We are eager to share an interactive, conversational tour that deeply considers history and today.

Adult Groups (12 or more)

Thank you for considering an adult group visit to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. We are eager to share an interactive, conversational tour that deeply considers history and today.

We require adult groups to reserve four (4) weeks in advance of their visit.

To inquire about availability, email our Senior Education Coordinator, Anita Durkin at ADurkin@StoweCenter.org or call 860-522-9258 ext. 315.

A “Group” is defined as 12 people or more. If you are a group fewer than 12 adult visitors, please book your visit through our online ticketing platform.

Size: Minimum of 12 adults in the group. Maximum of 42 people.

Payment is due at time of visit, 10% deposit is required two weeks in advance

  • General Admission (17-64): $20
  • Seniors (65 +): $15
  • Children (6-16): $10
  • Stowe Center Member, Hartford Resident, Children under 6: FREE
  • Museums for All (with a valid EBT card and Photo ID): $3
School Groups

At Stowe Center, we encourage students to see themselves in history and as change-makers in our own historic moment. Tour Stowe’s Hartford home, a National Historic Landmark, and participate in extended learning programs where ideas turn into inspiration and positive change.

  • All school programs support Common Core Learning Standards and the Connecticut Social Studies Framework.
  • Guided tours and programs are open to K-12 students. Available year round by advance reservation; reservations must be made 30 days in advance of proposed visit date. A ratio of 1 adult: 10 youth is required.
  • School groups are for 14 students or more. Minimum of 14 people. (Maximum per day is 44.)
  • Stowe House tours are available year-round with four (4) weeks of advance reservation.

To inquire about availability, email our Senior Education Coordinator, Anita Durkin at ADurkin@StoweCenter.org or call 860-522-9258 ext. 315.

TOUR OFFERINGS

Tour Overview
It took a community of activists to end slavery in the United States. This tour explores the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe alongside the larger history of U.S. anti-slavery activism. Throughout her life, before and after her authorship of her famous anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe was connected to a wide variety of Black freedom seekers, writers, and abolitionists, including Gad Asher, James Bradley, and Harriet Jacobs. By exploring this constellation of Black activists from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, this tour connects local Connecticut history to our national story. Students will engage with a diverse array of historical figures that advocated for freedom and equality. Through this dynamic exploration of the past, students will be encouraged to reflect on how they themselves are capable of building communities that promote justice today.

Tour Outline
The Freedom & Agency tour uses the life of local anti-slavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe as a bridge to a larger story about the Black freedom movement in America. Stowe spent her childhood in Guilford, Connecticut, which was also the home of Gad Asher, an enslaved shipbuilder and Revolutionary War veteran—a man who was denied his own freedom despite fighting for his nation’s. As a young woman, Stowe moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the students at her father’s seminary, led by a Black student named James Bradley, challenged 19th-century racism through their abolitionist activism and educational advocacy. After becoming a famous author, Stowe wasn’t always a help to Black writers trying to tell their own story, particularly not for Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and a Civil war journalist documenting Black freedom struggles. These figures and their descendants pursued justice in many different ways: speaking, writing, organizing, and caring for others. By sharing their stories, we explore the many ways we can create positive change in our own time.

The tour explores the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the larger history of anti-slavery activism in the United States, with a major focus on love and family as central to freedom struggles in both the past and present. Throughout American history, the efforts of abolitionist activists and freedom seekers were often motivated by the yearning to be united and safe with the people they loved most. Frederick Douglass was aided in his courageous escape from slavery by his wife-to-be, Anna Murray. Harriet Tubman’s dangerous underground railroad missions began as an effort to liberate family members. Even after legal enslavement ended in the United States, family members separated by their enslavers spent decades searching for one another, never giving up hope that they could be reunited in freedom. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s own anti-slavery writing was inspired by a multitude of Black activists, writers, and enslavement survivors who spoke out about the brutality of family separation under slavery. As we discuss these topics and more, we hope visitors are inspired to think about how we can continue to build a world where families of all kinds are safe, respected, and free to be together.

SCHOOL PROGRAMS

  • Josiah Henson: Telling His Story, Writing His Future (for K-5 and 6-12)
  • What is Freedom? (For K-12) and What Is Power? (For 6-12)
  • Draw Yourself Into History (For K-12)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Here are just a few things to keep in mind for your upcoming visit:

General Information

  • Large backpacks, gum, food, and beverages are not permitted in the Stowe House. We provide bins to store bags and lunches. Your group is welcome to picnic on the grounds or inside of the neighboring Katherine Seymore Day House depending on weather.
  • Allow time for shopping in the Stowe Museum Store for Stowe-inspired books, toys, jewelry and souvenirs.

Covid-19 Guidelines
The Stowe Center is continuing to recommend masks but not required to be worn inside all indoor spaces across the Stowe Center Property. We are also encouraging social distancing when possible inside of the house. Hand sanitizer is available in every building and masks can be provided to those who need one.

Weather/Delays/Arrival

  • In the event that the Stowe Center or your school is closed due to inclement weather, we will make every effort to re-schedule your group.
  • If you will arrive more than 15 minutes early or late, please notify us at 860.522.9258 x317.
  • We can accommodate vans and individual cars in our parking lot at 77 Forest Street. Buses can drop off students at the curb in front of the Stowe House and then park on Forest Street.
  • Tours require two chaperones for every 10 students (3rd grade through 8th grade); one chaperone for every 10 students 9th grade and up.
  • Teachers/Chaperones are responsible for the group at all times.
  • Because the Stowe Center is comprised of 19th century landscape and buildings, some ADA adjustments require advance arrangements for the best experience for your youth. Please indicate if we can provide accommodations and services in advance by calling 860.522.9258 x317, or send an email to tickets@stowecenter.org.

If you have any further questions about your visit, please email or call yyoung@stowecenter.org or call 860.522.9258 x319.

  • Major credit cards, check, or cash are accepted. PO and school invoicing processes are allowed.
  • Student Group Guided House Tour: $10 per student
  • Student Group Guided House Tour + Program: $11 per student
  • Complimentary admission for all teachers.
  • Chaperones receive discounted admission of $10 per person.

Staff at the Stowe Center may join the tour and will take pictures of the students. We do this with the utmost care and consideration, but it is so important for us to document our work with a range of audiences for our funders who underwrite our work, for grants we are writing to support us, and for marketing our work to build new audiences. Per CT state law, this is permissible without a prior authorization from the guardian. Should any student or caregiver choose to opt out of this request, we can be completely respectful of such requests. Teachers will point out any student who wishes to be excluded.