In 1845 Henry David Thoreau moved to Walden Pond to begin his two-year experiment in simple living in a small, one-room house that he built himself. Thoreau also planted and maintained a garden of “two acres and a half of light and sandy soil” in which he grew beans. Thoreau left the Pond in 1847 and died in 1862; throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century, the exact location of his beanfield was either forgotten by local historians or the site was misidentified. It wasn’t until the 1990s that historian Bradley Dean identified the exact location of the beanfield.

Join us for an interpretive walk to Thoreau’s beanfield at Walden Pond with historian Richard Smith and biologist Dr. Amity Wilczek. The walk will cover Thoreau’s experiences at the field and the history of the beanfield both during and after Thoreau’s time. Then, we will cover the biological and botanical history of the beanfield; how it looked when Thoreau was there and how it’s changed since then, including the plants that Thoreau would and would not be familiar with, including invasives.