Thoreau article

There was a recent article in The New Yorker on Henry David Thoreau:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/pond-scum
Thought it fitting to mention since his, er, name keeps popping up here.

I found it entertaining and informative and was left with the question... Why did this party pooper have a trail and a waterfall named after him?

Enjoy!

Aside from his considerable experience and writings about nature and especially New England mountains, I once found this buried in the first chapter of Walden, where he is relating some of his life's endeavors:
"For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow-storms and rain-storms, and did my duty faithfully; surveyor, if not of highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where the public heel had testified to their utility."
Henry David Thoreau was a volunteer trailworker in the town of Concord MA. Another reason we remember him.

Interesting book review regarding a case of legally converting an area to "wilderness": https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-nature-of-wilderness

In addition to watching geese on Walden Pond while waiting for his mother to finish his laundry, Thoreau sometimes traveled to (and wrote about) other places in New England. Monadnock (four times), Ktaadn (attempted), Mt Washington, etc. I don't know if he ever visited Thoreau Falls, though.

Personally I don't much care for his writing style, but he's considered a founder of the literary nature-as-necessity movement in the US, right up there with John Muir. His name is good for tourist business - people talk about "Thoreau's Seat" on Monadnock for example - but probably the use of his name is often simply admiration by the folks who drew up the maps and trails a century later, like Washington St in - oh, every single town in the US.

There's a set of letters in the next issue of the New Yorker - one of them points out that Mz Shulz may have missed some of Thoreau's humor.

nartreb said:

. . . Thorough [sic] sometimes traveled to (and wrote about) other places in New England. Monadnock (four times), Ktaadn (attempted), Mt Washington, etc. I don't know if he ever visited Thoreau Falls, though.

Click to expand...

Walking with Thoreau, by William Howarth, (2001, and in print as a paperback), does a good job retracing all of Thoreau's known New England hikes, based on the author's assiduous trolling through T's voluminous journals. I found it essential in attempting to follow in T's footsteps.

I see that a similar volume, In High Places with Henry David Thoreau, by John Gibson, appeared in 2013. I haven't seen it, but it appears to be less comprehensive than Howarth's book.

There is no reason to believe that Thoreau ever visited his Falls.

One of my colleagues at BU has used some of Thoreau's records for research on climate change. He's written several articles using this work and has written a rebuttal to The New Yorker article.

chipc said:

One of my colleagues at BU has used some of Thoreau's records for research on climate change. He's written several articles using this work and has written a rebuttal to The New Yorker article.

Click to expand...

I have attended a lecture by one of the rebuttal authors comparing of the timing of climate-sensitive events as recorded by Thoreau and the current timing of the same events. (A number of spring events are occurring ~two weeks earlier now and some autumn events are occurring later now too.) Thoreau also did some early studies showing that tree rings record the yearly growth of trees. (His famous cabin was located on and surrounded by woodlots...) Clearly he made some significant contributions to the study of the natural world.

On the other hand the article referenced in the first post suggests that he was personally unpleasant. (I don't know--I never met the man... Nor have I researched him in any detail.)

The two are not mutually exclusive and may simply be different facets of the same man.

Doug

nartreb said:

His name is good for tourist business - people talk about "Thoreau's Seat" on Monadnock for example - but probably the use of his name is often simply admiration

Click to expand...

Many of the places named on Monadnock near the old Halfway House Site were named to appeal to the guests. There is no proof Thoreau ever hiked the Thoreau Trail there or sat at Thoreau's Seat. You can help support this by the fact that Ainsworth's Seat and Emerson's Seat are near by on the same trail.

chipc said:

One of my colleagues at BU has used some of Thoreau's records for research on climate change. He's written several articles using this work and has written a rebuttal to The New Yorker article.

Click to expand...

That's a very well written, fact based rebuttal. The relevance of Thoreau's journals to modern studies on climate change is striking. As DougPaul points out, the two sides of his personality are not mutually exclusive and both articles may be essentially true although the take down (starting with the title) seems to have more of an agenda. Frank Lloyd Wright was certainly a genius (just ask him) and one of our greatest architects, but he was also an obnoxious self-aggrandizing jerk.