Henry David Thoreau – The Walden Woods Project

The Walden Woods Project in Lincoln, MA is partnering with American Heritage Trees to bring you the Red Maple, Acer rubrum. This beautiful species displays remarkable, brilliant red color in the fall, and is a common species in the woods surrounding Walden Pond, the small New England pond made famous by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau lived for two years, two months, and two days by the shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. His time at Walden Pond was the foundation of his most famous book, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, a parable of deliberate and ethical living. His words and deeds continue to inspire millions around the world today.

Social reformer — Naturalist — Philosopher — Transcendentalist — Scientist. These are just some of the terms by which the work of Henry David Thoreau can be categorized. It is perhaps the many “lives” of Thoreau, both individually and collectively, that beckon such a diversity of people to his writings.

As a naturalist, Thoreau understood that the path to a greater understanding of our life on earth is through an understanding of the natural world around us and of which we are part: “We can never have enough of nature.”

It was Thoreau’s love for Walden, his “special place,” that inspired his writing, and the Red Maple, Acer rubrum, that is common throughout Walden, was an important part of that landscape he found so inspiring.

The Walden Woods Project works to protect the land in the land surrounding Walden Pond, the historical Walden Woods, so that it might always remain a beacon of the conservation spirit that evolved out of Thoreau’s writing. Thoreau inspired generations of conservationists around the world to protect natural treasures, and this place remains an inspiration.