Walden the book & Concord the Town
By Tammy Rose
Have you read Walden yet? Hear it in its actual context and feel what it’s like to explore Concord, Massachusetts. Here are a bunch of audio visits to different spots to the historic town, famous for the American Revolution as well as the writings of the American Literary Revolution-Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and famous visitors, including Mark Twain.
Walden the book & Concord the TownFeb 16, 2024
00:00
24:43
Update: New Podcast coming in April about Concord’s History!
Announcing a new podcast project slated for April 2024. A walking tour about the anniversary of the Shot Heard Round the World and Concord’s role in history. Everyone’s invited to the party!
Feb 16, 202424:43
37. Conclusion P2 The Last Reading Episode! There is more Day to Dawn!
Here is the end of the 2 years, 2 months and 2 day marathon, my friends (12/12/20-2/14/2023) The end of the book, but not the end of the TranscendentalConcord.com projects & podcasts. I hope that you will write your own version of Walden, there is more day to dawn!
Feb 14, 202342:11
36.Ch18P1 Conclusion & Main Takeaways from doing the Walden Podcast
What has Henry learned? What have I learned? What have you learned? Travel, but don’t do it to escape yourself-travel inside yourself. And don’t get into a rut.
Feb 12, 202301:18:03
35.Ch17P2 Spring & Visiting Brister’s Woods, The Cabin & Personal Connections
Dramatic transition from -20 degrees to springtime weather. Additional commentaries are recorded at Walden Woods Stonehenge & the replica Cabin. (I had recorded some down on the beach itself in the rain but WiFi or Spirits didn’t want it to process properly, lol)
Feb 10, 202301:26:36
34.Ch17P1 Spring!!!
It’s Spring, finally, but HDT dwells on the melting ice and the transformation of sand & clay into melted forms. Deep Cut is described perfectly. And he fights with his downstairs neighbors, the red squirrels.
Feb 08, 202301:03:04
33.Ch16P2 The Pond In Winter
Ice ice and more ice! Ice cutting and ice ending up in India. Also, the dangers of phrenology and using pseudoscience as bad metaphors.
Feb 05, 202342:52
32.Ch16P1 The Pond in Winter
He awakens to a question and then realizes the answer is right there. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
Jan 22, 202359:08
31. Ch15 Winter Animals
Henry talks about his winter observations. The squirrels performing for an unseen audience, the hounds who suddenly understand a mystery. And how Walden is a restless sleeper & bedfellow.
Jan 01, 202352:59
30. Ch14P2 Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors
Winter Visitors Section: I'm a hiker and spent many days cronching through the leaves, just like HDT did through the snow. Who visited him? Can you guess? Emerson, Alcott and Channing-but can you tell who they are by his descriptions? You'll be surprised.
Dec 07, 202250:11
29. Ch14 Former Inhabitants (i.e. African American residents of Walden Woods of previous generations)
HDT discusses the African Americans living in Walden Woods before he built his hut. If you want more info, find Black Walden by Elise Lemire which offers a much deeper context and lots of research about the people who don’t usually get mentioned in the histories about Walden.
Jul 31, 202201:01:21
28.Ch13P2 Housewarming
Henry falls in love with his fireplace. “You can always see a face in the fire”
Jul 03, 202252:28
27. Ch13P1 House-Warming
Henry gathers food for the winter & builds his chimney out of second hand bricks. Recycling & eating wild apples before it was trendy!
May 22, 202231:23
26. Ch12 Brute Neighbors
Henry writes a mini-play! Plus the history of the War of the Red Ants vs the Black Ants & his “loony” antics with a bird neighbor.
May 01, 202201:05:01
25. Ch11 Higher Laws
Thoreau discusses hunting, fishing, eating animals and not eating them. Is this chapter about vegetarianism or morality? Give a listen and see for yourself!
Mar 27, 202201:03:40
24. Ch10 Baker Farm
Happy tree descriptions as he runs through the forest. Then he visits an Irish Family & tells them how to save their money if only they’d stop buying Starbucks. Well, kinda. It’s a difficult chapter that shows quite a bit of arrogance. See for yourself!
Feb 13, 202257:14
23. Ch9P2 The Ponds: The Earth’s Eye
Henry dives deep into what it is like to live in relation to Walden. A huge body of water as your immediate neighbor, how sacred, and how it gets profaned.
Jan 09, 202258:08
22. Ch9P1 The Ponds
Henry finally gets to the main character of Walden, the Pond itself!
Nov 07, 202154:02
21. Ch8 The Village
Henry walks to town, runs the gauntlet of gossip from the townspeople. Once, he even got arrested!
Sep 26, 202129:32
20. Ch7 The Beanfield
Henry gets his hands dirty while contemplating what it means “to know beans”. Sarcasm alert!
Sep 19, 202159:55
19. Ch6 Visitors
Thoreau tells us about the people who come by his Cabin by the Pond
Sep 12, 202149:31
18.Ch 5 Solitude: Never found a companion as companionable as solitude
Henry talks about how he's never really alone. You can be alone in a crowd. Are you really alone when you are focused on work-studying or out in the field, or gardening? Be sure to listen for the line about his Pine Needle friends. ;)
Jul 18, 202101:03:26
17.Ch4P2 Sounds: I rejoice that there are owls!!
