Walden Pond (Boston, Fitchburg, Concord: house, live, cabin)

[runninfiend]

I'm considering a visit to Walden, but am a little concerned that it's not worth the trip considering all the growth and large visitation to the park.

As a lover of Thoreau's work, is Walden still worth visiting?

[smarty]

We can look at the same thing and have different impression and interpretations. Why don't you let us know your perception of Walden Pond?


I hope I do not spoil it by including their website...
Department of Conservation and Recreation - It's Your Nature

[scarletfire]

I think it's still a nice place to go, although it might be more enjoyable to go on a weekday or slow time when there aren't so many people. You can still walk over to where the original house site was and I believe you can canoe there if I recall correctly and that might be a nice thing to do, particularly if there are lots of people on the walking path.

[missionhill]

Agree with others, and would add that there are extensive trails on Lincoln and Concord conservation land between Walden Pond and the Sudbury River/Fairhaven Bay. As Alan Fisher points out in his book, Country Walks Near Boston, those trails (I think they call it Adams Woods) better preserve the spirit of Thoreau's solitude in the woods than the pond itself. To get to those trails from Walden Pond you must cross the tracks of the Fitchburg Railroad (Thoreau's phrase, but still apt) and enter the Adams Woods. Lots of scope for roaming here.

[miu]

My family always liked walking around Great Meadows. Walden Pond I have mixed memories of because I spent a number of my summers taking swimming lessons there. I like Fruitlands Museum in Harvard.

[gnab gib]

I went up there a few years ago, in the fall, and I was one of the few people there. Passed maybe 15 or 20 people as I walked all the way around the pond, and saw a couple of people swimming in the pond, but that was about it.

As someone else mentioned, you can still go to the site where the cabin used to stand. That was practically a religious experience for me. It felt like standing on sacred ground.

I expected the whole area to be crowded, developed, and spoiled ... but I couldn't have been happier. It was beautiful, just I had imagined!

[airedaly]

If you go to Walden Pond this Saturday afternoon, there is going to be a Polar Bear Plunge. 2PM. As part of the "Keep Winter Cold" effort, working to stop global warming. Even if you don't want to jump in, there will be lots of great people and a couple of polar bears.....maybe Mr. Thoreau, too! Who said you have to visit Walden in the warm weather? Winter's cool, too!

[brightdoglover]

Walden Pond is well worth a visit. There's a walking trail around the whole pond (I think it's about two miles total) and the former cabin site is on the far side. It's only crowded during the summer and maybe fall weekends, and not at all in December. It's a lovely place.

I second the recommendation that you go down Rt. 2 about 10 miles to Fruitlands Museum in Harvard. Gorgeous 200-acre property, the former home of the Alcotts' Transcendentalist commune (failed). There's the house that the Alcotts lived in, including Lousia May, two fine little art museums (one of colonail times, I think, and one Native American) beautiful walking trails. Also, I think there is still a wonderful brunch on Sunday morning/afternoons. The whole place feels like an extension of Thoreau and Emerson and all.

Local rumor has it that Thoreau actually went to Emerson's mother's house nearby to bathe and get a good dinner.