Harriet's Writing Room

Harriet’s Writing Room honors the literary legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who lived at 63 Federal Street while writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

The space, a front room off the south side of the building, is open to the public by appointment throughout the year, free of charge. To schedule a visit, please call 207-725-3433.

With its fireplace and view on to Federal Street, the Writing Room likely served as a formal reception or living space when the Stowe family occupied the home in the early 1850s.

None of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s home furnishings and few original architectural details survive. Instead, the Writing Room is furnished with pieces evocative of Stowe’s time spent in the house with her children, her sister Catharine, and her husband, Calvin Stowe, a Bowdoin College professor. A large central table with benches offers visitors a comfortable place to sit to write a postcard or flip through a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and other works of American literature from the period. Wall text and reproductions of photographs and maps allow visitors to learn more about the people and places of the mid-nineteenth century when Stowe wrote the novel that made history.