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Here are the pics that belong in the above photo.
The home where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin

[image error]
The home is where Twain wrote The Gilded Age, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn, A Tramp Abroad, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
The Mark Twain house is an architectural masterpiece. The bricks are designed to look like stenciling. This theme continues in the house. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s company designed and painted the elaborate stencils seen throughout the house, yet most prominent in the grand foyer. It makes me think of Twain's friend, Frederic Edwin Church's home -- Olana -- on the Hudson River.
http://www.kitgentry.com/roadtrip09_o...
Cross posting from another thread. The links probably wont work as I am copying the post.
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message 20: y Carol
Hartford - Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (the museum is made up of 5 different buildings and it is the oldest art museum in America. Artwork from egyptian art to contemporary art.
http://www.funinnewengland.com/detail...
Bushnell Park -- http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/pi...
Bushnell Park Hartford is the oldest public park in the country and has been around since the mid-1800’s at a time when people were realizing the need for wide open spaces of land in urban centers.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, Bushnell Park, 1886
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
http://0.tqn.com/d/gonewengland/1/0/o...
Bushnell Carousel, inside the 24-sided pavilion houses are 48 vintage, hand-carved, wooden horses and two lovers’ chariots designed by Stein and Goldstein in 1914. They swirl around a booming Wurlitzer band organ. Stein and Goldstein horses are known by their flamboyance, their big teeth, bulging eyes, by the huge and colorful cabbage roses which festoon their bodies and their real horse hair tails.
http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=27
Butler-McCook House & Garden, oldest house in Hartford. Built in 1782 by Dr. Daniel Butler and his wife Sarah Sheldon Butler, the residence remained in the family until it became a museum in 1971. Complete with original furnishings, it showcases Hartford's oldest intact collection of art and antiques. Its restored Victorian ornamental garden was designed in 1865 by Jacob Weidenmann, one of the most renowned landscape architects in Victorian America.
Old State House -- http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=96
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
Rear facade, Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), architect. This building was completed in 1796.
Farmington --
The Hill-stead Museum designed by Theodate Pope Riddle (1867 –1946) she was a survivor of the Lusitania and graduate of Miss Porters School (just down the street)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
Hill-stead
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
sunken gardens with poets all summer meet
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
Stanley Whitman house (where I volunteered many years ago)
A few of the Miss Porter's School buildings on Main Street
http://historicbuildingsct.com/?tag=m...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/3...
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2...
Jacqueline Bouvier (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) attended Miss Porter's. Here she is pictured on the campus in 1947. Other famous alumnae include Gloria Vanderbilt, Laura Rockefeller, Lilly Pulitzer and George W. Bush's grandmothers.
brownpaperpackagestiedupwithstrings.f...
Jackie Bouvier’s debutante ball dress, 1947.
New Haven-- Yale has 2 museums http://theshopsatyale.com/wp-content/...
http://megfitzpatrick.files.wordpress...
Yale University Art Museum, 1953. Architect: Louis Kahn (1901 – 1974)
The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles, Van Gogh. 1888
http://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gogh_van/0...
Yale Center for British Art -- interior -- http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildin...
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/...
Turner
http://www.ctvisit.com/images/uploade...
Old Lyme -- Florence Griswold House 1817 (Lyme Art Colony)
http://www.ctvisit.com/images/uploade...
http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=958
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/q/7...
Krieble Gallery at the Florence Griswold Museum, 2002
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/r/7...
Griswold Inn
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/s/7...
Old Lyme Inn
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/u/7...
Bee and Thistle Inn-- Old Lyme Lodging
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/t/7...
East Haddam --
Gillette Castle State Park
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/o/7...
Goodspeed Opera House
http://0.tqn.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/p/7...
Thanks Alias. It seems strange to see Hartford, CT as a travel destination. If anyone decides to visit, just let me know.
Carol wrote: "Thanks Alias. It seems strange to see Hartford, CT as a travel destination. If anyone decides to visit, just let me know."----------
This Folder has travel tips to NYC, Washington DC and Atlanta.
Anyone can set up a thread for any state in the U.S. or travel abroad.
I had actually forgotten this thread existed. After my visit to New Orleans, i should have posted here. Next time!
With the big trips you have planned, we are counting on it, deb!I know I will never go to the places you are traveling to so I need to live vicariously though you ! :)
To see all of our Folders, look on the right side of the page where you will see The Book Nook Cafe icon and name. Under that are various links.
