Unveiling the new sign at Thoreau Farm, May 6, 2012.
Thoreau Farm is not only a historic site; it’s a place of ideas. And how we all find our way in today’s world is one of the ideas we explore here, with Thoreau as a guide.
In pursuing that vision we’ve developed programs to inform and inspire our visitors, and we were recently recognized for our work by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Massachusetts Historical Commission with a 2012 Preservation Award in the categories of Education and Outreach as well as Rehabilitation and Restoration.
We can only pursue this vision with the help of our supporters. So I am asking you to help us keep our programming strong.
If you have visited Thoreau Farm, you’ve seen how sustainable materials and “green” technology can be incorporated into an eighteenth-century house. The 2012 Preservation Award recognizes Thoreau Farm as a thought-leader in “green” preservation. Our goal is to influence and educate others who are undertaking a restoration project about how preservation can be sensitive to environmental concerns. With the support from Concord Community Preservation Act funds, we will be preparing a historic structure report documenting this process that will be available to the public.
Other ways we seek to inform and influence our audience include the Thoreau Farm Forum, a new discussion series featuring readings and talks by some of today’s most compelling writers and thinkers. David Gessner was at Thoreau Farm this past fall. Vivian Gornick came to Concord in March to speak about her biography of Emma Goldman. And Lou Ureneck, discussed his book, Cabin, at our season opening earlier this month. These discussions are always free and open to the public.
Expanding our website outreach this year, we invited nationally recognized journalist Wen Stephenson to host a blog called The Roost. Taking on issues of climate, environmental and social justice, in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, each week The Roost engages, informs, and maybe even provokes.
And our most recent announcement: A new smart-phone app will soon be available at Thoreau Farm. Both in the house and outside on the grounds, short video “tour stops” provide visitors with historical context and details of the restoration and preservation work we have accomplished. It tells stories of Thoreau’s life and highlights examples of many people influenced by Thoreau. At the end, the listener is invited to take a moment and sit quietly outside, perhaps considering a way to personally live more “deliberately.”
Thoreau believed that the individual could radically affect the world by first transforming himself, and in Walden he urged people to find their own way to “live deliberately.”
I desire that there be as many different persons in the world as possible; but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father’s or his mother’s or his neighbor’s instead.
Annual support of the Thoreau Farm Trust is all about individual decisions. Giving is your own personal action. Every contribution allows us to share Thoreau’s ideas with a broader audience and bring those ideas into the twenty-first century through digital content and an interactive blog, with visitor services, and by hosting inspiring writers, thinkers, and storytellers.
Please donate using the button below:
[paypal-donation]Or mail your check today to:Thoreau Farm
P.O. Box 454
Concord, MA 01742
I hope to see you at Thoreau Farm often. Come visit, bring friends, take a tour, try out our new app, and be a supporter of this wonderful historic site!
With appreciation,
Patricia
Patricia Hohl
Executive Director