Plenty of Time and Seclusion

Poet Robert Frost only spent a fraction of his life in Derry, New Hampshire, but those years resurfaced in his poetry all his life and laid the foundation for his literary career.

Today, visitors can tour the farm where his family spent nine hard summers and chilly winters without electricity or running water. Restored and operated by New Hampshire’s State Park Service, the property is a local and national treasure.

Frost, his wife, Elinor, and their four children lived on these 13-acres from 1900-1911 while the poet experimented with poultry farming and wrote poetry whenever he could find the time. The surroundings offer a timeless connection to both nature and Frost’s work in all four New-England seasons. Lilacs bloom in spring, surrounding pasture and woods glow green in summer, and a host of beautiful old maples make for
brilliant foliage each fall before snow blankets the ground.

The modest farmhouse and its accompanying barn are open for tours and special events every weekend from Memorial Day until Columbus Day from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The buildings are also open seven days a week from the third week in June through Labor Day from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and the grounds remain open to the public at all
times.

Although the house had several owners after the Frosts moved away, its interior has been restored to the simplicity of Frost’s time. His eldest daughter, Lesley Frost Ballantine, served as consultant during the restoration, decorating the rooms as she remembers them from childhood. Special touches include Frost-family china in the dining room and a reproduction of
the family wallpaper in the kitchen, where Frost stayed up late writing at the table after his family retired to bed. The poet astonished his neighbors by milking cows at noon and midnight in order to maintain his nighttime writing schedule.

Derry was where Frost first began to write seriously. He never planned to stay, or be a farmer, although his mind returned to the farm for poetic inspiration all his life. Ironically, he did return to the farm in later years and
was turned away unrecognized by the owner.

In the attached barn, visitors can view photographs of Frost and his family interspersed with quotes and excerpts of his work. A film offered here is also a good foundation for the house tour, providing background about Frost’s life, poetry, and his Derry years.

Behind the house and barn, a wide, accommodating
trail follows the stone walls that were the inspiration for the poem “Mending Wall.” Here, he repaired the wall with his neighbor, reinforcing their belief that “Good fences make good neighbors,” often because they encourage cooperation as well as boundaries.

The trail follows a roughly half-mile course through the quiet woods behind the house. Many features in this landscape found their way into Frost’s poems over time, and 23 markers along the trail point out particular spots that inspired or appeared in his poetry.
The well-known “Hyla Brook” flows alongside the trail, and the woods are a cool retreat in summer.

The town of Derry has grown from the small village Frost knew to a town of about 22,000. However, Pinkerton Academy’s clock tower still marks the horizon two miles up the road from the farm, a distance Frost covered on foot when he taught there to supplement the family’s income. The farming tradition Frost pursued in Derry had roots in the town’s settlement in 1719, when it was known as Nutfield, the site of European settlers’ first cultivation of potatoes in
America. Although New England’s farming has
diminished, you still find farms in the hills around Derry and can pick bushels of fruit in nearby orchards.

When asked once where he had been happiest, Frost once replied, “Oh, I guess it was when I lived in Derry, New Hampshire.” He credited Derry with “plenty of time and seclusion,” essential ingredients in growing
poetry, as well as quality of life.

More information about the Robert Frost Farm can be found at: http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/FrostFarm/Frost.html

To learn more about seeing Derry, Robert Frost's former hometown, from the sky, check out www.high5ballooning.com
or call (603) 893-9643.

Story ID:	85
Written by:	Phyllis Edgerly Ring (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Local History
Location:	Derry New Hampshire US
Year:	1910
Person:	Robert Frost