History
Whittier moved to this house in 1836, where he lived with his mother, aunt, and sister Eliza. Whittier wrote most of his poetry and prose in this house, including his classic "Snow Bound" written in the Garden Room. During his 56 year residence, he enlarged the house several times, raising the original building at the left up and adding another story, then adding the section to the right. Since 1918, the house has been owned and maintained by the Whittier Home Association.
The house and its furnishings essentially unchanged from the poet's death, including living rooms, bedroom, and Whittier's writing study with all its furnishings.
Whittier's birthplace in nearby Haverhill, the John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead, is also open to the public.
Read more about this topic: John Greenleaf Whittier House
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The visual is sorely undervalued in modern scholarship. Art history has attained only a fraction of the conceptual sophistication of literary criticism.... Drunk with self-love, criticism has hugely overestimated the centrality of language to western culture. It has failed to see the electrifying sign language of images.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)