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The allusion to trespassing makes me thankful I live in the western US where much more of the land is public. I don't know why that's my takeaway from reading

The allusion to trespassing makes me thankful I live in the western US where much more of the land is public. I don't know why that's my takeaway from reading this, but there you have it.

gausswho 2y ago
Having lived bi-coastally, I agree this is an idiosyncratic distinction between east and west. Particularly northeast and west. And we have great mounds of thinkers who have raised the thought. Thoreau. Steinbeck. Kesey. How wonderful it is to walk into woods and cliffs by compass and pack. No deeds or POSTED signs. No orange toque as deference to hunters. Yet the coast of Maine is mostly parceled off to old money. Mill towns evaporate into poisoned ghosts. And Adirondack Park defenders chattle on about 'public-private partnerships' as if the National Park system was never conceived.
- titanomachy 2y ago
  Where did you pick up “toque”? I always thought that was a distinctly Canadian usage.
  - gausswho 2y ago
    Many don't know that part of Canada secretly exists in northern NY and VT.
- prescriptivist 2y ago
  > Yet the coast of Maine is mostly parceled off to old money. I live half a mile from the Maine coast and when I look around I don’t see any old money in my neighborhood. If you are talking about literally a house overlooking the ocean, that’s always been prized real estate.
  - gausswho 2y ago
    I do mean the coast, and it does sadden me how little of it is publicly accessible, compared to the Pacific coast.
ekidd 2y ago
I don't actually think there's an allusion to trespassing here. The narrator is passing through someone's woodlot far from the village, which is still accepted behavior in large portions of northern New England. Much of Frost's poetry is about Vermont or New Hampshire, and Vermont's private woodland is very open (except in a few towns) and has always been so. This is thanks to the Vermont Constitution's provisions on hunting: The inhabitants of this State shall have liberty in seasonable times, to hunt and fowl on the lands they hold, and on other lands not inclosed... under proper regulations, to be made and provided by the General Assembly. If land isn't fenced off or actually posted (and posting large woodlands is deliberately difficult in Vermont), then it doesn't count as "inclosed." And Vermont's culture still supports this. There are hundreds of acres of unposted private land near my house which are owned by old-school Vermonters, and I am absolutely welcome to hike them. Maine has a slightly different set of rules, and posting land is easier. But once you get away from the coast and into the serious forest, it's not that different from Vermont. And as far as I know, New Hampshire also allows hunting on unposted woodland.
- titanomachy 2y ago
  > posting large woodlands is deliberately difficult in Vermont Can you elaborate on this? I’m curious
  - greenie_beans 2y ago
    some towns require you to post a sign like every 20 feet which can be very labor intensive
    - titanomachy 2y ago
      On the boundary? That seems somewhat reasonable. If they were much further apart than that, you could reasonably claim that you entered the property without knowing it was private.
      - greenie_beans 2y ago
keepamovin 2y ago
That's an interesting take. Didn't think of that, but I appreciate it. Thanks for sharing. He's aware that it's not his land, and he thinks about who owns it.

The allusion to trespassing makes me thankful I live in the western US where much more of the land is public. I don't know why that's my takeaway from reading this, but there you have it.

gausswho 2y ago

Having lived bi-coastally, I agree this is an idiosyncratic distinction between east and west. Particularly northeast and west. And we have great mounds of thinkers who have raised the thought. Thoreau. Steinbeck. Kesey. How wonderful it is to walk into woods and cliffs by compass and pack. No deeds or POSTED signs. No orange toque as deference to hunters. Yet the coast of Maine is mostly parceled off to old money. Mill towns evaporate into poisoned ghosts. And Adirondack Park defenders chattle on about 'public-private partnerships' as if the National Park system was never conceived.

titanomachy 2y ago
Where did you pick up “toque”? I always thought that was a distinctly Canadian usage.
- gausswho 2y ago
  Many don't know that part of Canada secretly exists in northern NY and VT.
prescriptivist 2y ago
> Yet the coast of Maine is mostly parceled off to old money. I live half a mile from the Maine coast and when I look around I don’t see any old money in my neighborhood. If you are talking about literally a house overlooking the ocean, that’s always been prized real estate.
- gausswho 2y ago
  I do mean the coast, and it does sadden me how little of it is publicly accessible, compared to the Pacific coast.

ekidd 2y ago

I don't actually think there's an allusion to trespassing here. The narrator is passing through someone's woodlot far from the village, which is still accepted behavior in large portions of northern New England. Much of Frost's poetry is about Vermont or New Hampshire, and Vermont's private woodland is very open (except in a few towns) and has always been so. This is thanks to the Vermont Constitution's provisions on hunting: The inhabitants of this State shall have liberty in seasonable times, to hunt and fowl on the lands they hold, and on other lands not inclosed... under proper regulations, to be made and provided by the General Assembly. If land isn't fenced off or actually posted (and posting large woodlands is deliberately difficult in Vermont), then it doesn't count as "inclosed." And Vermont's culture still supports this. There are hundreds of acres of unposted private land near my house which are owned by old-school Vermonters, and I am absolutely welcome to hike them. Maine has a slightly different set of rules, and posting land is easier. But once you get away from the coast and into the serious forest, it's not that different from Vermont. And as far as I know, New Hampshire also allows hunting on unposted woodland.

titanomachy 2y ago
> posting large woodlands is deliberately difficult in Vermont Can you elaborate on this? I’m curious
- greenie_beans 2y ago
  some towns require you to post a sign like every 20 feet which can be very labor intensive
  - titanomachy 2y ago
    On the boundary? That seems somewhat reasonable. If they were much further apart than that, you could reasonably claim that you entered the property without knowing it was private.
    - greenie_beans 2y ago

keepamovin 2y ago

That's an interesting take. Didn't think of that, but I appreciate it. Thanks for sharing. He's aware that it's not his land, and he thinks about who owns it.