Everyone knows Thoreau for his cabin at Walden Pond. Almost nobody knows about the other five homes he called Concord home over his 44 years — until now.
The Concord Museum leads a guided walking tour Saturday, July 11, starting at 11 a.m., tracing the actual houses where Thoreau lived and the stories his family and friends told about him there. The 90-minute walk, described by the museum as a look at "the domestic side of Thoreau's wholly human life," falls one day before what would have been his 209th birthday.
A life that moved around more than you'd think.
Thoreau was born at 341 Virginia Road in 1817. His family moved to "The Brick House" in Concord Village in 1826, then to the "Parkman House," on the site of today's Concord Free Public Library. He lived with Ralph Waldo Emerson from 1841 to 1844, built his famous cabin at Walden Pond in 1845, and stayed there until 1847 — before returning to Emerson's home and eventually settling with his family at "The Yellow House" on Main Street in 1850. He died there of tuberculosis in 1862. That final home, now the Thoreau-Alcott House, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 and remains a private residence today.
What's included, and what to see afterward.
Tickets are $15 for members and $25 for non-members, and include same-day admission to the Concord Museum, where Thoreau's actual writing desk, bed, chair, flute and walking stick are on display. A previous version of this tour sold out, so call ahead to check availability.
If you want to pay your own respects, Thoreau is buried on Authors Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where visitors traditionally leave pencils at his grave — a nod to his family's pencil-making business. His headstone reads simply "Henry."
More from the museum this summer:
- July 16 — Revolutionary Legacies History Happy Hour, 6:30-8 p.m.
- Aug. 1 — Old Hill Burial Ground Walking Tour, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
