Although Sam Clemens was a professed agnostic, he spent much of his free time in the company of the Reverend Joseph Twichell, the pastor of the Asylum Hill Congregational Church. Twain once referred to it as the "Church of the Holy Speculators." Twichell overheard the remark and was highly amused. The two men were known to take long walks up to Talcott Mountain or along the paths of Nook Farm. One of their famous walks was recorded in The Hartford Courant.