Old Stowe House - Natick, MA - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

In Natick, in the section of town called South Natick, is a white structure that has a sign in front of it identifying it as the Harriet Beecher Stowe house, 2 Pleasant Street.

The American Guide Series for Massachusetts has the following concerning this house:

Opposite the Library, on Pleasant St., is the old Stowe House (private), built in 1816. The gabled two-and-a-half story white clapboarded structure with an end chimney and a field-stone foundation is well preserved. An old carriage lamp on the wall by the door, and blue spruce trees on both sides of the walk, date back to the boyhood days of Professor Calvin Stowe, the Horace Holyoke of 'Old Town Folks,' written by his wife, Harriet Beecher Stowe. On a granite block at the entrance to the driveway is a slate tablet marking the Grave of Takwambait, an Indian disciple of [John] Eliot.

- American Guide Series: Massachusetts - A Guide to Its Places and People, p. 519.

The house is still standing, though it is now used as the law offices of McLaughlin, Richards, Mahaney, Biller & Woodyshek, LLP. Their web site is at the bottom and provides a little more historical information. The house is still white and is gabled. However, there are no prominent chimney stacks on either side of the structure facing the street. There is a sign in front of the house that includes the text, "The Harriet Beecher Stowe House." To clarify, the house was the boyhood home of Calvin Stowe, when he lived with relatives. Harriet and Calvin visited the relatives in this house when they were married and may have lived there for a summer (see the web site referenced). There were no signs of the spruce trees on either side of the walk. This is not surprising, since the trees would have been well over 150 years old by this time and, if they survived, would have been quite large. The grave of Takwambait has since been moved to a place beside the Eliot Church that is at the intersection of Route 16 (Eliot Street), Union Street and Pleasant Street a couple hundred feet from the house. The law office site did state that during the 1980s when the house was being renovated, that another Native American grave was found. There was no further mention of what was done with the grave, but it is reasonable to assume that the grave was buried with other graves in the lot with the Bacon Free Library across the street. Source: McLaughlin, Richards, Mahaney, Biller & Woodyshek, LLP Web Site: Visit Link

Book: Massachusetts Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 519 Year Originally Published: 1936

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