A literary road trip through New England

Take a trip through historic New England and visit the homesteads of famous literary figures.

- Josephine Massey, Christian Science Monitor

Courtesy of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

2. Harriet Beacher Stowe Center

Just around the corner from Twain's Gothic mansion sits Harriet Beacher Stowe's Victorian cottage, plain by comparison. But Stowe was famous in her own right; her 1852 novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," sold 1 million copies in its first year. Also, like Twain, Stowe hopped around locations, living everywhere from Ohio to Maine. For the last 23 years of her life, however, Stowe lived in the area of Hartford known as "Nook Farm," which was home to several literary, political, and philosophical figures, Stowe and Twain among them. Stowe was not only a neighbor of Twain but a close friend as well, and they would often jaunt "across the lawn" to visit each other. A full-time writer after publishing "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Stowe produced several other works during her time at Nook, including "The American Woman's Home," "Lady Byron Vindicated," and "Pogunuc People."