Additionally, thanks to the generosity of LCHIP and Frost Place community, our project to replace the failing foundation is underway.
This work supports Protecting Frost’s Home for the Future.
August 19, 2026 — Robert Frost’s historic farmhouse in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is receiving a new foundation, an essential preservation project that will help protect the landmark home for generations to come.
Frost’s former home has been temporarily lifted high into the air, allowing crews to remove the existing cellar and construct a new, watertight foundation. The dramatic sight offers a rare glimpse at the engineering and preservation work required to maintain the 170 year old historic property.
The Frost Place house and grounds are temporarily closed to visitors to accommodate construction crews and ensure the safety of visitors, staff, and contractors. Updates about reopening will be shared as the project progresses.
Robert Frost and his family lived in the Franconia farmhouse from 1915 to 1920, a significant period in the poet’s life and career. During these years, Frost wrote and published some of his most enduring works including “The Road Not Taken”. The landscape surrounding the farmhouse became deeply connected to his writing and to the poems that established his place as one of America’s most celebrated poets.
Since 1977, the farmhouse has served as a museum and center for poetry and the arts, welcoming visitors, poets, and students to explore Frost’s life and work and to experience the place that inspired him.
“Preserving this house means preserving an important part of Robert Frost’s story,” said Stacy Holmes, Executive Director of The Frost Place. “This new foundation is an investment in the future of the farmhouse and in our ability to continue sharing this remarkable place with generations of visitors, poets, and readers.”
The foundation project is part of the ongoing stewardship required to preserve the historic property, which is made possible by a matching grant from LCHIP, NH’s Land Community Heritage Investment Program, and generous donations from a community of supporters. Constructing a new foundation will provide critical protection from water intrusion while helping ensure that the farmhouse remains a safe and stable home for the museum and its programs.
The Frost Place is a nonprofit museum and center for poetry and the arts located at Robert Frost’s former home in Franconia, New Hampshire. The organization preserves the farmhouse where Frost lived with his family from 1915 to 1920 and advances the study and appreciation of poetry, as well as Robert Frost’s life and work.
Preserving a historic place like this is an ongoing responsibility. The Frost Place welcomes donations from those who wish to help ensure that this important piece of literary history endures for generations to come. Gifts of any size contribute to the care and preservation of this national literary landmark and sustain the programs that carry Frost’s poetic legacy into the future.
November 18, 2026
We are grateful to report that The Frost Place has received a $130,000 matching grant from New Hampshire’s Land Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP). We have begun our fundraising efforts to meet this match, which will allow us to replace the failing foundation in Robert Frost’s Franconia farmhouse. The Frost Place will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2026, and we cannot think of a better way to mark the occasion than to embark on this important preservation project!
It seems there has always been a struggle against the constant influx of water in the crude dirt cellar, which has undermined the structure through the years. One section of the cellar’s stone wall even collapsed recently; this work is long overdue.
In a February 1919 letter, Mrs. Elinor Frost wrote to her daughter Lesley: “We have had a long storm, and it hasn’t stopped snowing yet. It began with rain for a whole day and night, then it turned to snow, and has snowed for two days and nights. The snow is deeper than it has been all winter, I guess, and there is a lot of water in the cellar. Papa is afraid that if the snow melts suddenly, as it is very liable to do, the furnace will be flooded and spoiled. We have never had so much water in the cellar before.”
We plan to raise the house off the existing foundation, remove that foundation, and then install drainage and a waterproofed, poured concrete crawlspace. It’s not a glamorous project, but the house will once and for all be protected from the harmful effects of wetness and an unstable foundation.
This undertaking will be our most ambitious since The Frost Place was founded, and can only be done with your help. Because you value the place of poetry and the arts in today’s fractious world, we’re hoping we can count on you to help preserve and protect this literary landmark. Your generous donation will help to ensure a firm (and dry) foundation for centuries to come.
Together, we can ensure that Robert Frost’s farmhouse in White Mountains will remain to delight and inspire generations to come.
The New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) is an independent state authority. It provides matching grants to New Hampshire’s municipalities and nonprofits. These grants preserve the state’s natural, cultural, and historic resources and support the economy. They also enhance environment and quality of life in New Hampshire.
This year, 31 grants totaling more than $3.5 million were awarded. They supported 26 communities and nonprofit organizations across the state.
LCHIP grants are funded by a $25 fee. That fee is assessed when deeds, mortgages, and plans are recorded at the state’s ten registries of deeds. Since 2001, LCHIP has awarded 646 grants, totaling over $68 million. As of July 2025, the program’s investment helped conserve 247,000 acres of land and rehabilitate 192 historic structures across 206 NH communities. Learn more at LCHIP.org. Follow LCHIP_NH on Instagram or Facebook.
September 1, 2026
Dear Friend of the Frost Place,
I’m writing with some very exciting news. But first, a bit of relevant background: In 1856, a farmer named Ezra G. Hunt built a modest little house on Ridge Road in Franconia. This house became home to Robert Frost and his family from 1915 to 1920. Today, thanks to the partnership of the Frost Place Board, the Town of Franconia, and generous individual supporters, we have been working steadily to restore the home. We now have a plan to address the area that has long been the source of many woes – the crude, wet dirt cellar – which will protect Frost’s former home for the future.
With financial support from NH Preservation Alliance, we took the necessary first step in this process and hired North Country Architect to complete a historic building assessment on the house. This included creating a roadmap of stewardship recommendations for this important literary landmark. Our highest priority is to finally address the foundation that has remained chronically wet, undermining the entire structure, despite attempts at repair through the years.
Our plan includes raising the entire house above the existing foundation, removing the crumbling, leaking walls and adding several feet of gravel and multiple perforated drainage pipes. Then, a reinforced concrete foundation will be poured on top of it and the house lowered back down onto its forever-dry basement. See the diagram below.
We will soon know if we were selected to receive a matching grant from New Hampshire’s Land Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), a nonprofit that helps to protect and preserve historic buildings like ours. We have our fingers crossed, but the overall cost of this project is daunting at an estimated at $260,000.
This undertaking will be our most ambitious since The Frost Place was founded, and can only be done with your help. Because you value the place of poetry and the arts in today’s fractious world, we’re hoping we can count on you to help preserve Robert Frost’s enormous literary legacy. Your generous donation will help ensure a firm (and dry) foundation for centuries to come.
With gratitude,
Chair, Friends of the Frost Place Board of Trustees
We are lucky to have our own in-house architect and Board President, Don Metz, to manage this project!
