Walden Pond is both a literary mecca, as well as a favorite recreational beach and picnic area. It was here where Henry David Thoreau built his ten-by-fifteen foot hand-hewn cabin in 1845 as a place to escape the rigors of the bustling outside world and to "live deliberately."
The Harvard-educated Thoreau was twenty-seven years old when he began his two years, two months, and two days at Walden, reading, writing, walking, and thinking in spartan semi-solitude. However, despite legends to the contrary, Thoreau was not a hermit during his stay at Walden. While living here, he welcomed visitors, walked into Concord Center and earned money surveying, selling vegetables to neighbors, and lecturing.
Today visitors can leisurely walk to the isolated site of Thoreau's cabin and place commemorative stones on the cairn that Bronson Alcott and Mary Adams began here in 1872 to honor the memory of the young philosopher. Visitors can also view a furnished replica of the cabin, conveniently placed adjacent to the Reservation's parking lot, or browse in the Thoreau Society's bookstore.
Walden Pond State Reservation
915 Walden Street
Concord, MA 01742
(978) 369-3254
Website: www.magnet.state.ma.us/dem/parks/wldn.htm
Thoreau Society Website: www.walden.org/society
Hours: October - April: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.. April - October: Sunrise to Sunset
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