Walden (Part 1) - Before the Pond

Walden Pond - just 22 miles away from Boston Common - has become synonymous with solitude, retreat and thoughtful reflection. 

Henry David Thoreau  famously builds a log cabin along its shore and describes the assertive tranquility of the water and surrounding area as “Lower Heaven.” 

It’s here where the Thoreau pens the now classic work, Walden

 It’s here where, Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects on the national world. 

It’s here - where people continue to make the pilgrimage to it’s calm shores in the hopes of finding similar solitude …

But the real story of Walden Pond is surprising as well as thought provoking; it provokes our settled assumption of Thoreau as a hermit poet and of the lake as his impenetrable retreat. 

Works Cited:

https://www.amazon.com/Walden-Henry-David-Thoreau/dp/1619493918

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thoreau/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/461300?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvrs90hh.12?searchText=henry+david&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dhenry%2Bdavid%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ad123667cd32b752e3fcd984b64929d40

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctvrs90hh.12.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A90df29e6fe53afc4ccdf61e002a28f6c&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=&acceptTC=1

https://www.walden.org/education/for-students/myths-and-misconceptions/


https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/henry-david-thoreau

https://www.nps.gov/places/walden-pond-in-the-walden-pond-state-reservation.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-David-Thoreau/Legacy

https://www.boston.com/travel/travel/2017/08/09/heres-why-you-should-wander-walden-pond/