A trip to Concord would not be complete without a visit to Walden Pond where Thoreau famously lived for two years and became inspired by the woods. In 1845 he departed for a patch of woods Emerson had bought him and built a small cabin for himself. During his time there, Thoreau experimented with "simple living," and was put in jail for a night when he refused to reimburse the tax collector for six years of unpaid tax bills. After two years, two months, and two days, Thoreau left the woods and returned to live in the Emerson house. After paying his debts, he published "Walden" in 1854, in which he wrote "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." Although there is just a clearing where his cabin used to be, you can explore the woods and escape the heat with a refreshing swim.
John Nordell
