Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

The 1871 Nook Farm Cottage Where Harriet Beecher Stowe Lived For The Last 23 Years Of Her Life, Next Door To Mark Twain; A National Historic Landmark Run As A House Museum With An Explicitly Activist Interpretation · Hartford, Connecticut

Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, sold three hundred thousand copies in a year, and did more than any other single book to make abolition a mass cause in the North - Lincoln is supposed to have called her the little lady who started this great war, which she probably was not, but the sentiment stuck. She bought this cottage in Nook Farm in 1873 and lived here until her death in 1896, next door to Mark Twain, so two of the most consequential American books of the century were written within a hundred yards of each other. The house is furnished as she kept it, with her own paintings on the walls. The Center interprets it unusually: rather than a period-room tour, the visit is built around what the book did, what it got wrong, and what it set in motion - including the racial stereotypes the novel spread, which the Center addresses directly rather than avoiding. The guides expect conversation rather than silence, which makes a weekday morning and a small group considerably better than a full weekend tour.

77 Forest Street, Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut, 06105, United States

Open most days through the middle of the day and afternoon, with at least one weekday closure in most seasons and reduced winter hours, and closed on several major holidays. THE HOUSE IS SEEN ONLY ON A GUIDED TOUR, which runs on a timed schedule and should be booked at weekends. The visitor centre, shop and gardens are open the same hours without a tour ticket. Programmes and salon conversations run on announced dates.

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