Click on Group Home.
Thanks, Alias. I fear too many of my shared thoughts would end being more negative than positive. For instance, New Orleans. I felt very misused there by the touring industry, from the hotels to parking. It left a nasty taste and seems to come to mind quicker than the good parts. A large part of this is that i didn't expect it. Usually i am warned there will be problems, so have geared myself for it emotionally.I try to do better. :-)
I should have posted this with the other sites to visit.The Freedom trail in Farmington, CT
The Underground Railroad & Amistad sites:
http://www.farmingtonhistoricalsociet...
http://www.undergroundrailroadconduct...
The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, founded in 1987 is a not-for-profit cultural arts organization, which owns a vital collection of 7,000 items including art, artifacts and popular culture objects that document the experience, expressions and history of people of African American heritage. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture is housed at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. It is an independently incorporated 501 (c) 3 organization. Inspired by its collection, the mission of The Amistad Center is to interpret and celebrate African American arts and humanities and to educate the public about their importance and influence in American life.
There are 2 galleries -- one permanent, one for limited exhibitions. Amazing artworks.
http://amistadartandculture.org/exhib...
recent exhibit -- printmaking by David Driskell
http://www.bigredandshiny.com/cgi-bin...
It is very difficult to find images online of the collection. But this is what I have found --
Howardena Pindell, Autobiography: Water/Ancestors/Middle Passage/Family Ghosts, 1988–1988. Have to see in person, it is amazing. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/...
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is divided into 8 areas:
1) American Art -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/american/
2) American Decorative Art -- Wallace Nutting Collection http://www.thewadsworth.org/american-...
3) Colt Firearms -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/colt-fire...
4) Contemporary Art -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/contempor...
5) Costumes and Textiles -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/candt/
6) European Art - http://www.thewadsworth.org/european-2/
7) European Decorative Art -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/european-...
8) Hudson River School -- http://www.thewadsworth.org/hudson-ri...
other online Wadsworth Atheneum artworks--
http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/n/Q...
James Abbott Mc Neill Whistler (American, 1834-1903). Coast of Brittany (Alone With the Tide), 1861. Oil on canvas.
http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/v/f...
John Frederick Kensett (American, 1816-1872). Coast Scene with Figures (Beverly Shore), 1869. Oil on canvas.
http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/o/f...
Thomas Cole (American, b. England, 1801-1848). Evening in Arcadia, 1843. Oil on canvas.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
Salvador Dali. (Spanish, b. Spain, 1904-1989). Apparition of Face and Fruit-Dish on a Beach, 1938. Oil on canvas .
http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedi...
Miro, Painting, 1933, oil on canvas -- discussion at MoMA
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
Caravaggio, Ecstasy of Saint Francis, c.1595. OIl on Canvas.
http://insidekevinguyer.blogspot.com/...
Mannerist sculpture Venus with a Nymph and Satyr, by Pietro Francavilla -- interesting story that Chick Austen remembered seeing it hidden away at the Fogg Museum. He was at that time under the direction of Fogg Museum director Edward Forbes and Harvard art historian professor Paul J. Sachs working part time. Somehow he purchased it and brought it to Hartford.
excellent read -- http://www.ringlingdocents.org/austin...
Too many to post!
Madrano wrote: "Thanks, Alias. I fear too many of my shared thoughts would end being more negative than positive. For instance, New Orleans. I felt very misused there by the touring industry, from the hotels to pa..."-------------
I think negative reviews and tips can be quite helpful. Then others won't fall prey to the same things.
Wow, Carol! You have given us a quick tour on your own. Thanks for the incentive. Now i can speak with certitude when i visit my daughter & maybe even get her to join me when i go there. So much to see.Alias, your point is true. I am always grateful for the negative reviews, which serve as warnings. I think the problem with the warnings i read about New Orleans was that it was tough to tell how close the experience shared was to pre- and post- Katrina.
Anyone else who wants to do a thread here for people who may be thinking of visiting their area, please feel free to do so.
