Harriet Beecher Stowe House Named a National Landmark

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best-known work is her anti-slavery novel “Uncle  Tom’s Cabin,” but the prolific author is of national importance because she was a significant reformer for a wide variety of causes.

It is for this that her home in Hartford has been designated a national historic landmark. 

The house is associated with Stowe’s later career as a reformer on issues relating to the family and women’s roles, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of the Interior announcing that 13 new sites have received the acclaimed distinction.

“Today’s designations include significant sites that help tell the story of America and the contributions that all people from all walks of life have made as we strive for a more perfect union,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a statement.

Stowe was born in Connecticut, moved away with her family, and later built her dream house, Oakholm, in the Nook Farm section Hartford, after her husband retired.

But, she had to sell it because of maintenance costs and the encroachment of factories, according to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

In 1873, she moved to the Gothic style house on Forest Street, now known as the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, and lived there until her death in 1893.

The house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1963.

"This honor from the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service recognizes and celebrates  Stowe's impact on America.  Her most famous work, the best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War, was fueled by her passion for justice and empathy for those enslaved.   We appreciate the support of Connecticut's federal delegation, Governor Malloy and the CT State Historic Preservation Office. We are grateful for the testimony of the offices of Congressman Larson, Senator Blumenthal and former Senator Lieberman, " Katherine Kane, executive director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, said in a statement.

At the house, you can find books, manuscripts, memorabilia and more.

You can visit the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center at 77 Forest St., Hartford.

For information, call 860-522-9258.

The other sites to be designated national historic landmarks are:

• Camden Amphitheatre and Public Library, Camden, Maine. 
• Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District, Jessamine County, Kentucky, one of the nation’s largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the American Civil War.
• Casa Dra. Concha Meléndez Ramírez, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama, where civil rights marchers drawing attention to the need for voting rights legislation were attacked by law enforcement officials on March 7, 1965. The attack, known as “Bloody Sunday,” contributed to the introduction and passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• The Epic of American Civilization Murals, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
• George T. Stagg Distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky, a rare, intact example of an operating distillery before, during and after Prohibition. 
• Hinchliffe Stadium, Paterson, New .Jersey, which he institutionalized practice of “separate but equal” facilities.
• Honey Springs Battlefield, McIntosh and Muskogee Counties, Oklahoma, the site of the largest battle in Indian Territory in which Native Americans fought as members of both Union and Confederate armies. 
• Old San Juan Historic District/Distrito Histórico del Viejo San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Pear Valley, Eastville, Virginia, a 1740 house and surviving example of the type of architecture that developed in the Chesapeake Bay region, illustrating how early settlers in the colonies adapted to their new environment.
• Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago, which represents the visual and philosophical precepts of the turn of the century Arts and Crafts design movement.
• Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York one of the country’s oldest artists’ retreats.  Among the notable artists who have worked at Yaddo are Aaron Copland, Truman Capote, Leonard Bernstein, Flannery O’Connor, Sylvia Plath and Langston Hughes.