Wyman Richardson (3 August 1896,

Marion, Massachusetts Marion is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,347 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the village of Marion Center, please see the article Marion Center, Massachusetts. His ...

– 1953, Boston) was an American physician, medical school professor, amateur naturalist, and author, known for his 1947 book ''The House on Nauset Marsh''. His father was the noted surgeon Dr.

Maurice Howe Richardson Maurice Howe Richardson (31 December 1851, Athol, Massachusetts – 2 August 1912) was an American surgeon. Richardson, who qualified MD at Harvard Medical School in 1877 was appointed Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in 19 ...

. Wyman Richardson graduated with A.B. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1917 and went on to earn an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He married Charlotte Blake Richardson and was the father of several children. The family made frequent trips to their

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

vacation home, which became the source of Dr. Richardson's literary fame.

The House on Nauset Marsh

Richardson's 1947 book ''The House on Nauset Marsh'' is a collection of essays that were previously published in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' during the 1940s. Along with

Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and hi ...

's 1865 ''Cape Cod'', Beston's 1928 ''

The Outermost House ''The Outermost House'' is a book by naturalist writer Henry Beston. It was published in 1928 by Doubleday and Doran and is now published by Henry Holt and Company in New York City. It chronicles a year spent living on the dunes of Cape Cod. Be ...

'', and

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

's 1963 ''The Great Beach'', Richardson's book is considered a regional classic in Cape Cod

nature writing Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in w ...

. The house of the book's title is a marsh-side farmhouse purchased by Maurice Howe Richardson and two other family members. The house, still owned by the Richardson family, is now within the boundaries of the

Cape Cod National Seashore The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS), created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, encompasses on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes ...

. The Nauset Marsh Trail is open to the public. The book was originally published in Boston by the Atlantic Monthly Company. The first edition was reprinted in 1955 by

W. W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...

in New York and in 1972 by Chatham Press in

Old Greenwich, Connecticut Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct section ...

. The division Countryman Press of W. W. Norton published an edition in 1997 and a 50th anniversary edition in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Wyman 1896 births 1953 deaths Harvard University alumni Harvard Medical School alumni 20th-century American physicians American nature writers American male non-fiction writers