Though Stowe's fame – in her lifetime and today – is inextricably linked to Uncle Tom's Cabin, she was actually a highly prolific author whose publications spanned over half a century. Surveying both continuities and distinctions among her many works can highlight ways in which her influence on literary culture built upon but also extended beyond her best-known text.

Early writings

Harriet Beecher Stowe began her first piece of published fiction by introducing its New England setting. In the opening paragraph of “Uncle Lot,” an 1834 story originally called “A New England Sketch,” she described her beloved home region both by explaining what it was not – a scene for literary romance – and by touting its special features:

Stowe's “Uncle Lot” invited her readers on an imaginative visit to the village of Newbury. She focused on several distinctive personalities, among them her title character, Uncle Lot, “a chestnut burr” of a man.