Henry D. Thoreau is taught to walk by his paternal aunt Sarah (The Days of Henry Thoreau, 11; Journal, 8:65).
Father complained of the powder in the meetinghouse garret at town meeting, but it did not get moved while we lived there. Here he painted over his old signs for guide-boards, and got a fall when painting Hale’s (?) factory. Here the bladder John was playing with burst on the hearth. The cow came into the entry after pumpkins. I cut my toe, and was knocked over by a hen with chickens, etc., etc.
Henry D. Thoreau recalls, in an August 1845 journal entry, his first visit to Walden Pond:
The Thoreau family moves to the Josiah Jones house, a brick house on the corner of Walden Road and Main Street, after Henry D. Thoreau’s maternal uncle, Charles, had discovered a graphite mine nearby and asked Thoreau’s father to join the business of manufacturing pencils.
Henry D. Thoreau recalls, in a journal entry dated 7 January 1856, some events at this house:
Henry D. Thoreau and his brother John attend Phebe Wheeler’s girls’ school because the town primary school had closed for the term (The Life of Henry David Thoreau, 39).
Young Henry D. Thoreau witnesses Concord’s jubilee and cheer as the residents celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Concord Battle, held around the corner from his home.
The Thoreau family moves from the “Brick House” to the “Davis’s House” on Main Street in Concord, next to the home of Samuel Hoar. They stay there until 7 May 1827 (Journal, 8:65; The Life of Henry David Thoreau, 36).
The Thoreau family moves from the “Davis’s House” to the “Shattuck House” across the street. They stay there until spring 1835 (Journal, 8:65).
Henry D. Thoreau is enrolled in the Concord Academy and its preceptor, Phineas Allen, boards at the Thoreaus’ around this time (The Days of Henry Thoreau, 26; New England Quarterly 21 (March 1948):104; Emerson Society Quarterly 9 (4th quarter 1957):3).
Thoreau writes an essay, probably related to his schooling, in this year or 1829:
Why do the seasons change? and why
Does Winter’s stormy brow appear?
Is it the word of him on high
Who rules the changing, varied year.
In Autumn we see the trees loaded with fruit. Now the farmers begin to lay in their Winter’s store, and the markets abound with fruit. The trees are partly stripped of their leaves. The birds which visited us in Spring are now retiring to warmer countries, as they know that Winter is coming.
Next comes Winter. Now we see the ground covered with snow, and the trees are bare. The cold is so intense that the rivers and brooks are frozen.
There is nothing to be seen. We have no birds to cheer us with their morning song. We hear only the sound of the sleigh bells.
Henry D. Thoreau attends a meeting of the Concord Academy Debating Society. The minutes, signed by secretary George Moore, state:
George Moore writes in his journal:
Henry D. Thoreau is chosen to act as secretary pro-tempore at a meeting of the Concord Academy Debating Society. The minutes state:
Henry D. Thoreau attends a meeting of the Concord Academy Debating Society. The minutes state:
A party is held at the Thoreau house. George Moore notes in his journal,
George Moore writes in his journal:
George Moore writes in his journal: