Syd Allan: Walden Pond Photos

See also: my list of good places to sit and read a book

     Walden Pond is 1.5 miles south of Concord (pronounced locally the same way most people pronounce "conquered"), Massachusetts, 15 miles northwest of Boston. Concord is sometimes referred to as "Concord Center," to distinguish it from West Concord.

     Henry David Thoreau lived at Walden Pond from July 4, 1845 to September 6, 1847 (2 year, 2 months, and 2 days), in a cabin he built himself. He wrote the book Walden over several years, and published it in 1854. Walden describes Thoreau's life at the pond, and his personal philosophy. I have a list of my favorite quotations from Walden on my web page at www.jagular.com/walden.shtml. For those seeking biographical information about Thoreau, I recommend Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1862 essay entitled Thoreau.

     Today the park receives half a million visitors a year. The original cabin on the north side of the pond is gone, but there are stone markers and a plaque where it was located. There is a replica of the cabin near the parking lot, across the road from the main beach on the east side of the pond.

     To get there by train take the MBTA commuter rail (Fitchburg line) from Boston's North Station. There are 8-16 trains each way each day. A couple of minutes before the train reaches Concord you will see Walden Pond out the window on the right side of the train. It takes 25 minutes to walk 1.4 miles south down the railway tracks from the station to Walden Pond (you can walk down the street, but the best way to get to the pond without getting lost or making a wrong turn is to walk down the railway tracks -- I am not sure whether people are actually allowed to walk down railway tracks or not, but that is what I usually do). The train takes 42 minutes to travel from Boston to Concord. Do not be confused by the fact that there is also a West Concord rail station: to go to Walden Pond you get off the train at the Concord station (also called Concord Center).

     These pictures were taken on April 13, 2003, May 22, 2003, and June 30, 2003. I have included many photographs of signs in the park because they contain interesting information about when the park is open, what you are allowed to do there, and what sort of conservation programs are underway.

     There is a sandy beach all the way around the pond, and on warm summer days the nearby parking lot is overflowing with cars and there are hundreds of people swimming and fishing in the pond. On Sunday afternoon, June 30, 2003, when the air temperature was about 80 degrees F., with partly cloudy skies, there were about six hundred people there at one time. The water temperature was very comfortable for swimming, and there were about a dozen people canoeing and kayaking.

     You cannot buy food anywhere at Walden Pond (but I assume you can bring your own). I asked a lemonade vendor at the main beach why he wasn't selling hot dogs, and he said that he had tried selling hot dogs and sausages and barbequed chicken, but the park rangers asked him to stop doing that because selling food did not "fit in" at Walden Pond. Neither I nor the lemonade vendor could figure out how food does not fit in with six hundred people at a beach. I also noticed that there are no trash bins anywhere around the pond (except beside the building on the main beach), despite the fact that people use beaches all around the pond. Perhaps the park rangers think that selling food and putting out trash bins would just encourage more people to go to the pond -- they seem to be discouraging people from wanting to spend the entire day there.

Links to other Walden Pond websites:

• http://www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/wldn.htm...Mass Parks
• http://masstraveljournal.com/features/0801walden.html...Massachusetts Travel (1)
• http://masstraveljournal.com/scrapbook/walden/waldPhotos2_7.html...Massachusetts Travel (2)
• http://ma.water.usgs.gov/publications/pdf/wal_66.pdf...USGS
• http://nanosft.com/walden/october/index.html...Photos from October, 1998 at nanosft.com
• http://nanosft.com/walden/wpnatick.html...another nonosft.com page
• http://www.geocities.com/vlague/faculty/summer_projects/walden.htm...Vicki Lague's page
• http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/walden/walden.htm...Walden Panoramas (1)
• http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/walden/site_photos1.htm...Walden Panoramas (2)
• http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/walden/site_photos2.htm...Walden Panoramas (3)
• http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/departments/espm/env-hist/espm160/assignments/walden/interior_photos.htm...Walden Panoramas (4)
• http://www.waldenfont.com/thoreau/statere.htm...Walden Pond State Reservation page

Click on any image to see a larger version

360 degree photo taken from the beach on the east side of the pond. In the middle of the picture you are facing east. The building you see is where the main beach restrooms are.

360 degree photo taken from the northwest corner of the pond (midway between the west cove, and Thoreau's cove). Thoreau's cove is 37 percent of the way across the photo, going from left to right. In the middle of the picture you are facing east toward the main beach.

360 degree photo taken from the beach in Thoreau's cove. In the middle of the picture you are facing south. The path into Wyman Meadow is 24 percent of the way across the photo, going from left to right.

Wyman Meadow, adjacent to Thoreau's cove. At the left edge of the photo you are facing north.

