Instead of a summer trip to Europe, the Clemens family opted to take Candace Wheeler up on her many past invitations to revisit her Catskills retreat at the Onteora Club near Tannersville, New York.
The Clemenses…came to the Inn for the season — the father and mother, and Clara, Susy, and “Little Jean.” They took “Balsam,” a bit of cottage across the road from the Inn, and it became a sort of jewel-box for the summer — a thing that held values untold.
It was the beginning of a happy summer. There was a constant visiting from one cottage to another, with frequent assemblings at the Bear and Fox Inn, their general headquarters. There were pantomimes and charades, in which Mark Twain and his daughters always had star parts. Susy Clemens, who was now eighteen, brilliant and charming, was beginning to rival her father as a leader of entertainment. Her sister Clara gave impersonations of Modjeska and Ada Rehan. … Matthews also remembers Jean, as a little girl of ten, allowed to ride a pony and to go barefoot, to her great delight, full of health and happiness, a favorite of the colony [MTB 900].
[From DBD]
July 12, 1890 Saturday; Sam left for New York City. He checked into the Hoffman House. He may or may not have gone to Hartford but was back at Onteora on the 16th or 17th.
July 17-19 Saturday – Sam left the family again and traveled to New York, then on to Hartford. After a series of trips between New York and Hartford, Sam returned to Onteora on the 30th.
August 12 Tuesday – Sam went by train (two and a half hours) in the evening to New York City, where he checked into the Murray Hill Hotel.
August 15 Friday – Sam left Washington for Keokuk and his ailing mother. The entire day would be spent on the train.
August 19 Tuesday - This is the likely day that Sam left Keokuk for Elmira, where Livy was caring for her mother.
August 21 Thursday - We go to New York this afternoon. Livy will go to the Katskills tomorrow if the strike will permit, & I go to Washington, mayhap. Sam would return to Onteora on the 29th.
September 8 Monday – Sam travel to Hartford and returned to Onteora Sept. 9
September 12 Friday - Sam went to New York City and gave a dinner speech at a dinner for Moorfield Storey (1845-1929), lawyer and publicist.