{"nrhp_refnum":"66000790","name":"Walden Pond","other_names":["Walden Pond State Reservation"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"1.5 mi. S of Concord","address_restricted":false,"city":"Concord","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.43686331200007,"lon":-71.33909592304342,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1962-12-29","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Walden Pond is a 64.5-acre pond and the surrounding wooded state reservation in Concord and Lincoln, Massachusetts. It includes the site of Henry David Thoreau's one-room cabin, built in spring 1845 above Deep Cove.","why_significant":"Thoreau lived at the pond from July 4, 1845, to September 6, 1847, in an experiment in simple living and philosophic meditation. During those years he completed A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and gathered the material for Walden, or Life in the Woods. The site is tied to one of the major figures of American literature.","narrative":"Walden Pond is a glacial pond of 64.5 acres in Concord and Lincoln, Massachusetts, surrounded by woodland that forms Walden Pond State Reservation. On its northern shore, above Deep Cove, rough-cut granite posts and a cairn mark where Henry David Thoreau built a one-room cabin in 1845. He lived there from July 4, 1845, until September 6, 1847, testing a life of simplicity and reflection. In those years he finished his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and gathered the material for Walden, or Life in the Woods. The land belonged to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and in 1922 Emerson's heirs deeded the cabin site, the pond and the surrounding land to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with restrictions meant to preserve the Walden of Emerson and Thoreau. The reservation grew from 144 to about 250 acres. Visitor facilities, including a beach and bath houses, sit at the eastern end of the pond.","period_of_significance":"1845-1847","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"State reservation open to the public daily from sunrise until dark. The cabin site is regularly maintained and appears to be in good condition, though the visitor buildings are in need of repair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:31.34085-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/59/7937/63793759/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000790_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000790/f1990a1d87-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000790/f1990a1d87-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walden_Pond_in_October,_Concord_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walden_Pond_in_October,_Concord_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793759","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Pond","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2023853"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/walden-pond-66000790/"}