The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is a historic home and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

at 63 Federal Street in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

, notable as a short-term home of Harriet Beecher Stowe and

Calvin Ellis Stowe Calvin Ellis Stowe (April 6, 1802 – August 22, 1886) was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. Over his career, he was a professor of languages and Biblical and sacred literature at Andover Theolo ...

and where Harriet wrote her 1852 novel ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U ...

''. Earlier, it had been the home of

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...

as a student. It is today owned by Bowdoin College. A space within the house, called Harriet's Writing Room, is open to the public.

History

The home was built 1806-1807 and was originally known as the Titcomb House.

and his brother Stephen Longfellow temporarily rented rooms here while students at nearby Bowdoin College before moving into what is now the campus's Maine Hall by the fall of 1823. When

was hired as a professor by Bowdoin College in 1850, he and his family rented this home. His wife Harriet Beecher Stowe was sent ahead to prepare the housekeeping while he completed teaching the fall 1850 semester at

Lane Theological Seminary Lane Seminary, sometimes called Cincinnati Lane Seminary, and later renamed Lane Theological Seminary, was a Presbyterian theological college that operated from 1829 to 1932 in Walnut Hills, Ohio, today a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Its campus ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Hedrick, Joan D. ''Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994: 193. Mrs. Stowe, six months pregnant at the time, set out in April 1850 with the couple's three oldest children and her aunt Esther. The family arrived in Brunswick on Wednesday, May 22, amid a storm. The house had already been partially prepared for them by Phebe Upham, the wife of Professor

Thomas Cogswell Upham Thomas Upham (January 20, 1799 – April 2, 1872) was an American philosopher, psychologist, pacifist, poet, author, and educator. He was an important figure in the holiness movement. He became influential within psychology literature and s ...

. As Mrs. Stowe wrote to her husband,

a week later, "Mrs. Upham has done everything for me, giving up time and strength and taking charge of my affairs in a way without which we could not have got along at all in a strange place and in my present helpless condition."McFarland, Philip. ''Loves of Harriet Beecher Stowe''. New York: Grove Press, 2007: 60. She missed her husband, however, and wrote to him in November, "I am lonesome nights in this rattletrap house where every wind shakes out as many noises as there are ghosts in Hades—screeching snapping cracking groaning." Meanwhile, her husband in Ohio was ill. As Mrs. Stowe reported to her sister, he claimed he was sick "& all but dead" and worried what would happen to his wife if she were left a widow. "I read the letter and poke it into the stove, and proceed", she wrote. Their son Charley Stowe, the last of their children, was born in this house on July 8, 1850. The birth came while she was writing but, as she recalled in a letter, she was "obliged to give previous attention to some other affairs—about noon the household were thrown into commotion by the arrival of a young stranger in these parts—said to be a great beauty—to have excellent lungs & to look just like his pa, three very important items in his collection." Once settled in, Mrs. Stowe wrote for several magazines, including the ''New-York Evangelist'' and the ''National Era'' in Washington, D.C. Rent for the home, then owned by the Titcomb family, was $125, higher than expected, and Mrs. Stowe wrote to offset that expense. It was here also that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her serialized novel ''

''. The idea first came to her in a vision while sitting in pew 23 in nearby First Parish Church, where she saw the Uncle Tom character wounded from a beating he endured from his enslaver. She is said to have read early drafts of the book's chapters to friends, including the college's future president

Joshua Chamberlain Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, September 8, 1828February 24, 1914) was an American college professor from Maine who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highly respected and ...

and his soon-to-be wife Fanny Adams. While living here, the Stowes supported the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

. John Andrew Jackson, a fugitive slave who stayed with the family, wrote of hiding with them as he made his way to Canada in his narrative titled "The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina" (London: Passmore & Albaster, 1862). The Stowes stayed only two years in the home, but Mrs. Stowe later remarked those two years were the healthiest and happiest of her life.

Later history

At some point, the home was altered and became a restaurant and hotel, with the front desk and a gift shop on the first floor with private rooms on the second floor.Curtis, Nancy C. ''Black Heritage Sites: An African American Odyssey and Finder's Guide''. American Library Association, 1996: 288. The house was designated a

in 1962 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1966. It was designated a National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site in 2016. It was purchased by Bowdoin College in 2001 for $1.3 million. It is currently still owned by Bowdoin College, which opened a public space, Harriet's Writing Room in May 2016. Much of the exterior is original to the Stowes' time there.

References

External links

Stowe House
at "Aboard the Underground Railroad", National Park Service
Early image
at the Maine Memory Network, Maine Historical Society {{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1806 Houses in Brunswick, Maine Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine African-American history of Maine National Historic Landmarks in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, Maine Historic district contributing properties in Maine Stowe, Harriet Beecher House Brunswick Bowdoin College Underground Railroad in Maine Harriet Beecher Stowe

History

Later history

See also

References

External links