Northeastern U.S. (maps are from Microsoft Streets & Trips)	Eastern Massachusetts	Boston	Concord (1)	Concord (2)
Walden Pond map. Note that north points to the right in this map. The parking lot is at the bottom, and the original house site is on the right. [there is a better version of this map at www.state.ma.us/dem/parks/trails/WaldenPond.gif]	Thoreau's hand-drawn map of the pond, showing his own depth measurements (from the Walter Harding edition of Walden). Note that north points down in this map. The original house site is on the lower right, and the main beach is at the left side.	Looking north into the Concord railway station. There is a Starbucks Coffee store immediately to the right of where this picture was taken.	Houses in Concord (which you will see if you do the correct thing, and do not walk down the railway tracks to get to the pond). Walking down the road (rather than the railway tracks) is only slightly farther if you are going to the original house site, and closer if you are going to the main beach.	Looking south toward the northeast corner of the park, at the corner of highway 2 and Walden Street.
At the northeast corner of the park (standing at the southwest corner of the intersection of highway 2 and Walden Street).	At the northeast corner of the park, looking down the path towards the original house site (which cannot be seen in this picture). Despite the sign, I see no good reason why you couldn't walk down this path to the original house site.	Looking east into the parking entrance. The parking lot is at the east end of the pond, across the road from the main beach.	Parking is $5 per day.	The park is open from 8am to 7pm. No dogs allowed.
No pets, bicycles, fires, alcohol or floatation devices allowed (you can apparently have rowboats and canoes, but no "floatation devices," whatever that means).	There are several adjacent parking lots, but they still have to close the parking lots several times a day in peak periods.	Rain water leaks through the pavement in the parking lots.	Looking west from the southwest corner of the parking lot. The pond is in the distance, and the main beach is just across the road.
Restroom beside the parking lot. There are also restrooms beside the main beach across the street.	Sign beside the toilet in the men's room.	Sign beside the toilet in the men's room.	Sign beside the toilet in the men's room.	Restrooms beside the main beach.
Note that north is to the left in the map in this image.	Looking west across Walden Street.
Looking north toward the house replica. The parking lot is immediately to the right, and Walden Street and the pond are toward the left.
I don't know if the chairs and 3-legged table are precisely the same as Thoreau had, but the bed seems to be the same as his drawing of his own bed.
	I don't know if this is the exact same model stove as Thoreau used. It took them months to find the house site in 1945, so this is presumably not the original stove itself.			I don't know how closely the iron implements and pots match the ones Thoreau had.
I don't know if this is an exact replica of Thoreau's desk, but it seems very similar to his drawing of his own desk.
The guest book inside the house replica.		Looking west across Walden Street toward the entrance of the main beach.	Looking southwest. The main beach is below and out of site.
				All around the pond are many stone steps like this, leading from the path to the beach.
Looking west while walking along the north side of the pond, walking from the main beach toward Thoreau's cove.	There are trails all the way around the pond, and all through the woods, with fences and stone steps to control erosion.		Looking north at the site of the original house.
These stones apparently formed the foundation for the brick chimney, and the corner piers for the house (allowing Thoreau to have a root cellar). It took Roland Wells Robbins several months of digging to find the house site in 1945. http://www.uky.edu/AS/Anthropology/PAR/thoreau.htm.	Looking north toward the original house site. I don't know where he planted his 2.5 acre bean field (I don't suppose anyone does).
	Standing in the doorway of the original house, looking south toward the pond. Thoreau's cove is the water closest to this position.	Looking north from a point in the trail half way from the original house to Thoreau's cove.	The trail from the original house to Thoreau's cove leads to this point on the beach. The water closest to this position is the cove. The entrance to Wyman meadow is about 20 feet to the photographer's left.	The original house is up this trail and to the right.
Looking west from the north side of the pond. The short trail leading to the house starts near the right side of the picture, just to the left of the man in the blue jacket.	Thousands of people fish in Walden Pond every year.	Looking east toward the main beach from the north side of the pond. There is sand all the way around the pond, although it is only a few feet wide at some points.	Looking east toward the main beach from the south side of the pond. The boat launch is just out of sight on the right.	Sign near the boat launch, at the south end of the main beach.
Another boat launch sign.		Gift shop, run by the Thoreau Society.	Inside the gift shop (1). The nice young woman who was working there that day was hiding behind the pillar when this picture was taken.	Inside the gift shop (2).
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Concord	Concord	Concord	Bed and breakfast	Cemeteries information
Dining & Lodging in Concord.	There are 3 fish in this picture (one is difficult to see). They look like goldfish, but they are about a foot long. I suppose they are some sort of carp.	Hugh Cargill Community Gardens on Walden street.	Police and fire station on Walden street.	Post office in Concord.
Public library in Concord.		Concord tour information.	Concord Visitors Bureau building.	WWI memorial.