip earlier this month.

There are cables attached from Mr. Twain's head to the ground that seem to be providing some kind of support, but looked somewhat useless to me. Whatever the purpose, I hope they keep the legend standing for many years to come.

There is a plaque at the bottom of the statue that reads, "Built by Larry Koelling for Clemens Landing 1984." It is located at the entrance to Clemens Landing.

About 4 miles South of Hannibal, Missouri on Highway 61, you'll spot a Giant Statue of Mark Twain. He stands guard at the entrance to Clemens Landing, a resort of sorts that has seen better days. Mostly its an RV park now. It looks as though Mr. Twain has probably been in better shape at some point too, but he is still standing. As a work of art, he's not quite on a par with say Michelangelo's David, not that many are.

Built by Larry Koelling back in 1984, ole Samuel Clemens looks like he's made of plaster and starting to show his age. Actually, I'm guessing concrete but certainly no marble was involved.