Today we honor WWI Veteran Tom Bacon – a resident of the Edgemont Inn Boarding House.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the House now called the Harriet Beecher Stowe House was a long-term boarding house for African Americans and a tavern, called the Edgemont Inn, listed in the Green Motorist Book.  The same home that the Beecher family called home in the 1830s and 1840s continued to be a welcoming place for African Americans a century later.  Clearly, buildings change over time.  A 188-year-old structure cannot be expected to serve the same purpose and the same individuals for its entire existence. 

Using primary source records collected by a volunteer, I set out to find Tom’s last resting place.  We know that he passed away in November 1948 from pneumococcal meningitis and at that point, he lived in a house across the street at 2947 Gilbert Avenue.  He was buried in the American Colored Cemetery, located on Duck Creek near Kennedy Avenue.  (It is now known as the United American Cemetery).  Finding his gravesite was not exactly easy though. ​

Author: Christina Hartlieb is Executive Director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 6, 2020
Media Contact: Christina Hartlieb
513-751-0651
[email protected]
                                                                                                                                               
20th century porch and paint coming off to restore 1840s appearance

(CINCINNATI, OH)– Site restoration is active at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Walnut Hills, a site of the Ohio History Connection. In the past few weeks, historic restoration experts have removed decorative wooden brackets that were added to “Victorianize” the house in the late 1800s and they have detached the large front porch that was added in the 20th century. Many of these elements are being saved and stored for future museum exhibits.

Up to 17 layers of paint are currently being removed through chemical and manual processes, with special attention being paid to safe disposal of all potentially hazardous elements. The paint removal will make way for masonry repair, tuckpointing, and repainting in historically-accurate colors determined through historic paint analysis last summer. This research determined the color of the home at the time the Beechers occupied it in the 1840s was a shade of yellow with dark green shutters.

The house remains OPEN to tours by appointment during this restoration project and is also continuing its regular programming schedule online.

Built in 1832, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House was originally the president’s home on the campus of Lane Theological Seminary. It is the final property remaining from the campus in Walnut Hills. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who moved to Cincinnati with her father at the age of 21, lived in Cincinnati for 18 years and went on to write the influential anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, published in 1852. This historic site is located at 2950 Gilbert Avenue in Cincinnati.

The Beecher family lived in the home from 1832-1851, including Harriet’s older sister Catherine Beecher, a national leader in teacher training for women and younger sister Isabella Beecher who would go on to be influential in the women’s suffrage movement in Connecticut. The house was subsequently occupied by three generations of the Monfort family who made significant additions and renovations to the home. In the 20th century the site served as a long-term boarding house and had a tavern that was listed in the Green Book. The house was purchased in 1943 by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Home Memorial Association and opened to the public as a historic site in 1949. The site’s last major renovation project took place in the 1970s under the leadership of George Wilson and the Citizen’s Committee on Youth.
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The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is an Ohio History Connection historic site and is managed locally by the Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House. For more information on the site, visit www.stowehousecincy.org or call 513-751-0651.
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ABOUT HARRIET BEECHER STOWE HOUSE
The nonprofit Friends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House manages a Cincinnati home where Harriet Beecher Stowe lived during the formative years that led her to write the best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This historic site is part of the Ohio History Connection’s network of more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information about programs and events, call 513-751-0651 or visit www.stowehousecincy.org.
 
Ohio History Connection
The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, is a statewide history organization with the mission to spark discovery of Ohio’s stories. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in 1885, the Ohio History Connection carries out history services for Ohio and its citizens focused on preserving and sharing the state’s history. This includes housing the state historic preservation office, the official state archives, local history office and managing more than 50 sites and museums across Ohio. For more information on programs and events, visit ohiohistory.org.