H O U S E N E A R WA L D E N P O N D 1 8 4 5 –1 8 4 7 Henry David Thoreau 1817– 1862
From Boston’s Logan International Airport it’s 23.3 miles to Concord, Massachusetts, and twenty-two miles to Walden Pond. From the center of Concord to Walden Pond it’s less than two miles, following Walden Street, to the original site of Henry David Thoreau’s house. Thoreau went to Walden Pond from Concord on foot, often following the tracks of the Fitchburg Concord railroad which passes nearby and was built during Thoreau’s time. Nowadays, most visitors arrive by car via Route 2, and turn south onto Route 126 or Walden Street towards nearby Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Exploded Assembly Drawing, Thoreau’s House
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Southwest facing Window with Mirrored Window Shutter, le Cabanon
Thoreau’s original house no longer exists. There is, however, a replica, built in the 1980s, located near the access road and between parking lots of the Walden Pond State Reservation, part of the Massachusetts Forests and Parks system. Today the location and outline of the original Thoreau house is marked by granite stones, set by self-taught historical archeologist Roland Wells Robbins and documented in his book, Discovery at Walden.1 Robbins became interested in the subject after he attended the centennial celebration of Thoreau’s move to Walden Pond on July 4, 1945. Several visitors to the celebration wondered where the precise location of the house was and, when no answer could be given, Robbins determined to find out. Before Robbins’ findings, a cairn had emerged on the site, made by several generations of visitors paying tribute to Thoreau and Walden, and marking the approximate location where Thoreau’s house had stood. But the precise position, entrance, and orientation of the house were left to the visitor’s imagination. 21
Southeast facing Window with Mirrored Window Shutter, le Cabanon
Interior view or le Cabanon
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Flückiger / How Much House? 978-3-0356-1028-4 October 2016 www.birkhauser.com