So do you have any plans for New Year's Eve? If you lived in Williamsport back in 1869, you'd have had the chance to see the one and only Mark Twain before he became famous, according to the Chamber of Commerce and historical records. The 34 year old Twain came to Williamsport to give a New Year's Eve speech at the Allman Opera House. He was just becoming a major writer, having published a short story called The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
Twain is said to have visited what was then a rundown Pine Street cemetery where he was inspired to write another short story, A Curious Dream. In that story, a skeleton complains of the condition of his once comfortable home. It would be years before Twain would publish his most famous works, the ones we know about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. But Williamsport can claim him as an early visitor who took some inspiration with him.
