Christmas at the Stowes

On the cutting edge of Christmas reform, just as they were with so many other social movements, the Beecher-Stowe families were among the earliest New Englanders to celebrate the holiday. They hung stockings, shared holiday feasts, and decorated Christmas trees, moving away from a  Puritanical avoidance of Christmas celebrations to embrace the holiday as an opportunity to spread charitable good will, create gift baskets for the poor, and teach their children lessons of social responsibility.

Come to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center this holiday season to learn how and why 19th-century reformers transformed Christmas holiday celebrations.  Discover the significance of Christmas games, toys, books and other artifacts to changing cultural traditions.   

The Katharine Seymour Day House will showcase the exhibition, “Reforming the Season: Nineteenth-Century Reformers and Christmas” with rarely seen items from the Stowe Center collections and archives. View the popular 19^th-century images and objects, including etchings, greeting card images, Christmas toys, musical horns and sleds! Admission to the exhibit is FREE.

Visitors are invited to take a special themed tour of the Stowe House:  Christmas at the Stowes, and see the historically decorated Harriet Beecher Stowe House, complete with rarely-seen family treasures, setting the stage for a festive holiday celebration. In the Stowe House, visitors will see traditional historic holiday decorations, including the Stowe family’s Holly punch bowl,  a tree with ornaments in the style of those described in family letters, beribboned late 19^th-century Victorian mercury balls hanging in the dining room and the entry hall, presents being readied for wrapping, and plentiful greens and red alder berries.  The table will be set with special holiday foods, including plum puddings, turkey, chicken, oysters, sugared fruit and cookies. 

Stowe House tours admission is $8. Adult (13-64); $7 Seniors (65+); $4. Children (5-12). Tours are offered every hour on the hour, Tuesday- Saturday 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM and Sunday, 12 Noon – 4:30 PM.  

The Museum Store in the Visitor Center features special holiday gifts and books. Look for Stowe’s The First Christmas in New England ($12.95); sparkling Victorian glass  ornaments;  writing tools and implements;  note cards with strikingly beautiful watercolor image of the Stowe House, and much more!  The Museum Store also carries placemats and napkins made from The American Woman’s Home Collection™ fabric.  Purchase a gift membership (or a gift for your own family)  for a 10% discount. 

Admission to the Museum Store is always FREE. 

Welcome to Our Home Holiday Tour: A Living History Experience
Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 4 PM

Meet Hattie Stowe and her twin sister Eliza at the front door of the Stowe House and see the family home through their eyes with their memories of their famous mother.  Space limited: reservations encouraged 860.522.9258x317 or Info@StoweCenter.org $8. Adult (13-64); $7 Senior (65+); $4. Children (5-12)  

Schedule and hours for the Holiday exhibit at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
Wednesday-Saturday 9:30 AM – 4:30PM.  Sunday 12 noon – 4:30 PM.  Last Tour leaves at 4:00 PM. Closed December 24 and 25.