By Nidia Hernández, Board of Directors, New England Poetry Club
On October 27, I had the joy of helping organize a birthday celebration for Sylvia Plath at the Loring Greenough House, with the New England Poetry Club, of whose Board of Directors I am a member. Together, we invited the community to celebrate Plath’s life and poetry and her connection to Jamaica Plain, where she spent the first four years of her life.
A commemorative plaque on the tree outside her former home at 24 Prince Street now marks this important part of Plath’s story. The effort to make her connection to Jamaica Plain more visible found the support of the community and the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, helping ensure that this part of her history would be remembered.
What moved me most during the celebration was discovering how many neighbors were only now learning that she had once lived among them. Some came especially to explore this unexpected piece of local history.
The invitation to read Plath’s poems was warmly embraced. Neighbors and poets of different generations gathered to share their voices and their affection for her work. Many brought their own books of her poetry, and the evening became a space for exchanging memories, reflections, and expressions of gratitude. The Loring Greenough House was an essential part of this gathering, helping make possible an evening that felt both welcoming and deeply connected to the life of the community.
A birthday cake, shared in an almost familial spirit, and the singing of “Happy Birthday” made the occasion especially intimate. Throughout the evening, I felt that Plath was no longer a distant literary figure, but a neighbor, a familiar presence, and part of our collective imagination.
As we departed, we carried with us a singular feeling: that we had come to visit Sylvia Plath, and that, in some mysterious and beautiful way, she had visited us all. For me, this was the greatest gift of the celebration: witnessing how poetry can bring generations together, reconnect a community with its history, and welcome a beloved poet home again.
Jamaica Plain News article about Plath’s birthday celebration
Welcome by Andrew Hatcher, Loring Greenough House
Cheryl Clark Vermeulen, Jamaica Plain poet
Andrew Hatcher reads Sylvia Plath’s “Candles”
Community invitation on the Loring Greenough House fence
Plaque at 24 Prince Street, Jamaica Plain
