This article was written by Francis McGovern
Our next stop was the Frost Place in Franconia, NH farther north on Interstate 93. The home is in the White Mountains not far from the highway. The small white house is on a dirt road on the side of a sloping hill that faces Lafayette Mountain. Coming up the road your eye might first catch the old gray metal mailbox with Frost painted in black letters upon it.
As you walk up to the house you'll see the barn just behind it. This is where you can view a slide presentation entitled "Robert Frost in Franconia." The Frost place is non-profit, educational and currently owned by the town of Franconia. It is a center for poetry and the arts. During the summer a poet lives in the house and gives readings in the barn. There are no tours of the house given and only part of the house is available to view. The closed portion is where the current poet lives. The house has a rustic and warm feeling as though it has been well used. While there you can see first editions of his work along with photographs and memorabilia, and a rare collection of Christmas card poems.
Advertisement:
After seeing the inside we headed to the half-mile poetry nature trail that winds through the property behind the house. Frost himself walked this trail and at different stops along the trail his poems are affixed to trees on wooden plaques. The trail was quiet and the trees shaded us from the sun. Native flowers and plants bloom at different times throughout the spring and summer and are labeled along the trail. Two poems on the trail, "Evening in a Sugar Orchard" and "Goodby and Keep Cold" are placed where Frost wrote them.
Frost first discovered this area of the White Mountains when he came there to seek relief from hayfever. He brought his family there and they fell in love with the area. The Frosts first rented rooms from the Irish farmer John Lynch in the late summer of 1907 outside of Bethlehem, NH. Frost wrote to his friend and early editor Susan Hayes Ward, who had visited the family there, of the time spent at Bethlehem: "How long ago and far away Bethlehem is already. Our summer was one of the pleasantest we have had for years. There is a pang there that makes poetry."
The house was built on what was known as Ore hill. Frost had returned from England and had grown romantic for New Hampshire and New England. He was searching for a farm in the Franconia area that had a view. He stumbled upon one farm that he liked but it wasn't for sale. The owner of the farm Willis E. Herbert was outside and the two men began a conversation. Herbert happened to be looking for more land and if Frost could pay a thousand dollars for the farm then he would be willing to sell it.
Frost showed the house to his family and they all agreed and he shook hands with Herbert on the price of a thousand. It wasn't until Herbert began to see Frost's picture in the papers that he decided a thousand was too fair a price for Frost to pay and he should pay one or two hundred more for the farm. Frost agreed and the family moved in June of 1915.
Francis McGovern is editor and founder of Literary Traveler
Continued at the Frost's Trail
Visiting The Frost Place
Take 93N from Boston to New Hampshire (Franconia is about 3 hours away). At exit 38 go on to Route 116 South for 1 mile. Follow signs to The Frost Place.
The Frost Place is open from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Please call (603) 823-5510 for admission fees or hours, or write Director, The Frost Place, Franconia, NH 03580
Robert Frost Links
Get more Frost on the Web
Robert Frost Sources
Frost Sources
