Calling Yankees to Florida: Harriet Beecher Stowe's Forgotten Tourist Articles

With the publication of the novel Uncle Tom s Cabin in 1952, Harriet Beecher Stowe became the most famous writer in America. That book helped to fuel the raging debate over slavery in the United States. When Stowe met President Abraham Lincoln in 1862, he reportedly said, "So you are the little woman who started this great war." Often overlooked is the fact that Harriet Beecher Stowe was also one of the first and greatest proponents of Florida as a popular tourist destination. In 1873, some of Stowe s descriptive and colorful tourist articles were published in the book Palmetto Leaves. This book, Calling Yankees to Florida: Harriet Beecher Stowe s Forgotten Tourist Articles, contains fascinating vignettes of Florida life not included in Palmetto Leaves, with insightful commentary by John Foster Jr. and Sarah Whitmer Foster.