Hartford LYB Grant Funds Harriet's Barrier-Free Backyard
For immediate release:
July 17, 2023
Hartford LYB Grant Funds Nook Farm Neighborhood Beautification Project
Love Your Block lawn sign in front of two raised veggie beds in front of the Harriet Beecher Stowe house.
The outdoor space will be environmentally sound, ecologically diverse, and accessible to people of all abilities.
Residents of the Asylum Hill neighborhood contributed what they would most like to see from this project.
The vision is to create a community space on the lawn through the installation of a sensory and a pollinator garden, two raised vegetable beds, a Free Little Library, and a Free Little Pantry.
These site improvements are part of a larger, multi-year project designed to offer area residents, staff, and tourists a welcoming and tranquil place to gather and learn about historic Nook Farm and the natural world that surrounds it.
HARTFORD (CT) – The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center was delighted to receive a $24,390 Love Your Block grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving working in partnership with the City of Hartford. This initiative awards nonprofit organizations that seek to contribute to the beautification of Hartford neighborhoods with projects that are grounded in resident interest and engagement.
Knox truck at the corner of Farmington Ave x Forest Street
With this support, and in collaboration with another Hartford nonprofit, Knox, Inc. (whose goal it is to provide leadership to build greener, stronger, healthier, and more beautiful neighborhoods in Hartford), the Stowe Center will engage Knox’s apprentices to work with museum staff and volunteers to install and maintain new gardens, including two raised vegetable beds that will be harvested with produce offered free to neighbors. A sensory garden designed to stimulate the senses through touch, sight, scent, and sound and create a tranquil place that helps people feel calmer, happier, and more present. Benches will flank the sensory garden. We will also create a pollinator garden with perennials and wildflowers to attract birds and native bees, keeping with the historic 19th-century landscape. We will install a custom-designed wooden box on a stand along Forest Street to serve as a Little Free Library and a Little Free Pantry making books and non-perishable food available to the neighborhood as well. “The intention of Harriet’s Backyard is to create a unique greenspace for community that all people feel welcomed to enjoy; as well as a place of care for our neighbors.” Said Karen Fisk, Executive Director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.
This new outdoor space will be environmentally sound, ecologically diverse, and accessible to people of all abilities. We have already held focus groups with neighbors with a wide range of functional limitations and their feedback guided the planning process and highlighted the need for a welcoming ambiance, inclusive design, and opportunities for neighbors to enjoy nature in quiet reflection and be inspired to creativity and to action. We will reconnect with them during and after implementation for their input on future enhancements. “This year’s [Love Your Block] projects are revitalizing neighborhoods one block at a time, connecting residents with one another and building a sense of pride and ownership of these neighborhoods. Neighborhood residents are the most knowledgeable about their needs and are best equipped to identify beautification activities.” Said Hartford Foundation President and CEO Jay Williams.
Sensory Garden in front of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house
These site improvements are part of a larger, multi-year project designed to offer area residents, staff, and tourists a welcoming and tranquil place to gather and learn about historic Nook Farm and the natural world that surrounds it. Other site improvements include expanded bluestone walkways, additional seating, and improved lighting. 50-year-old, crumbling asphalt driveways and parking area will also be expanded and replaced. The expanded driveway will bring bus access to the Stowe Center for the first time. In preparation for these driveway enhancements, our Heritage Rose Garden will be moved away from the Day House driveway to new beds that will flank the flagpole. “The project is community driven with all facets of people being represented at the table. We are building a place of the community and by the community in a safe, comfortable, loving way,” said Cindy Cormier, Project Director for the ADA, Site and Structural Improvement Project.
The long-term outcomes of this landscape improvement project are many. Neighbors will have a beautiful and peaceful new park-like place to visit, complete with numerous gardens and areas to relax and unwind and gather with family and friends. “Currently, many area adults and children have limited opportunities to get outside and will benefit from increased access to the natural world. Access to nature has proven to be beneficial for a person’s physical and mental well-being,” remarked Executive Director, Karen Fisk.
Raised veggie beds
In addition, when neighbors have a place to connect and learn about the rich history of Asylum Hill and Nook Farm there may be a greater sense of community and a greater pride of place. As the campus becomes better utilized by area residents, the opportunity for outdoor community programming also increases. As an active programming site, the Stowe Center already engages community partners and will continue to do so as it looks to new partners to expand its reach and diversify its offerings.
The Stowe Center routinely gathers input from visitors and program participants to determine what they enjoyed and ways their experience might be improved; we will ask these same questions about accessibility of the neighbors who visit to ensure that everyone feels welcome and included. “Ultimately, the Stowe Center is working to create a unified, inclusive, and interpreted urban greenspace in Hartford’s historic Nook Farm Neighborhood,” said Project Director, Cindy Cormier.
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The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is a museum, research library/archive, and program center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Stowe Center’s mission is to preserve and interpret Stowe’s Hartford home and the Center’s historic collections, promote vibrant discussion of her life and work, and inspire commitment to social justice and positive change. For general information and updates, please visit www.HarrietBeecherStoweCenter.org.
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Isabella Beecher Hooker
IsabellaHolmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907) An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.
Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.
In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.
In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.
December 2, 2019
Due to inclement weather, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is closed today, Monday, December 2.
