Thoreau Farm Trust

CONTACT:

P.O. Box 454
Concord, MA 01742
978-369-0706
www.thoreaufarm.org

Lucille Stott, President

DESCRIPTION:

On July 12, 1817, Henry David Thoreau "first saw the light" on this farm in Concord. Ellery Channing (1873) wrote: "It was lovely he should draw his first breath in pure country air... amid the pleasant russet fields." The 18-acre Farm has its own historical significance apart from its greatest resident; it was farmed continuously for nearly three centuries—and in 1775 it happened to be owned by Jonas Minott, Captain of the Minutemen who at the Battle of the Bridge "fired the shot heard 'round the world", sparking the American Revolution! The Farm was barely rescued from desecration (residential subdivision) in 1997 by an emergency collaboration of benefit organizations, private donors, and the Town of Concord. The Thoreau Farm Trust is restoring the house to the period of Thoreau's birth, and coordinating the property's management as a learning center with other educational and conservation organizations. All this, of course, will require philanthropic donations -- and it must do so by July 2006, according to an agreement with the Town of Concord. This is your opportunity to help create a national, and world, memorial to one of America's greatest writers and philosophers.

(1998: CULTURE: Education: Informal: Historic Preservation)