I've always felt haunted by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. We're a very history-heavy city and I was taught that HBS wrote in Cincinnati. But I went on to live in Connecticut for 20 or so years and found that, no, Mrs Stowe actually lived in Connecticut. Being the curious person I am, I found that there are 2 Harriet Beecher Stowe homes and funny enough they are both near to the places that I've lived. The PBS show on the Abolitionists that has been recently aired was spoken of in our Cincinnati newspaper speaking to the way that our lovely city was left out of the show. Cincinnati sits on the Ohio River which is on the Mason Dixon line and had a huge amount of action with the Underground Railroad. Hence, the Freedom Center sitting on the riverfront here. If I knew how to post pictures I would surely pull them up.
Lori, it's time for you to move to Maine! As it turns out she wrote her most famous book there. I learned this surprising (to me, at least) fact when i watched C-Span's coverage of the state a month or so ago. Here's the house link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_... in Brunswick and owned by Bowdoin College. The link states it isn't open to the public but C-Span explained that they are preparing it so we can see it. As i recall the problem is in trying to get it to look as it did when she lived there. Btw, i wasn't familiar with her Ohio home, so that's yet another reason to make sure i make it there!
August 2014 Events in Hartford, CT 
The Carousel in Bushnell Park turns 100 this year. There aren’t many antique wooden carousels still in operation in the US, and this is one you can walk to at lunchtime and ride for $1. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 to 5.
Bushnell Park Carousel
August 2 @ 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
Recurring Event
Bushnell Park Carousel, Bushnell Park Hartford, CT 06103

This year the Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival at Riverfront Plaza will be bigger and better than ever. Don’t miss one of Hartford’s premier cultural events as both the upper and lower areas of Mortensen Riverfront Plaza are transformed into a Caribbean village.
Taste of the Caribbean & Jerk Festival
August 2 @ 1:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103

It looks like Jason Aldean doesn’t write 100% of his own tweets, unless he likes to refer to himself in the third person and says self-aggrandizing things like “Jason’s 13th #1 hit “When She Says Baby” is at the top of the @billboard Country Chart for the 3rd consecutive week!”
Jason Aldean: 2014 Burn It Down Tour
August 2 @ 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
XFINITY theatre, 61 Savitt Way Hartford , CT 06120

Community Yoga in Colt Park
Downtown Yoga offers free community yoga classes in Bushnell Park, Elizabeth Park and Colt Park through October 15. The weekly schedule is: Mondays at 5:30pm in Bushnell Park with Liz, Wednesdays at 5:30pm in Elizabeth Park with Lauren and Sundays at 10am in Colt Park. Attendees are encouraged…
image of Colt as a man --http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
image of Colt as a boy -- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...
August 3 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Recurring Event (See all)
Colt Park, Colt Park Hartford, CT 06106
Bluegrass Sundays

Hosted by genial Nick Novia, the Sunday Night Firebox Bluegrass Series has been growing since October 2008. Some might be surprised to even think of bluegrass in New England, but from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. most Sundays, Nick presents a variety of bluegrass bands in the cozy non-smoking.
August 3 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Recurring Event
Firebox Restaurant, 539 Broad Street Hartford, CT 06106
Lots of people have a negative attitude regarding Hartford, but it is actually great for summer activities -- musicians, museums, theater, the Taste of Hartford, etc. It's not NYC, but there are a lot of things to see and do! The Carousel is my favorite-- still running for 100 years!
Funny you write that,Carol. Every time i mention i want to visit & stay in Hartford, people look at me as though i said i want to visit the morgue. I think too many my age see it as the Insurance Place--good for the company but not good for the city, maybe. Our daughter lives in Queens but has gone on long weekends to Hartford over the last decade. She really likes the feeling of the city, as well as all the places to visit. And it's size appeals to her too, as a change of pace.
Kind of like the perception of Buffalo, NY. But there is so much to do here and we are in the process of creating even more. Lots of theater and art. Sports for those who are into that. And now our waterfront is blossoming. Lovely temperatures in the summer.
I once mentioned retiring to Buffalo but DH howled at the idea of all that snow. The snow gives that city a bad name, I think.
Bobbie57 wrote: "Kind of like the perception of Buffalo, NY. But there is so much to do here and we are in the process of creating even more. Lots of theater and art. Sports for those who are into that. And now our..."===========================
I thought of you today Barbara since you live in Buffalo. I was reading the July 28 issue of New York magazine and they had an article titled, Jon Bon Jovi is the most hated man in Buffalo. Apparently he wants to buy the team and move it to Canada.
