Boaz’s Meadow
Following in the Footsteps
I
of Thoreau BY SUSAN BAILEY
In the early 1960’s a high school freshman watched a quiz show, “College Bowl.” Little did he know how that random act would change his life. Many years later, he tells the story: “The moderator asked what noted book began with the following words. Before he had said fifteen words, one of the college whiz kids gave the correct answer — Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Then the moderator read the complete sentence, which captivated me.” It was the first line in Thoreau’s iconic work: “When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I have built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.” 42
Discover CONCORD
| Summer 2020
That high school freshman was Ray Angelo. “I got hold of Walden, read it, and was instantly attracted to Thoreau’s values of independence, simplicity, and deep appreciation for the natural world of Concord and New England,” he said. Mr. Angelo would devote much of his life to the study of Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau’s friend Minot Pratt (a co-founder of Brook Farm, one of the more successful nineteenth century utopian communities), and their shared passion for the flora and fauna of Concord. Mr. Angelo’s interest has manifested itself in many ways: as co-curator of Natural History Collections for Harvard University’s Concord Field Station (19761999) and assistant curator, and then curator, of Vascular Plants for the New England
Botanical Club (1979-2008). He continues to be an associate of the Harvard University Herbaria and is a regional reviewer for the Flora North American project. Mr. Angelo has several published works related to trees and shrubs of the Concord area, along with the Catalog of Plant Specimens and Index for Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium, and a Botanical Index to the Journal of Henry David Thoreau. His most recent project (which is ongoing) pinpoints as many of Henry David Thoreau’s place names in Concord and Lincoln, Massachusetts as possible using latitude and longitude coordinates applicable with Google Maps. Entries are supplemented with commentary and all Thoreau journal references. The title of the project is Place Names of Henry David
