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108-486: The Mount Tom Range rises steeply between 500 and 1,100 feet (150 and 340 m) above the Connecticut River Valley below; it is roughly 4.5 miles (7 km) long by 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide at its widest point, although the ruggedness of the terrain makes the actual area much larger. The entire range is sometimes referred to as "Mount Tom". Oriented from south to north, the range is located within

216-604: A town ), and in 1809, it was incorporated as a town. Easthampton is the youngest municipality in Hampshire County by date of incorporation. (It was not, however, the last incorporated; two of the three disincorporated towns of the Quabbin Reservoir in Hampshire County, Enfield and Prescott , were incorporated afterwards.) The town grew primarily around the Manhan River , both through its phase as

324-603: A binder. The process of mixing graphite and clay, known as the Conté process, had been first patented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in 1795. Thoreau made profitable use of a graphite source found in New Hampshire that had been purchased in 1821 by his uncle, Charles Dunbar. The company's other source of graphite had been Tantiusques , a mine operated by Native Americans in Sturbridge, Massachusetts . Later, Thoreau converted

432-474: A city. Since 1996 the downtown area has attracted a small community of artists and young people migrating due to Easthampton's lower cost of living compared to nearby Northampton, a hub of the bohemian community regionally. Small stores around Main Street, Union Street, and Cottage Street have changed business due to the influx of this new demographic. This growth has produced new arts and cultural events such as

540-537: A classic American work that explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty as models for just social and cultural conditions. The American poet Robert Frost wrote of Thoreau, "In one book ... he surpasses everything we have had in America." The American author John Updike said of the book, "A century and a half after its publication, Walden has become such a totem of the back-to-nature, preservationist, anti-business, civil-disobedience mindset, and Thoreau so vivid

648-502: A conflict involving colonists and a confederacy of Native American tribes across southern New England under the leadership of the sachem Metacomet . More settlers arrived after of the war ended with the defeat of the Native Americans, and by the early 19th century, most of the region's current towns had been established and most of the land had been cleared of trees to make room for farms. Farmers were particularly attracted to

756-470: A journal?' So I make my first entry to-day." Thoreau was a philosopher of nature and its relation to the human condition. In his early years he followed transcendentalism , a loose and eclectic idealist philosophy advocated by Emerson, Fuller, and Alcott. They held that an ideal spiritual state transcends, or goes beyond, the physical and empirical, and that one achieves that insight via personal intuition rather than religious doctrine. In their view, Nature

864-408: A large tract on the east side of the range that was once part of a downhill ski area that closed in 1998. An existing rock quarry, part of the property, was also secured. The efforts were spurred by public outcry following overtures by the former landowner to sell the land to a nearby rock and gravel operation for the expansion of the existing quarry. Other organizations invested in the conservation of

972-794: A late-night excursion to count the rings of tree stumps during a rainstorm, he became ill with bronchitis . His health declined, with brief periods of remission, and he eventually became bedridden. Recognizing the terminal nature of his disease, Thoreau spent his last years revising and editing his unpublished works, particularly The Maine Woods and Excursions , and petitioning publishers to print revised editions of A Week and Walden . He wrote letters and journal entries until he became too weak to continue. His friends were alarmed at his diminished appearance and were fascinated by his tranquil acceptance of death. When his aunt Louisa asked him in his last weeks if he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded, "I did not know we had ever quarreled." Aware he

1080-571: A leave of absence from Harvard, during which he taught at a school in Canton, Massachusetts , living for two years at an earlier version of today's Colonial Inn in Concord. His grandfather owned the earliest of the three buildings that were later combined. After he graduated in 1837, Thoreau joined the faculty of the Concord public school, but he resigned after a few weeks rather than administer corporal punishment . He and his brother John then opened

1188-467: A mutual friend. Emerson, who was 14 years his senior, took a paternal and at times patron-like interest in Thoreau, advising the young man and introducing him to a circle of local writers and thinkers, including Ellery Channing , Margaret Fuller , Bronson Alcott , and Nathaniel Hawthorne and his son Julian Hawthorne , who was a boy at the time. Emerson urged Thoreau to contribute essays and poems to

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1296-530: A new National Scenic Trail. The ridge of the Mount Tom Range was formed 200 million years ago during the late Triassic and early Jurassic periods and is composed of traprock, also known as basalt , an extrusive volcanic rock. Basalt is a dark colored rock, but the iron within it weathers to a rusty brown when exposed to the air, lending the ledges a distinct reddish appearance. Basalt frequently breaks into octagonal and pentagonal columns, creating

