From June 21 through September 19, 1901, Clemens and his family lived in a rustic cottage they nicknamed "Lair" on the shore of Lower Saranac lake

Clemens's family lived here from October 1901 through 1903.  The summer of 1902 was spent at York Harbor, Maine.

During the American Civil War Natchez was surrendered by Confederate forces without a fight in September 1862. Following the Union victory at the Battle of Vicksburg in July 1863, many refugees, including former slaves, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, began moving into Natchez and the surrounding countryside.