Quarry Farm, Mark Twain's Elmira summer home, nets major grant. How money will be used.

The historic Elmira area home where legendary author Samuel Langhorne Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — penned some of his most famous works will be getting an important addition thanks to a major grant.

The Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning and the Finger Lakes awarded the Quarry Farm Foundation a $50,000 grant to help finance the installation of a state-of-the-art fire suppression system.

Quarry Farm, located on East Hill overlooking the City of Elmira, was Twain's summer home starting in 1870, after he married Elmira native Olivia Langdon. In 1983, the Langdon family bequeathed the property to Elmira College.

Quarry Farm was where Twain wrote such classics as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," among others.

The timing of the Community Foundation grant is perfect, said Katherine Roehlke, vice president of the Quarry Farm Foundation and chair of local fundraising efforts.

"Quarry Farm is one of America’s premier literary landmarks and is in urgent need of restoration," Roehlke said. "Most of its systems are more than 150 years old."

The Quarry Farm Foundation was formed in 2022 to restore and renew operating systems at Quarry Farm and to raise funds to support the Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College.

The Community Foundation grant comes just as the Quarry Farm Foundation is commencing a local fundraising effort to finance the fire suppression system and other upgrades, Roehlke said.

This is the second Community Foundation grant to Quarry Farm, according to foundation President Randi Hewit.

"That speaks to the urgency and importance of the work in progress there," Hewit said. "Quarry Farm is a national treasure, and we are its stewards."

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Quarry Farm is utilized primarily by literary scholars, but is occasionally open to the public for specific events.

Community support for programming and restoration efforts has been strong, said Joe Lemak, director of the Center for Mark Twain Studies.

"We are exceedingly grateful for this grant. Because we honor historic preservation standards, our work is expensive and time consuming," Lemak said. "The entire regional community has been magnificent in its support, but we have a long way to go."

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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Mark Twain's Elmira summer home gets grant for fire suppression system