Walden

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Exact replica of Thoreau's cabin built near Walden Pond 
but not in the original location. 

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived,"  

Henry David Thoreau writes at the beginning of his most famous book Walden, or Life in the Woods.


On this date: July 4, 1845, 166 years ago, Thoreau declared his independence, moving into his cabin near Walden Pond. 


Only 10 feet by 15 feet it was small—more like an out-building you'd store your riding lawnmower in today—built on a recently purchased woodlot owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The original cabin was situated on a rise overlooking the pond. It was peaceful except for the sounds of trees being cut for firewood which happened routinely. The small structure behind Henry David's small house was his woodshed.

With me for scale

"He began building his house in March," writes author Robert Sullivan, "He called it a house. His family called it a hut. Emerson called it a hut. [Bronson] Alcott called it a hermitage, Ellery Channing called it a 'wooden inkstand,' on account of how much work Thoreau got done there. Thoreau referred to it variously as a lodge, a hut, an apartment, and a dwelling, but more often than not to him it was a house."


Inside he had a bed, writing desk, three chairs, a kettle, skillet and a frying pan. Initially, Thoreau cooked outside but in time, he added a fireplace, woodstove and brick chimney.


He lived simply with few material possessions, but that was the point. Happiness is found not in what we own, but in how we choose to live our days. 

Exact replica of the Thoreau cabin's interior.

- Photos taken on a recent visit to Walden with Paul James. 

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have not lived

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“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.”


Passage from "Walden: or, Life in the Woods," first published in 1854.


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fresh start

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"A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always…In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven."

From "Walden; or, Life in the Woods" by Henry David Thoreau

I feel like a fresh start, because it IS a wonderful spring morning. Many of the fields are bright yellow with field mustard, which is exactly where you would expect to find such. All things feel new, green and forgiven for winter's harsh treatment.


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