Robert Frost at the WilloughVale Inn

“I see it’s a fair, pretty sheet of water,

Our Willoughby!”

So wrote beloved American poet Robert Frost’s in his Servant to Servants poem which he composed while tent camping with his family in 1909 on what would eventually become the WilloughVale’s grounds. The property at that time was a farm run by the Conley family. 

Frost’s poem tells the story of a hard-working farm woman whose character, Frost later told, was based on a composite of three women, one of whom was Mrs. Conley. Although the work depicts the difficulties of a hardscrabble life in a rural setting, Frost’s love of Vermont’s natural beauty and his impressions of Lake Willoughby are clearly evident as he writes, “To step outdoors and take the water dazzle. A sunny morning, or take the rising wind about my face and body . . .

The Robert Frost Cottage  in Vermont, along with our three other Lakefront Cottages in Northern Vermont, has been very popular with WilloughVale guests over the years. Be sure to reserve your cottage early as they book up fast!