Aunt Harriet's House

The Harriet Beecher Stowe house and center and archives and the house next door are all right next to the Mark Twain house, literally a quite energetic stone's throw away. Unfortunately, the house itself is rather unassuming, as you see, compared to Twain's brick craziness or even the stone and brick Day House next door to the Stowe house, which is part of the complex. Still, it's a cute Victorian house, and I would have been delighted to tour it if only I had had time. The lovely, friendly women at the center were not exactly delighted when I sprang in cheerily and announced that I wanted to take a quick run around the property, and I had a Twain tour in twenty minutes. Most people seem to make this choice, sadly for the Stowe-ites.

Also unfortunately, she didn't live here while she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin; she lived in Maine then. But it would still have been interesting to get some insight into her staunchly religious and conservative life. I was doing some UTC work recently and read that she had such a horror of the theater that she wouldn't sanction a dramatic version of it for years, and when she went to see it, it was the first time in her life she had stepped foot in the theater.

Next time I'm in Hartford. I promise.