Saving Walden Pond: How a treasured landmark is under threat

A half-an-hour drive from Boston, Massachusetts, in the town of Concord, sits one of the most revered literary landscapes in the world: the 2,680-acre Walden Woods and Walden Pond State Reservation.

Annually, over a half-million people pay homage to the storied pond and spiritually-nourishing woods where Henry David Thoreau wrote his 1854 classic book, "Walden."

During his two years, two months and two days living there, Thoreau treated every creature he encountered, from a scampering red squirrel to warring ants, as kin.

As Thoreau wrote at the outset of "Walden": "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."

Tragically, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the Walden Pond and Walden Woods as one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." Blame a proposed Hanscom Airport expansion near Walden. This aviation project would add 6,000 private jet aircraft takeoffs and landings a year, shattering the solitude of enchanted Walden.

Environmental threats to Thoreau's retreat aren't limited to those from the air. Just a stone's throw from the pond sits a 35-acre former landfill. Without conservation protection, this parcel could be open for commercial development.

The American people should call for the conservation of the former landfill, and demand an immediate cease-and-desist of the jetport enlargement. No developer has the right to destroy the historic essence of Concord, which includes the Minute Man National Battlefield of the American Revolution; the former home of Ralph Waldo Emerson; and the place Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women."

By defending Walden, we save the birthplace of an American literary shrine, and honor its inspiration: the sublime of the natural world.

      
For more info:

• The National Trust for Historic Preservation: "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places"
• Walden Pond State Reservation, Concord, Mass.
• The Walden Woods Project
• Friends of Walden Pond
• Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation: Park Alerts
• Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts
• "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau (Project Gutenberg)

     
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Karen Brenner.

     
See also:

• Passage: The life of Henry David Thoreau ("Sunday Morning")