The story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Beecher in Reconstruction FloridaModern 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
wild and inaccessible state with small remnants of a slave economy. As
part of the work of Reconstruction, they dreamed of making the state a
haven for freedmen 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.
