The house was built in the 1880s. When Frost acquired it, the nearly new home had an unusual young orchard planted by the prior owner, who had retired there after having worked for many years in a fruit nursery. A variety of apple trees included Gravensteins, Northern Spies, and Baldwins. There were smaller groves of peach, pear and quince. A patch of cultivated raspberry and blackberry bushes flourished against the southern side of the barn, where Frost built houses for his Wyandotte hens which furnished the cash crop of the enterprise.