Beechers, Stowes and Yankee Strangers : The Transformation of Florida

The story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Beecher in Reconstruction Florida

Modern Florida—a world of tourists, retirees from the North, and novel agricultural crops—began among a group of Yankee reformers at the end of the Civil War, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and her brother, Charles, who lived in Florida between 1867 and 1885. This book tells the story of the group—and their designs for a postwar Florida—with the action, atmosphere, and insight of a good novel.

Arriving in Florida nearly two decades ahead of Henry Flagler, the Beechers found a state inaccessible to outsiders with small remnants of a slave economy. As part of the work of Reconstruction, they dreamed of making the state a haven for freedpeople and progressive northerners unhampered by the rest of the South’s racial divisions. Settling near Tallahassee and Jacksonville, they worked with Florida’s First Lady, Chloe Merrick Reed, to better education, religion, economics, social and racial relationships, and politics, and they were instrumental in the transformation of Jacksonville from a small seaport to a vibrant city.

Despite continuing interest in Harriet Beecher Stowe, her years in Florida have remained obscure; even less is known about Charles Beecher during this period. Using fresh materials that have never been recorded by the Stowe Center (a major repository of Stowe’s works), John and Sarah Foster fill an important gap in the lives of these celebrated reformers and shed new light on Florida’s history during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.

John T. Foster Jr., professor emeritus of anthropology at Florida A&M University, has published widely in the social sciences and history.

Sarah Whitmer Foster (1945–2015) was professor of sociology and anthropology at Florida A&M University and published in the areas of comparative studies, the social sciences, and history.