John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead
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At 305 Whittier Road in Haverhill, Massachusetts, one will find the John Greenleaf Whittier homestead. Built in 1688 by Thomas Whittier, pioneer and great-great-grandfather of the “Quaker Poet” and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier. Thomas Whittier chose the site (originally 148 acres) for its proximity to Fernside Brook, which could both provide water and turn the wheel of a grist mill. The poet was born in 1807 in the southwest parlor of the farm house, which today remains essentially the same as it was in that year. The homestead is the setting for his best-known and best-loved narrative poem Snow-Bound, published in 1866 and an instant bestseller.
Former mayor of Haverhill and boyhood friend of Whittier, James Carleton, bought the farm and donated it to the Haverhill Whittier Club; it was officially opened in 1893, a year after the poet’s death. Today, it functions as a hands-on museum dedicated to the poet’s memory; visitors are allowed to sit in chairs actually used by the family, and the guest register sits on the very desk the poet used when he wrote Snow-Bound.
Whittier's later home in nearby Amesbury, the John Greenleaf Whittier Home, is also open to the public.
