Preservation of the houses

Roethke’s uncle, Carl Roethke, lived in the fieldstone house today referred to as the Stone House. The Stone House protects and extends Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation’s mission to offer cultural and educational opportunities related to the poet’s living legacy. It has escaped demolition and is being restored and developed into a visitor and programming center that will also eventually provide housing for guest poets and artists.

In 2020, the Stone House received a new roof, new water and electrical service. Exterior painting in its original colors is ongoing, and in 2021 window and boiler restorations began. New plumbing will be complete in 2022. The Stone House could not have come this far if it weren’t for community supporters rising up to stop the demolition. Both the Roethke and Stone Houses are owned by the Friends of Theodore Roethke Foundation outright and without debt. They have been granted recognition and status as a national literary landmark, have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and are official Michigan historic landmarks displaying a state historic interpretive marker.