For $2.4M, Chapel Hill home boasts ties to poet Robert Frost (with photos to prove it)

Chantal Allam
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

A newly listed Chapel Hill home offers a piece of UNC history with a $2.4-million price tag.

The house at 111 Battle Lane was built in 1922 for Louis Graves, the university’s first professor of journalism. Over his lifetime, he worked as a New York Times reporter and founded the Chapel Hill Weekly, with his personal residence often serving as the university’s “social hub.”

In a book-cluttered living room, he and his wife, Mim, would host many esteemed guests, including New England poet Robert Frost, according to the listing.

There’s even a frayed 1955 black-and-white photo to prove it.

A scanned copy, provided by listing agent Katherine Kopp, shows a glum-looking Frost, standing next to Mim Graves and a few other guests, outside in the garden. The house’s roofline is in the background. (A second photo captures Frost by himself, looking decidedly more amused.)

“Frost later wrote a poem in [her honor],” said Kopp, a Realtor at Durham-based Compass, in an email. “It’s called ‘On a Bird Singing Me to Sleep.’ It’s handwritten to Mrs. Louis Graves. I don’t know if it was ever published.”

The Louis Graves family donated the photos and papers to Wilson Library at UNC. Other house guests included poet e.e. cummings and writers Carl Sandburg and Robert Ruark.

Socializing ... Robert Frost, Mim Graves, Elizabeth Graham, and Gladys Lyon at 111 Battle Lane in Chapel Hill on March 21, 1955.
Socializing ... Robert Frost, Mim Graves, Elizabeth Graham, and Gladys Lyon at 111 Battle Lane in Chapel Hill on March 21, 1955.
Poet Robert Frost is photographed at 111 Battle Lane in Chapel Hill on March 21, 1955.
Poet Robert Frost is photographed at 111 Battle Lane in Chapel Hill on March 21, 1955.

Price Point: $2.4 million

Today, the couple’s former abode is this week’s Price Point.

The Charleston-style 2,810-square-foot home hit the market on Feb. 19 for around $2.4 million, according to Zillow. Less than a month later, the price is down by $126,000.

Tucked behind an old stone wall on a 0.26-acre lot, it sits on the corner of Battle and Hooper lanes and comes with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a brick patio and full basement. It’s about a block from the Coker Arboretum and a seven-minute walk to UNC’s McCorkle Place and East Franklin Street.

Relics from the past remain: a vintage millstone, a birdbath and a sandstone capital that was removed from the top of a column at UNC’s Gerrard Hall during its renovation in 1892. It now serves as a garden bench by the front porch.

In 2020, the current owners extended the existing office with a custom garage. “It can hold up to three cars, or a fourth with the addition of a car lift,” the listing states.

Plans are also available to add an apartment or studio above the garage, but exterior changes must be approved by the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission.

Here’s a peek inside:

111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514

Listed: $2,475,000 on Feb. 19. (Price cut: $126,000 March 8)

111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
An aerial shot of 111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514
An aerial shot of 111 Battle Lane, Chapel Hill 27514

MORE DETAILS:

Size: 2,810

Year built: 1922

Price per square foot: $836

HOA fees: None

Taxes: $15,300 (estimated)

Last sold: 2015 for $875,000

Listed by: Katherine Kopp and Samantha Greaves, Compass North Carolina

Price Point


“Price Point” is a new N&O column aimed at offering a snapshot of the local real estate market. Each week, we'll tell you about three houses on the market that are roughly the same price but located in different parts of the Triangle. It will also highlight how prices — and what you get for the money — can vary greatly across the region.