Anyway, the article said in part,
"Buffalo is New York State's second largest city, but it's closer to Cleveland and Detroit both geographically and spiritually, than to Manhattan or Brooklyn. In 1901, when the city hosted the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo was America's eight largest city, with more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the country. By 1960, when the Bills came to town, it was still among the top 20 largest cities. Today, it is 73rd. The city had built it's reputation on moving things better than anyone else, but the mid-century construction of interstate highway system and the dredging of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which made possible ocean going traffic from the Atlantic all the way to Chicago, had shoved Buffalo to the sidelines of the modern transportation economy. "This city's primary export is young people," said Mike Caputo, a Buffalo native and PR consultant for the Bills Fan Thunder.
http://nymag.com/news/features/jon-bo...
I didn't know that at one point Buffalo had the most millionaires.
I think Buffalo like a lot of upstate NY has seen hard times due to a loss of manufacturing. If you read the novels of Richard Russo and his recent memoir Elsewhere I think you get a good feel for the devastation that this has caused.
My niece's husband is from Buffalo and he loves it there. He only moved to the Hudson Valley because he couldn't find work teaching in Buffalo. His parents still live there.
Madrano wrote: "I once mentioned retiring to Buffalo but DH howled at the idea of all that snow. The snow gives that city a bad name, I think."Yes, that is what people focus on --unfortunately. But for whatever it is worth, that huge storm was in 1977. And Syracuse has more snow than we do. Also -- most of the snow is in what is called the Southtowns around here. and that is Ski country. There are ski resorts there. It is supposed to have snow. LOL The city itself is great.
Buffalo is coming back. Yes, we lost the manufacturing. Exactly right. Negativity is OVER!! Now people are complaining about gentrification. Oh Yeah
Good info, Bobbie, about your city. I have no problem with snow, as long as I'm inside with a good book.
Snow outside?? Right -- hunker down with a good book and have some good homemade soup!! I'd rather deal with the cold in the winter then the heat and humidity in other places in the summer. Temperatures are quite pleasant now and I can get out and do my walking.
Bobbie57 wrote: I'd rather deal with the cold in the winter then the heat and humidity in other places in the summer."I'm with you, Barbara. Though I have to say this summer in NYC, hasn't been as horrid as past summers.
I agree, too, Barbara. I guess because the heat doesn't require a laborious activity, DH is better with it than snow. Pity, as i really, really like snow & cold.
FYI . . . The 4th Annual Writers' Weekend
Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19, 2015
The Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Ave., Hartford, CT

Keynote speaker: Dani Shapiro
Memoirs: Devotion, Slow Motion; Novels: Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life; Black & White; Family History; Slow Motion (Shapiro lives in Litchfield County, CT)
Workshops with:
POETRY: Antoinette Brim, John Stanizzi, Vivian Shipley, Edwina Trentham, Christine Beck, Leslie McGrath,
FICTION: Mary Sharnick, David Handler, Leslie Johnson, Mark Ferguson, Lucy Ferris, .
NON FICTION: Susan Campbell, Christine Palm, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Yeliza Renfro.
There are a variety of workshops: Proof Reading; Social Media Writing; Memoir Writing; Dialogue; Pitching Writing; The Birth of a Book; Mystery Writing; Finding an Agent; Oral History; and Playwriting.
I am trying to decide whether I will go or not. (April 17th is my birthday.) Susan Schoenberger will be running a workshop on finding an agent -- not that I am anywhere close to finishing my research.
Exciting weekend, if you go, Carol. What a great opportunity for writers. We are hoping you'll go so you can tell us whether you learned much from the event. If you go, enjoy!
Paving stone thrown through window of Mark Twain houseBy Associated Press
Published: April 23, 2015, 2:29 pm Updated: April 23, 2015, 4:25 pm
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Mark Twain House was damaged by someone who threw a stone through a window during a vandalism spree that police say also targeted businesses along the same street.
A four-inch paving stone made it through a large storm window of the kitchen at the historic house sometime Wednesday night or early Thursday, but it did not break through an inside pane, said David Cash, a spokesman for the Mark Twain House and Museum.
“They would have had to walk up the hill to do this,” he said. “It’s not something someone could have done from the sidewalk. They had to specifically plan to go up there and do that.”
