By Litchfield Historical Society

Photo Courtesy of Litchfield Historical Society

Harriet Beecher Stowe is best known for her anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and her work as an anti-abolitionist; but here in Litchfield County, she is also known as one of 13 children of famed preacher Lyman Beecher (and sister of the even more famous Henry Ward Beecher).

Although Harriet and the Beecher family lived in diverse parts of the country during their lives, they are most associated with Litchfield. Some of Harriet’s writings give a picture of life here in the county seat—notably her book Poganuc People.

Although Poganuc and its inhabitants are works of fiction, Stowe based each character on real-life residents of early 19th-century Litchfield. Perhaps the most precocious was Dolly, a young girl Stowe modeled on herself.

Like Stowe, Dolly is the daughter of a Calvinist preacher. Like all Calvinists of the time, the family does not celebrate Christmas. When an Episcopal Church opens in Poganuc, however, Dolly is amazed at the festivities.

Sneaking a glimpse through the windows, Dolly watches the churchgoers “dressing the church with grand pines, laminating the church, and a candle in every pane of glass, making the church as ‘light as day.’”

Through this fictionalized version of her youth, Stowe captured for readers not only a view of Litchfield in the 1810s, but also a sense of what the holiday season meant over 200 years ago.