Stowe Center for Literary Activism — Attraction in Hartford

A very neat historic house, and a very disappointing tour.

I realized what I was in for when we began with our group gathered outside the visitor's center while the guide made us take turns looking at an animated map of the slave trade on her laptop. The actual tour included few details about the house itself or Stowe's personal life, and focused largely on a rather shallow discussion of Uncle Tom's Cabin and the horrors of slavery. Despite being heavily focused on slavery, there was no mention during the tour of prominent former slaves like Sojourner Truth or John Andrew Jackson, both of whom were influential to Stowe and her work. (There was also no mention of Josiah Henson, whose life is believed to have been the inspiration for much of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and whose own autobiography, "The Life of Josiah Henson", is generally overlooked in modern US history.)

I could rant on about things I found lacking in the tour, but I'm sure you get the idea. The house and grounds are lovely, and if you have no idea of who Harriet Beecher Stowe was, this tour would probably be a great introduction. For everyone else, it's less of a tour and more of a 6th grade social studies lesson that happens to take place in Stowe's historic home. You can walk around the exterior of the house and stop in the visitor center without spending money on a tour ticket, and if you find yourself in the area, I would highly recommend you...

I really liked our guide Oliver, he was super but the content was a bit dull. I wanted to know more about her life, and how she lived, and the circumstances of her moving next door to Mark Twain. (The elephant in the room should have been addressed at least in one passing remark.)

The renovation is so complete I feel like it left the house with a modern varnished look which dissolves the authenticity of an old historic home. I was interested in the renovation, how and why it was done and any artifacts they found but this was not included at all in the tour.

I liked that there was an emotional element to the story of HBS's decision to write Uncle Tom and Oliver highlighted some of the hypocrisies of her life's works. I would have liked to know how she felt after the civil war and how the book affected her personally (finances, family life etc) and how it related to what in essence was her summer retirement home. The tour in my opinion lacked a foundation as to why the story was being narrated in her home and not in a lecture hall at a library. There was very little information given relating her "stuff" to the story of her writing Uncle Tom. All of that was done before she moved to this house.

I don't think I'd do the tour again or recommend it to anyone else unless they are a student of HBS and the politics of...

Was disappointed with the tour for many reasons. One, the guide was in training which is fine, but she should not be allowed to lead the tour until she could prove some level of knowledge of the facts. People are paying good money for the tour and my daughter said it felt like someone at her school giving an unprepared school report. Two, most of the tour focused on the impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin during the time and on racial issues today. I expected some of that, but not 75% of the tour. Very little was said about the house itself and Harriet Beecher Stow herself. I knew no more about her than when I first arrived. Third, half way through the tour we were asked to sit in a circle and look at a few photo copies of quotes from slaves and comment on them and give our thoughts about about civil rights issues today. What??? It was uncomfortable. I did not buy a tour ticket for that type of experience.

Update: After management read this review, they did respond kindly, indicated the they will take my criticism into account, and did offer a refund of the money. So that shows some class and humility...