1817 - 1862

Born in 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts, Henry grew up in mild poverty and initially went to public schools. Through great sacrifice, his family put aside what they could and enrolled him in the prestigious Concord Academy. At only 16 years old, he took the Harvard College exams and just barely passed.

Thoreau spent many long hours in the library learning Theology, studying four languages and writing over 5,000 pages of notes. At 20, Henry started keeping his Journal, which grew to 30 volumes throughout his lifetime.

After graduation from Harvard, Thoreau went briefly into teaching off an on. Henry found it tough to find a good teaching job that was his style so he briefly left teaching and went to work in his father’s pencil factory.

Henry eventually started his own school, The Concord Academy and hired his brother John to help him with the growing enrollment. In 1841, the school was shut down as a result of John's declining health. In 1842, Henry’s beloved brother John died in his arms, from lockjaw.

While unemployed, Thoreau met noted author and lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson. He later went to work for him in 1843 as a part tutor for his brother’s family in New York, and later as part handyman for the Emerson family. Emerson was most famous for his writings “Self-Reliance” and “Nature.” He encouraged Thoreau to continue with his journal writings and published some of Thoreau’s writings in his Transcendentalist magazine, The Dial, which he edited.

On July 4, 1845, Thoreau decided he would move to Walden Pond, which was Emerson’s property and devote his time to writing his first book. He spent his first day there, July 5, which was coincidentally his brother’s birthday.

At 28, Thoreau built a small house and lived off the land and within nature with the idea of writing “A Week On The Concord and Merrimack Rivers” the story about his brother and his river trip to New Hampshire in a boat they built themselves.

Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days there roaming the countryside and enjoying the beauty of Walden Pond while he continued to write within the boundaries and beauty of simplified living.

In 1849, two years after he left Walden Pond, Thoreau published his historic essay “Resistance to Civil Government" which was posthumously called "Civil Disobedience” which emphasized personal ethics and responsibility.

Advocating the simple life, Thoreau’s classic “Walden” put peace of mind above all else. The “Walden” journey began with: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...

As we approach the new century, may we all take the time necessary to savor the priceless beauty of nature around us and smell the fresh roses of everyday life.