Tag Archives: Thoreau Farm

Celebrate 20 Years of Preserving Henry’s Birth House with NPR’s Jack Beatty, Authors Diane Ackerman and Lucille Stott

Join us for one or more of our many programs  during your 20th anniversary weekend, Saturday, November 16 through Sunday, November 18.

A Principled Life: Panel Discussion

Saturday, November 17, 2018, 3 PM, Concord Academy’s Performing Arts Center, 166 Main Street, Concord, MA

Join us for an afternoon of fun as WBUR/NPR news analyst Jack Beatty moderates a panel discussion on what it means to live “A Principled Life.”

Historians Robert Gross and Jayne Gordon and documentary filmmaker Joseph Stillman are the featured panelists. Audience participation is encouraged!

Suggested donation $10 at the door includes the 4PM film preview of “Citizen Clark… A Life of Principle”; students free. Please RSVP info@thoreaufarm.org .

Sponsored by Thoreau Farm, the Thoreau Society, and Maguire Associates.

READ ON FOR MORE 20th ANNIVERSARY EVENTS!

 Citizen Clark … A Life of Principle

Saturday, November 17, 2018, 4 PM, Concord Academy’s Performing Arts Center, 166 Main Street, Concord, MA

Following the panel discussion will be a 4 PM preview of Citizen Clark … A Life of Principle, a documentary about former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, that features NYPD Frank Serpico, who is also a producer of the film. A Q & A with the film’s director, Joseph Stillman, follows the film.The Nov. 17 events are open to the public.

Suggested donation $10 at the door includes the 3PM panel discussion; students free. Please RSVP info@thoreaufarm.org 

Sponsored by Thoreau Farm, the Thoreau Society, and Maguire Associates.

READ ON FOR MORE 20th ANNIVERSARY EVENTS!

Celebrate the 20th Year Anniversary of the Purchase of Thoreau Farm
Sunday, November 18, 2018, 1:30 PM
, Thoreau Farm

Join Thoreau Farm Trust as the Town of  Concord dedicates a plaque to those who contributed to the initial acquisition of the Breen Farmstead/Thoreau Birth House.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP info@thoreaufarm.org

READ ON FOR MORE 20th ANNIVERSARY EVENTS!

Author talk, “Saving Thoreau’s Birthplace: How Citizens Rallied to Bring Henry Out of the Woods”

Sun., Nov., 18, 2 PM, Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA

Lucille Stott, former president of Thoreau Farm Trust and former editor of The Concord Journal, presents her new book, “Saving Thoreau’s Birthplace: How Citizens Rallied to Bring Henry Out of the Woods.”
The book launch will be followed by an author reception and book signing.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP info@Thoreaufarm.org .

Sponsored by Thoreau Farm and the Thoreau Society.

Thoreau on the Big Screen

By Lucille Stott

I had the pleasure recently of meeting Huey Coleman — of Films By Huey — and his wife, Judy Wentzell, in Brunswick, Maine, where Huey was screening his feature-length documentary, Henry David Thoreau: Surveyor of the Soul. Thirteen years in the making, this engrossing film celebrates Thoreau’s short but rich life in images, interviews, and music.

Huey films Henry in the snow.

With the expert help of Thoreau biographer Laura Dassow Walls, who served as lead scholar consultant, Huey traces that life from Thoreau’s birth on Thoreau Farm to his death in the “Yellow House” on Main Street. Though a good portion of the film centers on Walden Pond, Huey doesn’t allow Thoreau’s legendary time there to overwhelm the fuller life story, which was more varied, nuanced, and communal than so many people realize. The Henry depicted on screen, much like the man who emerges from Walls’s groundbreaking biography, is the Thoreau that the birthplace has always sought to celebrate: the son, the friend, the citizen, the forward-thinking guide to a better future.

Throughout the film, we’re treated to interviews by more than thirty prominent scholars, writers, and activists, among them Robert Gross, Robert Richardson, Howard Zinn, Robert Bly, Bill McKibben, Ron Hoag, Beth Witherell, and Tom Blanding. But we also hear from local Thoreauvians, including Concord’s Joseph Wheeler, the first president of the Thoreau Farm Trust, who was born on Thoreau Farm, and the late, great Walter Brain, who notes that the correct way to pronounce Thoreau’s name is by placing the accent on the first syllable: THOReau. Those who have visited Thoreau Farm will recognize several shots of the interior, where both Joe Wheeler and Laura Walls were interviewed.

