We Saw Where Robert Frost Wrote Poetry

In August 2010 my children and I were in New Hampshire and on the spur of the moment I decided to visit the Robert Frost Farm in Derry. My ten year old son and I arrived at opening time.

Robert Frost Farm Derry, New Hampshire

Photo by ChristineMM, 8/18/10

My plan was to view the home briefly on a self-guided tour, then to walk the grounds with camera in hand and take photos for most of the time. I wanted  to spend time outdoors and to try to see some of the nature that Robert Frost may have seen and to imagine how it may have influenced him. Would I notice some of the same things? What of this landscape is the same as when Frost lived here?

Instead the experience turned out to be something quite different and better. To sum it up, the docent who works for the state has studied the life of Robert Frost and written a manuscript about him. To say he is an expert on his life is an understatement. The docent started the small group by having us watch a documentary about Frost, then we started a tour the interior of the small farm house which to my surprise lasted three and a half hours. He was still going when we had to leave to pick up my older son from his appointment.

As to my outside viewing, I walked around the house and in the parking lot. I had no time to go on the grounds!

Today I will share a photo of where Robert Frost sat to write poetry, at his kitchen table.

This is not the actual table or chair but this is the spot where Frost's table and chair were. According to his daughter, as told to this docent, he would sit in the left-most chair, on the end, and look out that window and write his poetry by hand.

Photo by ChristineMM  8/18/10

 Photo by ChristineMM 8/18/10

This is the present day view of what Frost would see as he looked out the window at the kitchen table seat. We were told he would look out and think as he wrote his poetry. The view looks over the driveway that leads to the barn and you can see the road. I don't think much has changed since all you can see is lawn (or field) and trees across the street (unless back then the forest was farmed fields).

I learned more than I ever thought I wanted to know about Robert Frost that day. I learned a lot about his very human traits and his imperfections.

One tidbit is that his children were homeschooled. In a separate post I will show photos of their homeschool curriculum. The farm has a shelf full of the actual books that they used.

A video of the farm in Derry from YouTube:



One of my favorite Frost poems is "The Tuft of Flowers".