The Robert Frost farm in Derry NH that is.
Robert is an interesting fellow, he was born in California, schooled in Mass, spent most of his life and died in Vermont, yet according to his own words was New Hampshire through and through.
Having been evicted and needing a place to live, the above farm was purchased for Robert by his grandfather, with the stipulation that he work it for ten years ( the terms were even included in the old mans will ) Robert was not much of a farmer and once his chief farm advisor had left he stopped turning a profit.
Frost at heart was a poet and it was on this farm in Derry NH he produced much of if not most of his works, mainly in this simple New England kitchen after the rest of teh family would retire for the night
It is said that Frost did not enjoy milking cows according to the customary and natural schedule of the cows and tried to get the cows to work ( with little success) on his schedule.
The day room above saw the deaths of Roberts son, and two men including his father in law who never much liked Robert, until he had grand children that is. His sons death was particularly tragic and was the basis of the poem Home burial. No the child is not buried on the property, a family dog however is.
This is the hired hands quarters just behind one of the childrens bedrooms. This was high living for hired farm hands back then. Inside and next to the chimney
Robert was not given to public speaking, which could have cost him a job and Pinkerton Academy , however a Reverend from Mass invited him t a men's meeting and told him to bring a poem along, Frost was about to declined the invite but his wife Elinor basically kicked him in the butt and told him to go. Still it was the Reverend and not Frost the read the poem, apparently it was good enough(?) to get him a position as a teacher.
The family left the farm in 1909 and sold it in 1911. It passed through the hands of five owners and was a junkyard before finally being restored under the guidance of Roberts eldest daughter in the eighties
This is the Mending Wall
It was Frosts neighbor who said fences make good neighbors as they both yearly mended the wall , Robert however would just as soon let the wall fall to the ground.
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
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There is a nice walking trail that runs through the property, and a field/meadow of native flowers that is quite spectacular in summer months (tons of small butterflies, etc). Did you happen to notice the Children's Garden on the parking side of the building? The garden is maintained by the Derry Garden Club and the Derry Diggers (kids who attend programs at the Derry Boys and Girls Club, where we hold our meetings).
Sampling the flavor of N.H. living
