Where memory grows: Volunteers unearth history and healing at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House

On a morning brushed with a soft breeze and a hint of heat still hanging in the air, the front garden of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills came alive with quiet purpose. Volunteers moved with intention, pulling up layers of black plastic sheeting. What’s being removed isn’t just bad landscaping, it’s a barrier to memory. 

Kate Sorrels, who oversees the garden restoration, explained the deeper purpose: to plant native Ohio species that reflect the landscape the Beecher family would have known during their 18 years in Cincinnati. Native plants not only support pollinators, but anchor the house in its historical and ecological context. 

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for two distinct reasons. The first is its interpretation as the 1840s home of the Beecher family, a powerful religious and abolitionist household. The second is the building’s later life as the 1940s Edgemont Inn, an African American boarding house listed in the Green Book. Both legacies are honored here, woven together in the rooms, the exhibits, and now, the soil. 

The garden team is currently in phase one of a two-part project extending through 2027. Over 300 native camas bulbs are scheduled to be planted in the coming months. But first comes removal: black plastic and dyed mulch are being cleared to let the land breathe. Sorrels said the fabric, meant to suppress weeds, ended up stifling the native species that needed space to spread. 

The work goes beyond landscaping. It is a form of ecological repair and historical witness. Inside, the house has undergone its own careful restoration. Original features like hand-blown glass panes and painted faux-mahogany woodwork have been preserved or recreated. A staircase, once removed to make space for modern renovations, was rebuilt after the restoration team found imprint marks left in the wall. Wallpaper from the 1860s, recreated from a remnant discovered upstairs, was printed by a specialty artisan. 

Throughout the house, rooms are arranged to reflect different eras and functions. Some interpret Beecher family life; others highlight the Edgemont Inn period. The dining room, part of a 1908 addition, once hosted weddings, jazz concerts, and community gatherings during the boarding house years. 

The site sits on what was once the Lane Theological Seminary campus, envisioned as the “Princeton of the West” and led by Lyman Beecher. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in the house  briefly, gave birth to her first two children upstairs, and returned often after marrying Calvin Stowe and moving into a nearby faculty residence. While Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written later, Stowe’s formative experiences in Cincinnati deeply influenced the book’s foundation.

Lorie BakerVolunteers work to remove black plastic and dyed mulch to make room for over 300 native camas bulbs scheduled for planting.

Outside, the volunteers are just as rooted. Sarah, a member of Greenfaith Guardians, said she’s passionate about removing invasives and increasing native biodiversity. For her and others, this kind of work isn’t symbolic, it’s tangible and necessary. 

Beth, another volunteer, said the physical effort matters because it gives people a real way to participate in conservation. 

The team has made it easy to join. Anyone can sign up to volunteer, donate, or attend an upcoming event by visiting Stowe Garden. The next public workday includes  planting hundreds of camas bulbs and preparing the beds for fall. 

What’s growing here isn’t just flora, it’s memory, unburied and alive.