Tuttletown's Historic Sites
A Stone Monument is the only item of interest left to visitors
passing though Tuttletown on their way north or south. It relates the
fact that Mark Twain swapped yarns and traded here, at the old Swerer
Store which was located a short distance from this marker. The store no
longer stands, but some of the stones from which it was constructed were
used in building this monument.
If you’ve read older books on this area, you may have seen a picture
of Bill Swerer’s Stone Store. It was a neatly built stone building made
of quarried and dressed blocks of local schist. Its two doorways were
fortified with the usual iron shutters and the place was considered the
only “elegant and substantial” store in the camp when it was built in
1852. Mark Twain is said to have dropped by occasionally while on his
sojourn on nearby Jackass Hill. Bret Harte is rumored to have been a
clerk here, although this is unlikely. A close examination of the tangle
of weeds and shrubbery near the road just south of the monument may yet
reveal a few foundation stones from the old store.