FAQs

For group tours, contact the Visitor Center Coordinator at ext 317, for school groups contact the Program Coordiantor at ext 302

Tours start at the Visitors Center.

Tour length is about 45 minutes.

Rates for tours vary. Click for more information

The Stowe Center is located at 77 Forest St., Hartford, CT; click for directions.

There are a variety of restaurants in the area.

Two of Stowe's sisters lived in Hartford, it was a prosperous city, and she had promised herself as a teenager to return.

Stowe learned about slavery in a variety of ways. Her family discussed slavery; her father and brothers preached abolition; and her brother lived in Louisiana. She experienced it when she lived for almost 20 years in Cincinnati, Ohio, across the river from a slave holding state. She helped fugitives escape. She read freedom narratives and auction billings, corresponded with former slaves, and read the press.

Initially, Stowe believed in colonization (creating settlements in Liberia for emancipated people), but through experience of writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin and preparing the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, she changed her mind and came to believe in immediate emancipation.

Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin partially while living in Brunswick, ME and partially in Andover, MA from June 1851 through April 1852. Her husband was teaching at schools in both places.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written between 1851and 1852 for the National Era, an antislavery newspaper.

Stowe was 40 years old when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin.

The dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin into "Tom Shows" simplified the story and highlighted racial stereotypes.

Stowe lived next door to Franklin & Mary Chamberlin who build what is now called the Katharine Day House in 1884. Day preserved it along with the Stowe House. Both buildings are now property of the Stowe Center.

The Katharine Day House was built by Franklin & Mary Chamberlin in 1884. Today it houses the library, program and events, and administrative offices for the Stowe Center.

Paint analysis was done on the Stowe House in 2002. The color it is painted dates from the 1880s and is the color that the Stowe family chose.

Stowe and Mark Twain were friendly neighbors with deep family connections. See Clemens House for more information.

Developed in the 1850s by Stowe's brother-in-law John Hooker and his friend Francis Gillette, Nook Farm's residents were their friends and relatives. They were also community and national leaders, activists and social reformers, and built a reputation that drew others to join them. Stowe built her first Nook Farm house in 1863. Twain moved in in 1874.

Yes, Stowe lived in Nook Farm from 1863 to her death in 1896. Mark Twain lived in his home from 1874-1891.

The Mark Twain House is across the lawn from the Stowe House backdoor.

Yes, online donations may be made by clicking this link.