The Concord Journal, May 19, 2005

The Thoreau Farm Trust, Inc. and the Thoreau Society have reached an Agreement in Principle that the Thoreau Society will move its offices to Henry David Thoreau’s birthplace on Virginia Road in Concord when the farmhouse is restored.

The Thoreau Farm Trust, Inc. (TFT) is a local nonprofit group seeking funds to restore and rehabilitate the farmhouse, which is listed on the National Historic Register as the Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse/Henry David Thoreau Birthplace. Far from turning the house into a museum or a relic, the TFT is committed to using the house in ways that carry Thoreau’s legacy into the future. This includes a restoration/rehabilitation plan based on energy efficient principles.

The property is currently owned by the Town of Concord, which purchased it, along with approximately 18 acres of surrounding farmland, in 1997. The purchase was made possible through a combination of public (both state and local) and private funds. In July 2004, the Town signed a purchase and sale agreement with the TFT stating that the birthplace and two acres of the land will be deeded to the TFT once the group has raised the initial $800,000 needed to restore and rehabilitate the farmhouse.

The rest of the land, which has been continuously cultivated for more than 300 years, is being leased from the town and farmed by Gaining Ground, a local nonprofit that grows food for the hungry.

Besides renting a portion of the house to the Thoreau Society, the TFT also plans to provide a community meeting room in the house, where small meetings of local organizations can be held. In addition, the public will be invited at certain times of the year to visit the room where Henry David Thoreau was born and learn about the entire history of this property, which played a significant part in Concord’s long and rich agricultural tradition.

The Thoreau Society, with an international membership of over 1,600, has a mission to honor Henry David Thoreau by stimulating interest in and fostering education about his life, works, and philosophy and his place in his world and ours; encouraging research on his life and writings; acting as a repository for material relevant to Thoreau; and advocating for the preservation of Thoreau Country.

This oldest and largest organization devoted to the legacy of an American author maintains the Shop at Walden Pond and serves as the official Friends group for Walden, supporting the educational programs, visitor services, park operations and conservation efforts at Walden Pond State Reservation.

In 1995, The Thoreau Society joined with the Walden Woods Project to open the Thoreau Institute, a research center on the hillside above Walden Pond in Lincoln. The Institute houses the collections of the Society, which are now available to the public in that repository. In 2003, the Society moved back to Concord, renting a house at historic Meriam’s Corner from Minute Man National Park.

Now the Thoreau Society, with its nationwide and worldwide constituency, is truly coming home - to the house where its namesake was born.

“We are delighted to announce this development,” stated Executive Director Jayne Gordon. “It would not be possible without the extraordinarily hard work of the Thoreau Farm Trust and the Town of Concord. We applaud their sensitivity to the historic significance of this house with its surrounding agricultural landscape, and to the importance of preserving, interpreting, and opening to the public Thoreau’s first home. Our members all over the country and in so many other nations have come to recognize the importance of having our headquarters at this very special place.”

Lucille Daniel Stott, President of the Thoreau Farm Trust, called the agreement with the Thoreau Society “serendipity.”

“Just as it seems right for the Thoreau Society, it is also a perfect fit for us,” said Stott. “The Society will provide a quiet but significant presence at the house while adding enormous educational value to our whole enterprise. This agreement has fueled our effort by making us even more devoted to raising the necessary funds, completing work on the house, and inviting the Society into its new home.”

The terms of the agreement, ratified by the boards of both organizations, specify that the Thoreau Society will work with the Thoreau Farm Trust to provide interpretive tours and educational programs at the site. The setting amidst cultivated fields is a perfect complement to the settings of Walden, the rivers, Estabrook Woods and the center of town, which all figured so prominently in Thoreau’s excursions, his journals and his published works.

An early summer event is planned to celebrate this announcement and details will be on the websites of both the Thoreau Farm Trust (www.thoreaufarm.org) and the Thoreau Society (www.thoreausociety.org).

Concord resident Lucille (Daniel) Stott is a freelance writer and editor and a former editor and managing editor of The Concord Journal. A shortened version of this commentary was published in the July 8, 2004 issue of The Concord Journal.