In 1894, a group of family, friends, and fans of minister and author Edward Payson Roe gathered to dedicate a memorial tablet in his honor. One of the most successful and popular authors of the Gilded Age, Roe was plunged into obscurity upon his death in 1888. During the 1870s and 80s, however, it was customary for households to display volumes of his works in conspicuous places. The tablet reads “NEAR TO NATVRE’S HEART,” a reference to his 1876 novel of the same name, first published in London. Roe was…