Henry talks about the sounds (snd smells) of civilization entering into his world by means of the trains. Also, owls, birds and frogs haunt him at all hours.
Jul 04, 202140:33
16. Ch4P1 Sounds:Follow your genius
Henry discusses what it is like to let the woods tell its own story to him. He sits and lets the world go by, the trains, the animals, the pinnate leaves on the tree. What would it be like if we listened to the world WE are in?
Jun 13, 202147:23
15. Ch3 Reading:Date a new era of your life from reading a book!
Ancient Greek and Latin are Henry’s starting points. A great chapter for book nerds and those who believe we should keep learning our whole lives!
May 30, 202101:13:38
14.Ch2P2: I went to the woods to live deliberately
One of the most dense sections, he touches upon time, trains, the news, the post office, and how to simplify, simplify, simplify!
May 25, 202157:18
13. Ch2P1: Where I Lived & What I Lived For (To be awake is to be alive!)
Henry buys every farm in Concord (in his mind) before he settles on his spot at Walden. Who needs open windows when you have a half-finished hut? You have protection from the rain but you also have fresh air!
May 23, 202152:19
12. Ch1P12 Economy: Furniture & Philanthropy
Henry talks about furniture (who needs it anyways?) and the cynical side of philanthropy. Also, starting in 2021, May 6 is now an annual Celebration of Life at Walden Pond, to mark Thoreau’s death (in 1862) and anyone else you may want to honor. This podcaster honored her beloved mother. It is a place of peace, standing alone or with the book.
May 16, 202158:40
11.Ch1P11 Economy: The Food Budget!
Henry itemizes his farming life and food. He offers his bread making recipe (Who needs yeast? Who needs salt?) And the Woodchuck! He also mentions Thebes, which has a new relevance now for me.
Apr 13, 202144:50
10.Ch1P10 Economy: Maine & Texas have nothing to say to each other
Henry talks about the proper way to get an education, economics of renting vs building, the folly of the railroad and Harriet Martineau!
Feb 25, 202142:01
9.Ch1P9 Economy: Henry building cabin +Colonial Inn Info
Here we get down to the nuts & bolts of Henry’s carpentry practice. A guidebook & philosophy all in one. Plus info about visiting Concord & how the Colonial Inn is so central to the good stuff.
Feb 22, 202101:11:59
8.Ch1P8 Economy: Rather sit by myself on a pumpkin than crowded on a velvet cushion
Plight of farmers, are we all digging our our graves? Why bother with gewgaws? Commentary includes notes from commons.digitalthoreau.org hosted by the Walden Woods project.
Feb 11, 202155:48
7. Ch1P7 Economy: Shelter: Cost of a thing is the amount of life you exchange for it
Henry asks what kind of shelter does a person need? Penobscot or Laplander or Yankee, a simple wooden box, a wigwam or a palace? (Which do you think he’ll choose?)
Jan 27, 202129:55
6.Ch1P6 Economy: Clothing/Portuguese Reading
In this sixth part of the Economy chapter, we finish the segment on Clothing. And as an experiment, I have a short bit of it read by a native Portuguese speaker. Imagine if we could get people from all over the world to read segments in their native languages? Walden has been translated enough, it’s totally possible.
Jan 19, 202118:54
5.Ch1P5 Economy: Indian Basket/Beware all enterprises that require new clothes!
Starting with Thoreau and Native Americans, the Nipmuc people of Concord; continuing through 2 pages of the details and responsibilities of being in business. Also, clothes are there to keep us warm, no matter what your boss or society thinks!
Jan 13, 202148:20
4. Ch1P4 Economy: A Hound, A Bay Horse & A Turtle-Dove
In this 4th section of Walden’s first chapter called Economy, Henry talks about how philosophers choose to be poor and offers his version of a resume. Includes jokes about “watering the plants” and a dig at his editor at The Dial, Margaret Fuller.
Dec 29, 202036:52
3.Ch1P3 Economy:Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?
Basic necessities section, what do we REALLY NEED? And why are we so influenced by others to want anything beyond the basics? Food, shelter, empathy. “If I repent of anything it is very likely to be my good behavior”
Dec 19, 202033:23
2.Ch1P2 Economy: Kill time w/out injuring eternity
In this second section of Economy, Henry covers capitalism, debt, slavery (both actual and metaphorical), vegetarianism and why we shouldn’t listen to our elders.
Dec 16, 202034:48
1. Ch1P1 Economy Reading & Commentary, plus a visit to Monument Square in Concord Center!
A reading of the first few pages of Walden, then a discussion of what Henry was talking about in his first few pages, and the strange townspeople he saw, weighed down by life. And then there is a visit to Monument Square in center of Concord. What’s with all those marble blocks in that patch of green? One of them is the jail site where Civil Disobedience was born. Yep, right near the parking lot for the hardware store. That's where Henry spent the night-in the middle of his stay at Walden, a jailhouse approximately the size of his cabin!
Dec 12, 202056:08