Henry David Thoreau for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities
in leader AT HOME IN CONCORD avid Henry Thoreau was born on July 12 1817 in Concord Massachusetts His parents John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau already had two small children five year old Helen and two year old John Jr John was a quiet man Cynthia was an outspoken woman The family lived in part of a farm house that Cynthia had grown up in as a teen Henry's father was trying to make a living as both a storekeeper and a farmer Unfortunately his timing was bad 1816 was known to many as the Year Without a Summer On the other side of the planet an Indonesian volcano named Tambora had erupted in 1815 It sent so much thick ash into the Earth's atmosphere that it affected the next growing season in North America and northern Europe People living in Massachusetts saw frost in every month of 1816 More northern states and Canada had snow in every month As a result many crops didn't have a chance to grow well or even at all Anyone who raised veg etables for others had problems producing enough to
sell Although conditions were better the following year the Thoreaus decided to leave the farm and move closer to the town center They left Concord altogether in 1818 They spent several years in Chelmsford and in Boston John Thoreau worked at various jobs most often as a store manager By March 1823 the Thoreaus came back to Concord for good They brought with them a new member of the family baby Sophia so FYE ah who was two years younger than Henry IIIIIII IIT Ag LED 9 He in III Iii The center of Concord in 1839 from John Warner Barber's Historical Collections 1841 From the author's collection Pronouncing Thoreau As you talk with people about Henry Thoreau you will hear them pronounce his last name in two different
ways Some will say thih ROW with the accent on the last syllable Some will say THOR oh with the accent on the first syllable sounding almost like the word thorough How did Henry and his family pronounce it Clues can be found in Henry's own writings Once he made fun of his name and claimed that his ancestors worshipped Thor the god of thunder and lightning in Norse mythology He used forms of the word thor ough at times to describe himself too He seemed to favor the accent on the first syllable Notes from friends who heard his name firsthand agree Bronson Alcott Nathaniel Hawthorne Daniel Ricketson and Edward Emerson referred to him in their writings as Thorow Thoro or even Thorough They spelled his name the way it sounded to them Today people use both versions But the one like thorough is probably the correct one CC A Revolutionary Town Concord was the oldest inland town in the nation and was founded in 1635 Native Americans and later white English colonists settled where the Assabet and Sudbury Rivers met to form the Concord River The town sat 20 miles west of the Massachusetts state capital of Boston Concord was known as a country town or an agricultural town It had a court house and was a seat of government for Middlesex County But it was also famous for its history Here shots were exchanged between colonial minutemen
and British soldiers on April 19 1775 The gunfire that took place at the North Bridge marked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War Here people passed Revolutionary era sites every day The road they took to Lexington was the same route the redcoats had used when they marched from Boston Back then some of the soldiers had gathered at Wright's Tavern right in the center of Concord The minister's house still sat within sight of the bat tleground But the wooden bridge itself had been gone for many years The gray stone walls on both riverbanks marked where it once stood To young Henry the town had more to offer than just the Main Street businesses homes and history There was a whole natural world to explore I think I could write a poem to be called Concord he said later For argument I should have the River the Woods the Ponds the Hills the Fields the Swamps and Meadows the Streets and Buildings and the Vil lagers Then Morning Noon and Evening Spring Summer Autumn and Winter Night Indian Sum mer and the Mountains in the Horizon Henry and his brother John spent their days outside whenever they were free from school All of Concord was their playground A Boyhood on the Pond One of the most interesting spots within Concord's borders was Walden Pond a lake that was about a