Like Thoreau, the film remains mainly in and near Concord but does venture outside its borders to places Henry visited, including the Maine Woods, Staten Island, and Minnesota. At one point, Huey visits the site of the Walden Project, an outdoor alternative public education program in Vergennes, Vermont, serving students in grades 10-12. As students read from well-worn copies of Walden, they show us that Thoreau, so popular among the children of his own time, can still win the affection of today’s young. In another significant segment, he interviews members of Maine’s Penobscot Nation, one of whom, Darren Ranco, is the great-great-nephew of Joe Polis, Thoreau’s guide on his third and last trip to the Maine woods.

There is also an intriguing visit with video game developer Tracy Fullerton, who has created a game that allows players to experience a virtual life at Walden Pond.

The cinematography, particularly when focused on the natural landscapes, is beautifully envisioned and edited, and the evocative music, coordinated by folk musician and composer Dillon Bustin (former executive director of Concord’s Emerson Umbrella), was taken entirely from the Thoreau family’s songbook.

To view a trailer for the film, purchase DVDs for home or classroom viewing, and find dates for future screenings, visit www.filmsbyhuey.com. It is well worth the trip.

Lucille Stott is a charter board member emerita and former president of Thoreau Farm Trust. Follow  Lucille on new blog, “Touchstone.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Henry in Town

By Corinne H. Smith

When Richard Smith moved to West Virginia at the end of 2017, he left behind nearly a two-decade legacy of portraying Henry David Thoreau in Concord, especially at Walden Pond, where he greeted visitors as Henry in the Thoreau house replica on a regular basis.

Last summer while Smith was contemplating his move, another Thoreauvian, Brent Ranalli, was exploring the idea of taking his efforts at historical interpretation to the next level. Ranalli did not know there would soon be an opening for some one to portray Henry David Thoreau in June 2018.

Brent Ranalli as Henry David Thoreau at Thoreau Farm.

Ranalli’s path first intersected with the Thoreau crowd when he participated in a panel presentation at The Thoreau Society Annual Gathering in 2009. The subject of the session was the publication of Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, a textbook which Brent helped to edit. He quickly felt a camaraderie with the people involved and attending the conference. He has been a regular presenter at each Gathering ever since.

Ranalli is interested in Thoreau’s fascination with Native Americans. He admires how Thoreau was able to take on a walking style that many of his friends equated with that of an American Indian. Ranalli has written and spoken about Thoreau’s gait, as reported by the people who were close to Henry. His research made him wonder: Why not study Thoreau’s gait by donning Henry’s style of clothing and portraying Thoreau himself? Ranalli began to gather parts of the wardrobe and the props he would need for this venture.

Meanwhile, Visitor Services Supervisor for Walden Pond State Reservation, Jennifer Ingram  was responsible for finding a new historic interpreter who could portray Henry and fill the void Smith had left. Over the winter, Ingram sent queries to members of the local historical collaborative in Concord. While she pursued some leads, none of the applicants seemed to fit the position.

Ranalli eventually heard about this new opening through The Thoreau Society, where he is a member, and contacted Ingram. She was immediately impressed. He certainly had the background and the interest; was in the right age range; and had the right build to portray Thoreau.

Ingram had a final test for Ranalli, however. The two met at the Pond office one day, and went to sit in the replica for an hour. Ingram felt that this experience would be critical for the prospective Thoreau. It would offer the reality of the interpretation. If the potential Henry didn’t feel comfortable being in this space, or if he felt he had to leave after a few minutes, then that would be that.

Instead, Ranalli stayed.

“It felt comfortable,” he said. “One could make a home there. With the replica furniture and the working wood stove, the house definitely feels authentic. It makes it easy to enter the world of the 1840s.”

He had not only passed Ingram’s test, but one of his own. And, he interacted well with the public who stopped by the house that day to meet Henry.

This month, Ranalli did his first Henry gig at an Acton elementary school. (He was careful not to talk to any classes that included his own sons as students.) He reports that the appearance went well. He was stymied only once. This was when someone asked what kind of car Thoreau would drive, if he were alive today.  (I suggested that Thoreau would be likely to take public transportation.) Yet, Ranalli feels as though he has already gained a deeper understanding of the author-naturalist by stepping into his shoes.

Brent Ranalli will portray Henry Thoreau at Walden Pond State Reservation on Sunday, May 27, 2018, beginning at 1 p.m. Be sure to stop by and chat with him as he “is” Henry at the house replica. Just don’t ask him about cars!

Corinne Smith is the author of Henry David Thoreau for Kids among other books; a frequent contributor to The Roost;  and is a tour guide at Thoreau Farm.