While summering at her husband's home in Boxford, Massachusetts, she explored the local area, sewed, watched birds, and took up photography. They took long trips to Europe over three of George's sabbaticals, during which they lived in their favorite cities and traveled through the countryside on bicycles. She composed many beautiful poems, some of which are found in "Life of Alice Freeman Palmer" and "A Marriage Cycle." In 1901, she wrote the hymn "How sweet and silent is the place" (Holy Communion).