Seasonal and Themed Tours

"We can write only as we are driven, and never know exactly where we are going to land.

Different themes are integrated into the house tour so that visitors have an opportunity to gain a more in depth look into the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the people that influenced her, her interests, neighborhood and some of her other works.

Every 1 p.m. tour concludes with a post-tour discussion.  Don't miss this opportunity for an informal conversation about Stowe and her life.

January thru February

Activists, Abolitionists and Reformers
This tour is structured around abolition movements and the people who worked towards emancipation in the 19th century.  Detailed information is given about the fight for equality and justice African Americans encountered through being enslaved.

• Background information on slavery and its roots within the United States
• Fugitive slaves that helped influence Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
• Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Frederick Douglass, Josiah Henson and Sojourner Truth
• Emancipation Proclamation 1863

March

Stowe and Women's Rights
This tour is designed to tell the story of suffrage in the 19th century, the women that influenced Stowe and those who worked for women's rights, including the multi-talented and multi-faceted Beecher women Catharine Beecher and Isabella Beecher Hooker, Sojourner Truth, Victoria Woodhull, the Duchess of Sutherland and others.

• Education for women
• Women’s suffrage
• Women’s rights
• John Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony

April thru May

Women are the Real Architects of Society
This tour focuses on the book The American Woman's Home (1869) co-authored by Catharine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe and the role the Beecher sisters played in making housewifery and homemaking a legitimate profession.  The two authors are compared today to Martha Stewart because of the advice given in this book. The sisters made popular the social trend that American citizens were bred in the home.  Key chapters in The American Woman’s Home include:

• Domestic advice
• Home decoration
• Dinner table manners
• Clothing
• Healthful food
• Care of servants and children
• Care and organization of rooms

June thru August

In Stowe's Home and Garden 
"A garden is a healing place for the soul" (HBS)  This tour focuses on Stowe's love of gardens in addition to the Victorian's love affair with flowers.  From the Oxygen Movement to the "language of flowers", gardens permeated every aspect of middle and upper class life in Nook Farm.  A walk through the gardens surrounding the Stowe house is included on the tour. The following is discussed:

• Victorian Gardening techniques and layouts
• Stowe’s love for gardening and nature
• Plants and flowers in the garden

This tour is offered as a self-guided tour as well.

September

Stowe's Neighbors
This tour explores the neighborhood of Nook Farm; an enclave of some of the 19th century's most influentian writers, artists, politicians and social activists.  This was a neighborhood considered by many to be the last vestige of the parlor conversation.

• Hear about Mark Twain, William Gillette, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Katharine Seymour Day and others
• Nook Farm architecture
• Neighborhood evolution

This tour is offered as a self-guided tour as well.

October

Spirits At Stowe, An Otherworldly Tour

Like many 19th-century Americans, Harriet Beecher Stowe had an open mind about connecting with those who were no longer living. Explore Stowe’s involvement with the paranormal and learn about more recent investigations by the SyFy Channel’s "Ghost Hunters" on this tour.

• Hear stories about the famous author and unexplained events from past and present
  
• Tour the house after dark, conducted by flashlight
  
• See a room in the house prepared for a seance with period equipment used to communicate with the dead

October thru November

Sharing the Harvest
The celebratory high point of the year for most 19th-century New Englanders was Thanksgiving Day.  Learn how the Stowe family celebrated - from what they ate, to how they showed their gratitude, and how Stowe incorporated the holiday into her writings. 

• Holiday meal
• Nutting and other New England autumn traditions
• Sharing and giving
• Social Justice

December

Christmas at the Stowes
Experience the Stowe family's life during the holiday season and view rarley-seen family artifacts and historically accurate decorations.  Gain insight in the social changes in the 19th-century celebration of Christmas.  Learn how the Beechers and the Stowes celebrated the season with special attention to sharing their good fortune and spending time with family and friends.

• History of the celebration of Christmas
• How Stowe decorated for the season
• Celebration activities
• Holiday meals