A Cincinnati landmark famous for its role in the abolition movement is reopening after a painstaking restoration.
The project spotlights not one but two crucial eras in America's struggle for racial equity.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is named for the author of bestselling anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in the house with her family — many of them high-profile racial justice and women's rights advocates themselves. Shortly after leaving Cincinnati, she wrote her famous book, which was based heavily on experiences she had here.
The original portion of the almost 200-year-old house has been restored to its 1840 state, when it was home to the Beecher family.
"We tell the story of all the people she met, the things she experienced, the ideas that she learned living here in Cincinnati that allowed her to write 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' " Stowe House Executive Director Christina Hartlieb says.
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A later addition has been made accurate to 1940, when the house was the Edgemont Inn, a Black-owned boarding house and tavern listed in the Green Book guides for Black travelers.
"We talk about the significance of it being in the middle of the Black business district here in Walnut Hills, we talk about the Great Migration and why there were so many African Americans living in Cincinnati," Hartlieb says. "And that's really a story of how the African American community takes care of themselves during this time period of segregation and discrimination."
Crews have been working on the project since 2020, Hartlieb says, conducting a full exterior and interior historic restoration.
The public will get a chance to see the full results starting July 19, when a weekend of housewarming events is planned. Those will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, musical performances, open houses, refreshments and activities for young people.