diff --git a/lib/capybara/node/simple.rb b/lib/capybara/node/simple.rb
index 71a5fef5..a4dbe7c8 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/node/simple.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/node/simple.rb
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ module Capybara
       #
       def value
         if tag_name == 'textarea'
-          native.content.sub(/\A\n/, '')
+          native.inner_html.sub(/\A\n/, '')
         elsif tag_name == 'select'
           if native['multiple'] == 'multiple'
             native.xpath(".//option[@selected='selected']").map { |option| option[:value] || option.content  }
diff --git a/lib/capybara/rack_test/form.rb b/lib/capybara/rack_test/form.rb
index 55254934..7ba585e0 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/rack_test/form.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/rack_test/form.rb
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class Capybara::RackTest::Form < Capybara::RackTest::Node
           merge_param!(params, field['name'].to_s, (option['value'] || option.text).to_s) if option
         end
       when 'textarea'
-        merge_param!(params, field['name'].to_s, field.text.to_s)
+        merge_param!(params, field['name'].to_s, field.inner_html.to_s)
       end
     end
     merge_param!(params, button[:name], button[:value] || "") if button[:name]
diff --git a/lib/capybara/rack_test/node.rb b/lib/capybara/rack_test/node.rb
index d74f5cfb..6ec66289 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/rack_test/node.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/rack_test/node.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Capybara::RackTest::Node < Capybara::Driver::Node
     elsif input_field?
       set_input(value)
     elsif textarea?
-      native.content = value.to_s unless self[:readonly]
+      native.inner_html = value.to_s unless self[:readonly]
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/capybara/spec/session/node_spec.rb b/lib/capybara/spec/session/node_spec.rb
index c015c8e7..1d9c82de 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/spec/session/node_spec.rb
+++ b/lib/capybara/spec/session/node_spec.rb
@@ -58,10 +58,14 @@ Capybara::SpecHelper.spec "node" do
       @session.find('//textarea[@id="additional_newline"]').value.should == "\nbanana"
     end
 
-    it "return any HTML content in textarea" do
+    it "return any HTML content added to textarea" do
       @session.find('//textarea[1]').set("some <em>html</em> here")
       @session.find('//textarea[1]').value.should == "some <em>html</em> here"
     end
+
+    it "return any HTML content in textarea", :focus => true do
+      @session.find(:css, 'textarea#with-html').value.should == "contains <em>html</em>"
+    end
   end
 
   describe "#set" do
diff --git a/lib/capybara/spec/views/with_html.erb b/lib/capybara/spec/views/with_html.erb
index dd7a5c9b..c8acafcd 100644
--- a/lib/capybara/spec/views/with_html.erb
+++ b/lib/capybara/spec/views/with_html.erb
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ banana</textarea>
 
 banana</textarea>
   <textarea readonly="readonly">textarea should not change</textarea>
+  <textarea id="with-html">contains <em>html</em></textarea>
   <a href="/redirect_back">BackToMyself</a>
   <a title="twas a fine link" href="/redirect">A link came first</a>
   <a title="a fine link" href="/with_simple_html">A link</a>