1404-524: A number of calcium-loving plants uncommon in Massachusetts. Because the traprock ridges generate such varied terrain, they are the home of several plant and animal species that are state-listed or globally rare. The Mount Tom Range is also an important seasonal raptor migration path. A low-profile network of seasonal auto roads and many miles of trails climb the ridgeline, including the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail maintained by

1512-549: A protester, so perfect a crank and hermit saint, that the book risks being as revered and unread as the Bible." Thoreau moved out of Emerson's house in July 1848 and stayed at a house on nearby Belknap Street. In 1850, he moved into a house at 255 Main Street , where he lived until his death. In the summer of 1850, Thoreau and Channing journeyed from Boston to Montreal and Quebec City . These would be Thoreau's only travels outside

1620-552: A quarterly periodical, The Dial , and lobbied the editor, Margaret Fuller, to publish those writings. Thoreau's first essay published in The Dial was "Aulus Persius Flaccus", an essay on the Roman poet and satirist, in July 1840. It consisted of revised passages from his journal, which he had begun keeping at Emerson's suggestion. The first journal entry, on October 22, 1837, reads, " 'What are you doing now?' he asked. 'Do you keep

1728-515: A rail line and a ferry dock from the river to the base of Mount Holyoke. The hotel burned down in 1901 when Street attempted to cremate two horses on the mountain and lost control of the fire, leaving only the cellar holes and the walls of the stone understory standing. Another hotel, the Mount Tom Hotel, was constructed on the summit of Mount Tom in 1897, but it burned down three years later. Subsequently, rebuilt, it burned again in 1929 and

1836-771: A second Congregational church. In 1899, the West Boylston Manufacturing Company and the Hampton Company, both specializing in cloth production, moved to Easthampton, recruiting a larger immigrant labor force, particularly from Poland and Canada . During World War I , the town's mills all obtained federal wartime contracts and did well financially, but long before the Great Depression hit, many factories owners were already laying off employees, seeking mergers with other companies, or looking for buyers for their facilities. One of

1944-569: A similar refusal, were all pertinent, well considered, and reasoned. I took great pleasure in this deed of Thoreau's. Thoreau revised the lecture into an essay titled " Resistance to Civil Government " (also known as "Civil Disobedience"). It was published by Elizabeth Peabody in the Aesthetic Papers in May 1849. Thoreau had taken up a version of Percy Shelley 's principle in the political poem " The Mask of Anarchy " (1819), which begins with

2052-676: A strictly agricultural community and later, through the Industrial Revolution , when mills and factories were first built in Easthampton, mainly in connection with textile manufacturing and its offshoots. The first of these, the Williston-Knight Button Company, was established in 1847 by Samuel Williston, son of the town's first minister, a Congregationalist named Payson Williston. The company specialized in cloth-covered buttons—a coveted item at

2160-561: A two-story school for use as the town's first high school. In 1912, the school district constructed a new high school and enlarged this building (then called Park Primary School) using brick salvaged from the Center Union School. It was used as an elementary school until 1939 and again from the 1950s to the 1970s. This building, now called the Memorial Building, is currently being used as municipal offices. In 1902,

2268-719: A two-year experiment in simple living , moving to a small house he had built on land owned by Emerson in a second growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond , having had a request to build a hut on Flints Pond , near that of his friend Charles Stearns Wheeler , denied by the landowners due to the Fairhaven Bay incident. The house was in "a pretty pasture and woodlot" of 14 acres (5.7 hectares) that Emerson had bought, 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (2.5 kilometers) from his family home. Whilst there, he wrote his only extended piece of literary criticism, " Thomas Carlyle and His Works ". On July 24 or July 25, 1846, Thoreau ran into

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2376-516: A unique "postpile" appearance. Huge slopes made of fractured basalt talus are visible beneath many of the ledges; they are particularly noticeable beneath Mount Tom, Whiting Peak, and Deadtop along the Mount Tom State Reservation park road, or along Metacomet-Monadnock Trail on the summit crest gazing down. The basalt ridges are the product of several massive lava flows hundreds of feet deep that welled up in faults created by

