Walden Pond

Walden Pond
Location	Concord, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42.4384°N 71.3420°W / 42.4384; -71.3420
Lake type	kettlehole
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	61 acres (25 ha)
Max. depth	102 ft (31 m) or 107 ft (33 m)
Shore length1	1.7 miles (2.7 km)
Settlements
Walden Pond
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Nearest city:	Concord, Massachusetts
Area:	250 acres (100 ha)
Built:	1845
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	66000790
Added to NRHP:	October 15, 1966
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Walden Pond is a 31-metre-deep (102 ft) lake in Massachusetts (USA). It is 61 acres (250,000 m²) in area and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) around, located in Concord, Massachusetts, in the United States. A famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago.

The writer, transcendentalist, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau lived on the shores of the pond for two years starting in the summer of 1845. His account of the experience was recorded in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, and made the spot famous. Concord Museum contains the bed, chair, and desk from Thoreau's cabin.

Boston's "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, harvested ice yearly on Walden Pond for export to the Caribbean, Europe, and India. In his journal, Thoreau philosophized upon the wintry sight of Tudor's ice harvesters: "The sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well ... The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."

Now managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Walden Pond State Reservation is a popular swimming destination in the summer.

History

Walden Pond in 2010

At one point there was an amusement park built at the western end of the pond, but it burned down in 1902 and was never rebuilt.

In 1961, the Middlesex County Commissioners, then managing the land, proposed leveling a significant portion of the preserve for a parking lot and other "improvements". They had already leveled an acre of woodland for access to the public beach. The Commissioners were sued to stop the destruction of the existing environment. Judge David A. Rose, sitting in the Massachusetts Superior Court, ruled that Walden’s deed donating the property to the Commonwealth required preservation of the land and barred further development. This decision achieved national recognition and Judge Rose received hundreds of letters from school children across the country thanking him for saving the land.

In 1977, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts installed a porous pavement parking area at Walden Pond as a special Technology Transfer demonstration project, following best-practice methodology generated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1972. The porous pavement still looks good and works well decades later, despite more freeze-thaw cycling than most other parts of the world.

Preservation

In 1990, Eagles member and solo artist Don Henley initiated The Walden Woods Project to prevent the area around Walden Pond from being developed.

Influences

Walden Pond inspired the naming of the American film company Walden Media.

Gallery

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  Site of Thoreau's cabin, Walden Pond, 2010

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  Site of Thoreau's cabin, 2010

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  Thoreau cabin replica, Walden Pond

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  Walden Pond in winter, 2005

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  Interior of Thoreau cabin replica

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  Thoreau's famous quote, near his cabin site

External links

• The Walden Woods Project
• Walden: A Year
• MA DCR, Walden Pond State Reservation
• A Walden photo gallery
• A History of the Uses of Walden Pond by Austin Meredith
• Walden Pond Exhibit
• "Writings of Emerson and Thoreau", broadcast from Walden Pond from C-SPAN's American Writers