WALKS
A Tour of Thoreau's Concord
As a licensed tour guide for the Town of Concord, I will gleefully show you where Thoreau spent much of his time. Our tour will begin in Concord Center with the site of the jail, the town school where Thoreau taught for a few weeks, the Town House where he lectured, and one of the dozen residences of the Thoreau family. Then we will head to the North Bridge and the Concord River, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Thoreau Farm (his birthplace), and Walden Pond State Reservation.
Duration: Up to 3 hours, mostly walking, with some driving / riding.
Additional options with fees may include taking the house tours of Thoreau Farm, Old Manse, the Alcott's Orchard House, the Wayside, or the Emerson House.
A Tour of Thoreau's Worcester
We will follow Thoreau’s footsteps in a tour developed by former Thoreau Society President and Worcester native Edmund A. Schofield (1939-2010). We will walk past the sites of the homes of Thoreau friends H.G.O. Blake and Theophilius Brown, various Thoreau lecture venues, and the Natural History rooms. We will see Harrington Corner, the building that once housed Benjamin D. Maxham’s Daguerrean Palace: the studio that originated the now-famous 1854 Thoreau daguerreotype. We will cross the path of Secret Six member Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823-1911), who lived and preached in Worcester for a time and who received Emily Dickinson’s first letter here. We will also stumble casually onto some of Worcester’s own rich history, especially in the city’s relationship to the American Revolution.
Duration: A 90-120 minute saunter that will require walking on the sidewalks of about 20 city blocks, including the traversing of a one-block hill in both directions.
“Henry David Thoreau comes alive in Corinne’s presentations. Combining humor, readings, references and illustrations, Corinne generously shares her wealth of knowledge of Thoreau. She ties the past with the present, showing that Thoreau’s message in the 19th century is still relevant today. Her inspiring presentations draw a big crowd, and we are already booking her next lecture!”