Cash says he’s not sure if the window was an original in the home, but said it will “probably not be inexpensive to replace.”
He says nothing else was damaged and tours of the home Thursday would not be affected.
“It was the top half of the window and we normally have the blinds drawn halfway down on the window, so it’s really not even noticeable for someone on a tour,” he said.
Samuel Clemens lived at the house from 1874 to 1891, during the period when he authored some of his most famous works, including “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
It has since become a tourist attraction.
“We’re just very disappointed that someone would choose to target a historical home like this, which offers so much to Hartford and Connecticut, but we’re glad the damage wasn’t worse,” he said.
Police said the Twain House was among at least nine buildings that suffered similar damage along Farmington Avenue.
Deputy Chief Brian Foley said police were reviewing surveillance video from the area and are looking for a 6-foot tall bald man with a beard who was seen in the area.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
link: http://wtnh.com/2015/04/23/paving-sto...
Carol wrote: "Paving stone thrown through window of Mark Twain houseBy Associated Press
Published: April 23, 2015, 2:29 pm Updated: April 23, 2015, 4:25 pm
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Mark Twain House was dama..."
:(
What is wrong with people???
To go out of his way to break the window seems odd. Sorry to hear about this unfortunate expense for the house.
According to others who live on the line between West Hartford/Hartford there was damage to many other businesses in that area. I didn't hear anything bad from The Harriet Beecher House, which is in the same area of Twain. I drove down there on Thursday, and found that the roads were being redone, and some areas have brick sidewalks (West Hartford) where Hartford has concrete sidewalks.


**** Their were pics in the original post but I can't copy them. So I posted them in the next post.
Carol wrote:
THANKS CONNIE! I am looking forward to seeing it. (The museum is offering a free screening on Monday night and a panel discussion featuring Dr. Joan D. Hedrick --author of Pulitzer Prize winning Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life. I have read it before even though its on my TBR list.) I am truly fortunate to live only 2 towns over from both The Harriet Beecher Stowe house and The Mark Twain House.
Last year, the Twain House and Museum began offering seminars to meet current authors like Jon Clinch (Finn, Kings of the Earth); Susan Schoenberger (A Watershed Year), Suzanne Levine (The Haberdasher's Daughter), Denis Horgan (Ninety-Eight Point Six), Cindy Brown Austin (By the Waters of Babylon), and Wendy Clinch (The Ski Diva); poet Bessy Reyna (Memoirs of the Unfaithful Lover); playwrights- Gurney (The Dining Room) and Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy.) Bessy Reyna was amazing! I was only able to hear a few authors. Gurney and Uhry did a Q&A with the audience at the end of the day in the new auditorium. I could have listened to them all night. It was great! I will be visiting Stowe's this year.
** see next post for photo
The home where Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
*** see next post for photo
The home is where Twain wrote The Gilded Age, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, Huckleberry Finn, A Tramp Abroad, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
The Mark Twain house is an architectural masterpiece. The bricks are designed to look like stenciling. This theme continues in the house. Louis Comfort Tiffany’s company designed and painted the elaborate stencils seen throughout the house, yet most prominent in the grand foyer. It makes me think of Twain's friend, Frederic Edwin Church's home -- Olana -- on the Hudson River.
http://www.kitgentry.com/roadtrip09_o...
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Alias wrote:
You are lucky, indeed. I love to look inside historic homes.
Carol, all three are so beautiful ! Thanks for sharing the pics with us.
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message 15: by Carol
Everything here is historical. The Noah Webster house is not far away.
http://hartforddailyphoto.blogspot.co...
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message 16: by Alias Reader
I'll have to remember these homes come summer and we are looking for something to do.
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message 17: by Madrano
Great photos. My daughter loves Hartford, using it as her refuge from NYC life each spring. Her descriptions of the author's homes (& other sites) she mentions have me drooling. I wasn't aware of the Church home on the Hudson but i like his work, so will make a point of checking it out this fall. Thanks.
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message 18: by Connie
I love the Twain house, and it's one of my favorite places to take out of state guests since they have an excellent tour. The Stowe house is the next house. There is a musuem in the complex with changing exhibits and a cafe. I'll definitely have to check out the lecture series that Carol mentioned.
If you visit Hartford in the summer, you might also enjoy the nearby Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Elizabeth Park is another wonderful place to visit with its beautiful gardens and a cafe.