The Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse, also known as the Thoreau Farm or the Henry David Thoreau Birthplace, is a historic house at 341 Virginia Road in
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
, United States. It is significant as the birthplace of writer
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
.
The house was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2004.
It currently serves as a museum and is open to the public.
History
The Wheeler-Minot Farmhouse is set on a property on the north side of Virginia Road in eastern Concord. The house is a -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, large central chimney, clapboard siding, and a fieldstone foundation. The center entrance is flanked by pilasters and topped by a dentillated cornice.
[
The farmhouse was originally built circa 1730 by John Wheeler. Later, the farm was purchased by Deacon Samuel Minot for his second son Jonas. Jonas Minot was the stepfather of Thoreau's mother, having become the second husband of his maternal grandmother.
Though the building has been extensively modified over the years, this house was the farmhouse of a prominent area farm for 200 years.
Unlike other writers and thinkers associated with Concord—including ]Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and av ...
, and Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Little Men'' (1871) and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in ...
—Henry David Thoreau was the only one born in the town. He was born on the family farm on July 12, 1817. He lived in town for most of his life.
Shortly after Thoreau's death in 1862, scholars, disciples, and tourists began to seek out the author's birthplace.[Epting, Chris. ''The Birthplace Book: A Guide to Birth Sites of Famous People, Places, & Things''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2009: 21. ]
Restoration
The house was acquired in 1995 by the Thoreau Farm Trust, a non-profit organization. The site underwent an extensive restoration and is now a museum open to the public on weekends between May and October.
See also
*
References
External links
Thoreau Farm
official site
Thoreau's birthplace
at "Mapping Thoreau Country"
{{authority control
Houses completed in 1730
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Concord, Massachusetts
Houses in Concord, Massachusetts
Henry David Thoreau
Museums in Concord, Massachusetts
Historic house museums in Massachusetts
Literary museums in the United States