diff --git a/packages/ui/render.js b/packages/ui/render.js
index 4d98bf6a79..065ae8fd14 100644
--- a/packages/ui/render.js
+++ b/packages/ui/render.js
@@ -301,9 +301,19 @@ var materialize = function (node, parent, before, parentComponent) {
           updateAttributes(elem, attrs);
         }
       }
-      _.each(node, function (child) {
-        materialize(child, elem, null, parentComponent);
-      });
+      if (node.tagName === 'TEXTAREA') {
+        var value = '';
+        _.each(node, function (child) {
+          // XXX put the functionality of attributeValueToString in
+          // something like UI.toText(node)
+          value += attributeValueToString(child);
+        });
+        elem.value = value;
+      } else {
+        _.each(node, function (child) {
+          materialize(child, elem, null, parentComponent);
+        });
+      }
       insert(elem, parent, before);
     } else if (type === 'array') {
       _.each(node, function (child) {
@@ -507,9 +517,17 @@ var toHTML = function (node, parentComponent) {
         });
       }
       result += '>';
+      var contents = '';
       _.each(node, function (child) {
-        result += toHTML(child, parentComponent);
+        contents += toHTML(child, parentComponent);
       });
+      if (node.tagName === 'TEXTAREA' &&
+          contents.slice(0, 1) === '\n') {
+        // TEXTAREA will absorb a newline, so if we see one, add
+        // another one.
+        result += '\n';
+      }
+      result += contents;
       if (node.length || ! HTML.isVoidElement(node.tagName)) {
         // "Void" elements like BR are the only ones that don't get a close
         // tag in HTML5.  They shouldn't have contents, either, so we could
diff --git a/packages/ui/render_tests.js b/packages/ui/render_tests.js
index d9a4814380..d6f9052ba5 100644
--- a/packages/ui/render_tests.js
+++ b/packages/ui/render_tests.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ var UL = HTML.Tag.UL;
 var LI = HTML.Tag.LI;
 var SPAN = HTML.Tag.SPAN;
 var HR = HTML.Tag.HR;
+var TEXTAREA = HTML.Tag.TEXTAREA;
 
 Tinytest.add("ui - render - basic", function (test) {
   var run = function (input, expectedInnerHTML, expectedHTML, expectedCode) {
@@ -70,6 +71,44 @@ Tinytest.add("ui - render - basic", function (test) {
       '<div class="foo"><ul><li><p><a href="#one">One</a></p></li><li><p>Two<br>Three</p></li></ul></div>',
       '<div class="foo"><ul><li><p><a href="#one">One</a></p></li><li><p>Two<br>Three</p></li></ul></div>',
       'HTML.Tag.DIV({"class": "foo"}, HTML.Tag.UL(HTML.Tag.LI(HTML.Tag.P(HTML.Tag.A({href: "#one"}, "One"))), HTML.Tag.LI(HTML.Tag.P("Two", HTML.Tag.BR(), "Three"))))');
+
+});
+
+Tinytest.add("ui - render - textarea", function (test) {
+  var run = function (optNode, text, html, code) {
+    if (typeof optNode === 'string') {
+      // called with args (text, html, code)
+      code = html;
+      html = text;
+      text = optNode;
+      optNode = null;
+    }
+    var div = document.createElement("DIV");
+    var node = TEXTAREA(optNode || text);
+    materialize(node, div);
+    test.equal(div.querySelector('textarea').value, text);
+
+    test.equal(UI.toHTML(node), html);
+    test.equal(UI.toCode(node), code);
+  };
+
+  run('Hello',
+      '<textarea>Hello</textarea>',
+      'HTML.Tag.TEXTAREA("Hello")');
+
+  run('\nHello',
+      '<textarea>\n\nHello</textarea>',
+      'HTML.Tag.TEXTAREA("\\nHello")');
+
+  run('</textarea>',
+      '<textarea>&lt;/textarea></textarea>',
+      'HTML.Tag.TEXTAREA("</textarea>")');
+
+  run(CharRef({html: '&amp;', str: '&'}),
+      '&',
+      '<textarea>&amp;</textarea>',
+      'HTML.Tag.TEXTAREA(HTML.CharRef({html: "&amp;", str: "&"}))');
+
 });
 
 Tinytest.add("ui - render - closures", function (test) {