The Frost Place is a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, where Robert Frost made his home from 1915 until 1920. In that brief residence, Frost managed to publish three highly-acclaimed books, securing his place among America’s finest poets.
A teaching job took him to Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and away from the farm, but a year later he and his wife Elinor missed their old home’s tranquil setting so much that they decided to make it a summer residence for the next eighteen years. The farm’s peaceful, bucolic seclusion seemed to take root in Frost’s poetic voice as is evident in the following excerpt from "Birches":
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows—
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
In 1976, the farm was purchased by the town of Franconia and, after restoration of the facilities, was renamed the Frost Place before re-opening as a museum in 1977. A half-mile jaunt through nearby woods became the aptly named Poetry Nature Trail. In addition, each July the Frost Place offers a conference on poetry and teaching aimed at middle and high school teachers, while in August a resident poet helps host an annual poetry festival complete with seminars and workshops. Donald Hall described the Frost Place by saying, "There is no other poetic institute in the United States that feels more consecrated to the poem itself." For hours, admission fees, and more information, visit the website.