2484-511: A variety of understory grasses and ferns. Eastern red cedar , a dry-loving species, clings to the barren edges of cliffs. Backslope plant communities tend to be more similar to the adjacent Berkshire plateau containing species common to the northern hardwood and oak-hickory forest forest types. Eastern hemlock crowds narrow ravines, blocking sunlight and creating damp, cooler growing conditions with associated cooler climate plant species. Talus slopes are especially rich in nutrients and support

2592-489: Is a city organization that creates positive, innovative and accessible arts programming and cultural events. Some of the events that ECA organizes include: Art Walk (a free and family-friendly event held throughout the city every second Thursday of the month); Cultural Chaos (a street festival that celebrates the Cottage Street Cultural District); and Porchfest (Easthampton's very first Porchfest

2700-661: Is best which governs not at all;' and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.... But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government." Amos Bronson Alcott and Thoreau's aunt each wrote that "Thoreau" is pronounced like the word thorough ( / ˈ θ ʌr oʊ / THURR -oh —in General American , but more precisely / ˈ θ ɔːr oʊ / THOR -oh —in 19th-century New England). Edward Waldo Emerson wrote that

2808-602: Is bordered by Southampton and Westhampton to its west, by Holyoke in Hampden County to its east and south, and by Northampton to its north. It also has a river boundary with Hadley to its northeast across the Connecticut River . The western flanks of Mount Tom and Mount Nonotuck form its eastern boundary. Massachusetts Route 10 passes through the center of Easthampton as Main Street and Northampton Street, leading northeast 5 miles (8 km) to

2916-553: Is located in the Eighth Massachusetts Governor's Council district and is represented by Tara Jacobs (D-North Adams). Easthampton has a number of points of interest. The Mount Tom State Reservation extends into the eastern part the city, and many local residents hike up to enjoy the view of the Pioneer Valley from the rock ledges. Mount Tom, with a summit elevation of 1,202 feet (366 m),

3024-664: Is the highest traprock peak on the Metacomet Ridge , a linear mountain range that extends from Long Island Sound to the Vermont border. Mount Tom is characterized by its high cliffs, sweeping vistas, and microclimate ecosystems. The 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail traverses the mountain. The Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, part of the Massachusetts Audubon Society , is split between Easthampton and neighboring Northampton. Recently,

3132-539: Is the outward sign of inward spirit, expressing the "radical correspondence of visible things and human thoughts", as Emerson wrote in Nature (1836). On April 18, 1841, Thoreau moved in with the Emersons . There, from 1841 to 1844, he served as the children's tutor; he was also an editorial assistant, repairman and gardener. For a few months in 1843, he moved to the home of William Emerson on Staten Island , and tutored

3240-458: The Great Lakes region in 1861, when he visited Niagara Falls , Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee , St. Paul and Mackinac Island . He was provincial in his own travels, but he read widely about travel in other lands. He devoured all the first-hand travel accounts available in his day, at a time when the last unmapped regions of the earth were being explored. He read Magellan and James Cook ;

3348-568: The Main Street Historic District in Easthampton, Massachusetts. The High Victorian Gothic town hall was built in 1869 by Boston architect Charles Edward Parker . In 1987, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Old Town Hall is managed by the nonprofit CitySpace, Inc. as a center for the arts. In and around downtown Easthampton, attractions include: Easthampton has many events throughout

Mount Tom Range - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-476: The Manhan Rail Trail bicycle path was built over an old railroad line, and there are plans to connect the path to others in the area. Near the rail trail and wildlife sanctuary are three conservation areas owned by the local non-profit land trust, Pascommuck Conservation Trust, part of the trust's 200 acres (0.81 km ) of holdings in Easthampton. The Old Town Hall is a historic building located in

3564-474: The U.S. Census Bureau , the city of Easthampton has a total area of 13.6 square miles (35.2 km ), of which 13.3 square miles (34.5 km ) are land and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km ), or 2.02%, are water. The Manhan River crosses Easthampton north of the city center, flowing into The Oxbow , a former channel of the Connecticut River, at the northeastern end of the city. In 1797, the town

3672-463: The arctic explorers John Franklin , Alexander Mackenzie and William Parry ; David Livingstone and Richard Francis Burton on Africa; Lewis and Clark ; and hundreds of lesser-known works by explorers and literate travelers. Astonishing amounts of reading fed his endless curiosity about the peoples, cultures, religions and natural history of the world and left its traces as commentaries in his voluminous journals. He processed everything he read, in

