MAINE

Celia Thaxter (1835-1894)

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Celia Laighton Thaxter grew up in the Isles of Shoals, including Appledore and Star islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean offshore between Rye, New Hampshire, and Kittery Point, Maine. Her father, Thomas Laighton, was a lighthouse keeper on several of the islands. After her marriage and a move to Massachusetts, she moved back to Appledore Island in Maine and became the hostess of her father's hotel, the Appledore House, and welcomed many New England literary and artistic notables to the island. Her garden on Appledore was famous. Her poems first appeared in “The Atlantic Monthly” and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century.


Celia Thaxter's Garden Tours
Departure by boat from Shoals Marine Laboratory
1870 Ocean Blvd.
Rye, NH
603-430-5220 or 603-553-3340

Celia Laighton Thaxter's famous garden on Appledore Island was reconstructed in 1977 by Dr. John M. Kingsbury, the founder and first director of the Shoals Marine Laboratory, which conducts public tours of the garden on Appledore Island. Participants will be transported to and from Appledore Island aboard the R/V Gulf Challenger. All tour participants must be 18 years of age or older and should be in good physical condition.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)

Harriet Beecher Stowe is the author of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," which helped solidify opposition to slavery before the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln called her “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Harriet Beecher was born in Connecticut to a Congregationalist minister. In 1832 her father moved the family to Ohio. There, Harriet met and married Calvin E. Stowe. In 1850 Calvin Stowe moved the family to Brunswick, Maine. "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" was written largely in Brunswick. In 1873, the Stowes moved to their last home, the brick Victorian house on Forest Street in Hartford.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House
63 Federal Street
Brunswick, Maine

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House, a National Historic Landmark, is the place where this influential writer penned her monumental novel, forever changing America’s attitude toward slavery. The house is now owned by Bowdoin Coillege and is not open to the public.