Museum Visit #1: Harriet Beecher Stowe House

If you read the title, and wanted to pass on this one, I will assume that you are not a museum person. Nor am I. It brings back memories of hot summers and complete boredom. My dad is a Civil War fanatic and, as such, he took all five of us kids to Gettysburg for a vacation. I can not fully express how dreadful that vacation was for me. We spent a full day touring battlefields in our cramped van with a private tour guide. I believe that I slept through it. And there were wax museums, weapon displays, cemetaries and more.

I typically do not enjoy museums. For me, museums can feel stuffy and are filled with artifacts without the sensory contexts. Its a bit like seeing a photo of the ocean vs. being at the ocean. I like to dip my feet in, sniff the air, and be there. Books do that for me more than museums, which is why I like to read historical fiction.

I've been to many museums in my travels, especially overseas, and only two truly stand out to me: the JFK Library where I saw Jackie O's clothing collection (come on... you would flip, too!) and Churchill's old war world II bunker. (Ok, I must add one more. I did thoroughly enjoy seeing the Statue of David in Florence. Joe likes to say that I wandered around to his back side, and stood there a bit too long. Again, you would, too...)

I will, however, share one museum that I simply can not wait to visit: Anne Frank's House in Amsterdam. I am wholeheartedly hoping that Joe and I are able to pull off an Amsterdam/Germany quick tour in November. I am fascinated with the 40's and the WW II era. Hence my appreciation of Churchill's hideout.

You may wonder then why I included 3 museums on my personal challenge list. To see, go here. It started off with one, Anne Frank's, and then I began to wonder what else was at my fingertips, figuratively speaking. Do I have to travel all the way to Amsterdam to be awed? Have I closed my mind to something that might actually interest me, after all?

My aunt-in-law, Dawn, happens to be the currator of the Stowe Center. After I accepted my challenge, I e-mailed her to see if a visit to CT were possible. She was delighted, and gave me a private tour this past weekend. I was more excited to see Dawn than the museum, truth be told.
I knew little about Harriet, Ms. Stowe, whatever you want to call her, except that she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Maybe it was Dawn's passion and abundance of knowledge, but I left my 1 hour tour feeling quite enthralled with this woman. I discovered that she was a powerful reformer. She used her own personal grief to relate to and illuminate more worldly issues. She affected change by offering the possibility of a better way through her works of fiction. Non-challenging, non-threatening, and yet effective.

What I wouldn't do to have tea with some of the "greats" out there (tea feels appropriate for the likes of Ms. Stowe). Greats that have passed, and greats that are still alive, like Maya Angelou. Progressive, passionate, creative women who are brave enough to question, to reveal, to lead. What would I ask them? Hmmm. What is your secret pleasure??? And we'd go from there...