Other Notable Nook Farm Houses and Residents

"Oakholm," first Stowe House, 1864

Nook Farm Map Location #18
Octavius Jordan, with plenty of advice from Harriet Beecher Stowe, designed a Gothic-Revival villa for the Stowes in the early 1860s. The house stood at the end of a long drive off Hawthorn Street. Stowe remodeled most of her homes, but "Oakholm" was the first house she had built to her specifications. She loved the process. "...my house with eight gables is growing wonderfully and ...I go every day to see it---I am busy with drains sewers sinks digging trenching---." The house may have been wonderful, but it became too expensive to maintain and the Stowes sold it in 1870. It was torn down in 1905.

Hawley Property (1826-1905)

Nook Farm Map Location #17

Multi-talented Joseph Roswell Hawley (1826 - 1905) was a lawyer partnering with John Hooker in 1850, an associate editor of the Hartford Evening Press with Charles Dudley Warner, and a general during the Civil War. Hawley married Harriet W. Foote, and settled in a rented cottage in Nook Farm, adjacent to the property they would later purchase but never build on. Hawley held multiple political offices including governor of Connecticut (1866), state congressman (1873), and U.S. senator (1881-1905). He also led the United States Centennial Commission which organized the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.
Harriet Foote Hawley (1831-1886)
Harriet Foote Hawley, a first cousin of the Beechers, married Joseph R. Hawley in 1855. During the Civil War Harriet became her husband's confidential secretary and adviser, and the Seventh Connecticut Regiment honored her for her work. In the 1880s, the Hawleys moved to Washington, D.C., where Harriet served as president of the Indian Rights Association, which advocated equal rights for Native Americans.

Perkins-Warner-Hepburn House, 1855

Nook Farm Map Location #16
This home was built for Thomas Clap and Mary Beecher Perkins (Stowe's sister) on the south side of Hawthorn Street, across from the home of Mary's sister Isabella Beecher Hooker. Charles Dudley and Susan Warner lived here from 1866-1884. As the family home of Dr. Thomas and feminist Katharine Houghton Hepburn from 1908 to 1917, it was the childhood home of actor Katharine Hepburn.

Thomas Clap (1798-1870) & Mary Beecher Perkins (1805-1900)
Lawyer Thomas Clap Perkins married teacher Mary Beecher in 1827. Mary, known as the "quiet" Beecher sister, was not a public activist like her siblings. Her letters, though, reveal a witty, articulate observer of her times. The Perkins were among the first residents of Nook Farm; and when they built their new house in 1866, it was on nearby Woodland Street. The couple had four children, and one of their granddaughters was author Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Smith House, 1870s

Nook Farm Map Location #10
This asymmetrical, Second Empire style house built for businessman Charles (1811-?) and Eliza Thayer Smith may have been based on a design by architect Richard Upjohn. Charles and Eliza married in 1855 had one daughter, Frances, and four grandchildren. Charles was a senior partner at Smith, Bourn and Company, manufacturers of harnesses and saddlery. The house still stands on the east side of Forest Street.

Hall-Porter House, 1871