The House at Walden
Thoreau's house at Walden. Photo credit goes to Tom Brosnahan.
In my wide-eyed high school days, nothing got me going more than Throeau, Whitman and the transcendentalists. I still regard Whitman’s Leaves of Grass as a literary bible. I still certainly have an affinity for transcendentalists, so I couldn’t help but put this up.
It’s rare to see the places where writers actually worked. Especially ones predating the 20th century. Especially ones that the writer based their seminal works on. Anyway, I’m beating around the bush. Checkout Thoreau’s house at Walden.
For those of you who don’t know, Thoreau was one of the big three transcendentalist authors (Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau) who retired to a solitary pond (Walden) to reflect on the root certainties of life. His best-known work, named Walden after the pond, was set entirely in the solitude and grasp of Nature.
That’s why this house is so important. It’s the foundation for a great American classicist’s writings.
Hope everyone’s doing well. The summer weather is surely surely coming along slowly.
God Save the Books,
C. Harder
I think the house is a replica or rebuild because I remember reading a few years ago on a Thoreau Society page how the original house was no longer standing and the remants of it were in danger of becoming totally obscured. Maybe they undertook a restoration of the site.
Either way, awesome to see that somebody cares enough to preserve the history of one of the greatest writers of all time (IMHO).
And thanks to you for sharing this with us, Christian.
Oh really? I hadn’t heard that. After I finish my lunch I’ll look into it. That definitely could be accurate– it looks pretty pristine. Yeah, I feel that those of us that still are passionate about wonderful writers and writing need to do all we can to preserve it. Thank you for your comment!