Thoreau & Friends

Henry Thoreau was not a hermit. And although he wrote that he preferred solitude over society, Thoreau was extremely close to his family. He was also a part of a larger social circle made up of the era’s literary giants, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

This talk brings Thoreau’s world to life, his friendships with the Concord authors, as well as his connections to the literary and scientific communities of Boston.

Richard Smith has lectured on and written about antebellum United States history and 19th-Century American literature since 1995. He has worked in Concord as a public historian and Living History Interpreter for 25 years and has portrayed Henry Thoreau at Walden Pond, around the country, and in Canada. He has written eight books for Applewood books and is a regular contributor to Discover Concord magazine.

The Thoreau Society received a Mass Humanities Staffing Recovery Grant (2023-2025) in support of our Membership and Program Coordinator. Funding from Mass Humanities has been provided through the Mass Cultural Council.