10.16.10 – Cincinnati, Ohio: Harriet Beecher Stowe House

Okay, Cincinnati is not a very far trip from Covington, Kentucky, but I still found a place to visit that I've never been to before (and I did have to cross a bridge to get there). I was recently looking through Traveling Literary America, which mostly contained sites in New England that I wanted to visit, but there was one listing in Cincinnati – the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. She and her family moved to Cincinnati when she was 21 years old (1832), and she lived in this house until her marriage in 1836 to Calvin Ellis Stowe. Harriet remained in Cincinnati until 1850, just a few years before she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. It's believed that witnessing slavery in nearby Kentucky, and her involvement with abolitionists in Cincinnati, helped in the creation of the book.

It is a lovely building with knowledgeable guides. Unfortunately the building was in other hands for about 100 years, so there's no original furniture. Still, it's a strangely tranquil building in a very busy section of Cincinnati near the University.