Famous Houses are Right Near Your Home
One really cool thing about Hartford is that it’s been around a long time. That could be an understatement, as Hartford was first settled in 1635 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As such, there is history everywhere you turn in this great, big, little city.
We’ve all been cooped up, unable to get out and see the sights for the past 14 months of this stubborn, annoying virus. But that is now changing, as the vaccine is pushing COVID away and allowing us to get back out and enjoy Hartford.
As of this writing, everything was still far from fully open. But we’re getting there. In this blog, let’s get into two must see destinations for readers and authors alike, right here in little old Hartford, and both are less than a mile north of us here at Park Place Towers. Who knew?!
Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote and published over 30 books over a writing career that spanned 51 tears, but it was her bestselling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin that turned her into a celebrity and secured her place in history.
She moved to Hartford with her husband, Calvin Stowe, in 1870. They relocated in town three years later to a brick Victorian Gothic cottage on Forest Street. Harriet remained there for 23 years.
You can tour the Beecher Stowe house and browse numerous collections on site.
Mark Twain House
Bet you didn’t know one of America’s most renowned authors lived right here in Hartford. In 1871, Samuel Clemens (pen name Mark Twain) and his new wife Olivia Langdon moved to Hartford. He had first visited Hartford when visiting his publisher and loved the place. After publishing Roughing It, while renting a house in the heart of Nook Farm, Clemens built a 25-room house on Farmington Avenue that was completed in 1873.
Here, Clemens lived with his wife and three daughters for the next 17 years. During those years in this Hartford house Clemens completed his most popular works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). ‘
You can visit the house and museum. Both make for truly interesting viewing.
If you have other questions about things to do around Park Place Towers, or about leasing at Park Place, give us a call at (860) 951-3400.
