Thoreau's Cabin at Walden Pond Virtual Cache

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Fed up with the distractions of his father's pencil making business, Henry David Thoreau set out to find some peace and quiet to work on his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Lucky for us, Ralph Waldo Emerson offered him free use of his woodlot along the northern shore of Walden Pond. Thoreau began planning for his 10' by 15' house in March 1845. The frame went up in May. And he was ready to move in on the 4th of July. The interior of the house was furnished with a bed, a table, a small desk and lamp, and three chairs -- "one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society." Thoreau lived in the cabin for 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days. However he was not a hermit. He welcomed visitors and often walked to Concord, only one and a half miles away. While at Walden, Thoreau walked, studied, wrote, traveled and even hosted an anti-slavery fair.

While at Walden, Thoreau strove to reduce his needs and to work efficiently. "The cost of a thing" says Thoreau, "is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."

* Board's: $8.03 1/2, mostly shanty boards
* Refuse shingles for roof and sides: $4.00
* Laths: $1.25
* Two second-hand windows with glass: $2.43
* One thousand old brick: $4.00
* Two casts of lime: $2.40.
* That was high. Hair: $0.31.
* More than I needed Mantle-tree iron: $0.15
* Nails: $3.90
* Hinges and screws: $0.14
* Latch: $0.10 Chalk: $0.01
* Transportation: $1.40. "I carried a good part on my back."
* In all: $28.12 1/2
"These are all the material excepting the timber, stones and sand, which I claimed by squatter's right."

Upon Thoreau's departure from Walden in 1847, the cabin was sold and moved off the property. The location of Thoreau’s cabin was discovered by archaeologist Roland Robbins in 1945, nearly 100 years after Thoreau left Walden Pond. In addition to the discovery of the original hearth stone, a number of artifacts from Thoreau’s stay were found, many of which are housed at the Thoreau Institute. The site of Thoreau’s cabin may be accessed through the Pond Path at the Walden Pond State Reservation. Parking is available at the main parking lot for the Walden Pond State Reservation.

By the early 1870s, Thoreau’s fame had led to a regular stream of pilgrims seeking out Walden. They found little to mark Thoreau’s life until June 1872, when Bronson Alcott, father of Louisa May, visited with his friend Mary Newbury Adams and showed her where the small cabin had once stood. Noting that it was pity that there nothing to mark the spot, Adams suggested building a cairn and “then let everyone who loved Thoreau add a stone.” Alcott, a life-long friend of Henry’s agreed and added a stone to the one left by Adams. He noted in his journal of July 12-13, “Henry’s fame is sure to brighten with years, and this spot be visited by admiring readers of his works.”

Logging Requirements:

Message or eMail me with the answers from the requirements listed below. Do not post answers in your log. Post the pictures with your log.

1) At the Cabin Replica: Fill in the 3 missing words from this statement on the plaque in front of the cabin. "Thoreau's ________, _________, _____, and original Walden furnishings ..."

2) At the Cabin Replica: Choose either the cabin (outside or inside) or the statue of Thoreau and take a picture of yourself (face optional) or an object in front of your choice. examples could be your GPSr, walking stick, geocaching hat, car keys, or even your geodog!

3) At the Original Site: Make a Cairn or choose your favorite preexisting Cairn and take a picture of yourself (face optional) or the same recognizable object from the previous picture.

Notes: Admission to Walden Pond State Reservation is Free. Parking is $8 MA Vehicles, $30 non-MA Vehicles. Seniors can get a lifetime pass to all State Parks for $10. Hours of Operation are: 7:00am - 7:30pm. The Main Entrance gate locks at 7:30pm and the Exit gate locks at 8:00PM sharp. All cars must be out of the parking lot at this time.
Walden Pond Trail Map

Virtual Reward - 2017/2018

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.