'“It's fascinating ... he was here ': Reflections on Frost 150th birthday anniversary
DERRY — While there wasn’t a blow-out birthday bash in town to celebrate one of the best poets in American literature, Derry has year-round celebrations for one of its favorite sons.
Robert Frost’s 150 birthday was March 26, but Derry doesn’t settle on one day to celebrate him. The town shows its love for the prolific poet all year round.
“So many towns claim Frost as their own,” Erin Robinson said. “He traveled around quite a bit, but Derry is where he raised his kids and worked as a farmer and a teacher. He managed to pursue publication along the way and launch a spectacular, unbeatable, writing career. I think that puts Derry in a very special spot at the foundation of his history and works.”
Robinson is the New Hampshire history and literature specialist librarian at the Derry Public Library. She said there are many towns across the country that lay a claim to Frost, but Derry’s is incredibly strong.
Frost was born in San Francisco, California. His family, a group of New England transplants, moved back to Lawrence while he was still young.
When Frost moved to Derry, it was partially because he wanted to challenge himself to work and live as well as write his poetry. His grandfather purchased him a farm after Frost married. He lived there for more than a decade.
The farm is now the Robert Frost Farm State Historic Site, 122 Rockingham Road, a museum and historical landmark in Derry.
Frost started teaching English at Pinkerton Academy in 1906. Robinson said one of her favorite stories was how Frost got the job.
“They were having a meeting at Old Association Hall,” Robinson said. “He read one of his poems and that’s where a ton of teachers saw and heard his work first.”
Pinkerton Academy’s Stockbridge Theatre, 22-98 Bypass 28, is celebrating Frost with a biopic play, ”Robert Frost: This Verse Business” at 7 p.m. on April 4.
The show is a one-man play where Frost, portrayed by Emmy-winner Gordon Clapp, will show how Frost used metaphor to express life. The show will feature some of Frost’s most famous work, including, “Mending Wall,” “The Road Not Taken,” and “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
The Robert Frost Farm State Historical Site hosts an annual poetry conference to continue inspiring young poets. The conference this year will begin on Aug. 16 and will run through Aug. 18. The museum will be open for visits for the month of September. The grounds are open for hikers all year from dawn to dusk.
The Hyla Brook Poets, a group of professional and amateur poets dedicated to keeping Frost’s metered style alive, will have their annual reading series begin in May. As of right now, there is not a list of poets who will read at the society.
The Derry Public Library has historical artifacts, including photographs of Frost with his children, early works, and other memorabilia donated to the library and the Derry Museum of History by Leslie Frost, the poet’s daughter.
Even the Derry Rail Trail has a segment of it honoring Frost. In the summer of 2020, Derry Public Arts created a massive mural down the path with illustrated stanzas from “The Road Not Taken.” The full poem can be walked from the entrance north of Bowers Road crossing.
Robinson said it’s interesting to think of Frost as a regular person who lived and worked in Derry, doing regular, everyday things like other residents.
“When you think of Frost, you think of the old man, but there’s a whole time of him getting to the stardom of poetry that was building since he was young,” Robinson said. “It’s fascinating and special that he was here doing what we’re all doing and building a foundation that would launch him into the national and international hearts of many.”