3780-417: The rifting apart of North America from Eurasia and Africa. These basalt floods of lava happened over a period of 20 million years. Erosion occurring between the eruptions deposited deep layers of sediment between the lava flows, which eventually lithified into sedimentary rock . The resulting "layer cake" of basalt and sedimentary sheets eventually faulted and tilted upward. Subsequent erosion wore away

3888-531: The 20th century. Increasing urbanization and industrialization in 19th century New England resulted in an opposing aesthetic transcendentalist movement characterized by the paintings of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters such as Frederic Edwin Church and Thomas Cole (who, in 1836, famously painted the Connecticut River from sketches he made from the summit of Mount Holyoke),

3996-453: The Beagle . He kept detailed observations on Concord's nature lore, recording everything from how the fruit ripened over time to the fluctuating depths of Walden Pond and the days certain birds migrated. The point of this task was to "anticipate" the seasons of nature, in his word. He became a land surveyor and continued to write increasingly detailed observations on the natural history of

4104-627: The Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club. The range is used for picnicking , hiking , and snowshoeing . Bicycling and cross-country skiing are enjoyed on the park roads. The ridge once hosted the Mount Tom Ski Area , now closed; the trails are still used for backcountry skiing , although there are no lifts in operation. Recently, as paragliding becomes an increasingly popular sport in

4212-520: The Concord Academy, a grammar school in Concord, in 1838. They introduced several progressive concepts, including nature walks and visits to local shops and businesses. The school closed when John became fatally ill from tetanus in 1842 after cutting himself while shaving. He died in Henry's arms. Upon graduation Thoreau returned home to Concord, where he met Ralph Waldo Emerson through

4320-490: The Connecticut River floodplain, clearing small sections of forest by burning to make room for their crops. They hunted and fished in the area, and made tools and arrowheads from the basalt rock of the Metacomet Ridge. Tensions between the local Pocumtuc Native American tribe and colonial settlers, who began arriving in the region in the mid-17th century, reached a head in 1675 with the outbreak of King Philip's War ,

4428-905: The Individual in relation to Government", explaining his tax resistance at the Concord Lyceum . Bronson Alcott attended the lecture, writing in his journal on January 26: Heard Thoreau's lecture before the Lyceum on the relation of the individual to the State—an admirable statement of the rights of the individual to self-government, and an attentive audience. His allusions to the Mexican War, to Mr. Hoar 's expulsion from Carolina, his own imprisonment in Concord Jail for refusal to pay his tax, Mr. Hoar's payment of mine when taken to prison for

Mount Tom Range - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-752: The Log Cabin Restaurant. During on-season months there is a charge to drive a vehicle into the Mount Tom State Reservation. Metacomet-Monadnock Trail parking is located off Route 141 on the gap between East Mountain and Mount Tom and also at the foot of Mount Nonotuck on Underwood Street in Easthampton where the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail descends from the ridge crest of the range. Much of the range has been conserved as part of Massachusett's Mount Tom State Reservation ; other parcels are managed by conservation non-profit organizations, including The Trustees of Reservations . In 2000,

4644-581: The Mount Tom Range and its viewshed include The Kestrel Trust , The Valley Land Fund , and the Pascommuck Conservation Trust. Easthampton, Massachusetts Easthampton is a city in Hampshire County , Massachusetts , United States. The city is in the Pioneer Valley , near the five colleges in the college towns of Northampton and Amherst . The population was 16,211 at the 2020 census . Easthampton

4752-893: The Mount Tom Range was included in a study by the National Park Service for the designation of a new National Scenic Trail now tentatively called the New England National Scenic Trail , which would include the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Massachusetts and the Mattabesett Trail and Metacomet Trail trails in Connecticut. In 2002, several conservation non-profit organizations and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts collaborated to successfully preserve

4860-622: The US, the Mt.Tom's western face serves as launch for flights as far as Worcester area. There are no camping facilities on the range. A number of trail head parking lots are located within the Mount Tom State Reservation, accessible from Route 5 in Holyoke and East Street in Easthampton; only the eastmost lot is open off season. Parking lot access is available off Route 5 and at the south side of Whiting Street Reservoir, as well as off Route 141 in Holyoke by

4968-821: The United States. It is as a result of this trip that he developed lectures that eventually became A Yankee in Canada . He jested that all he got from this adventure "was a cold". In fact, this proved an opportunity to contrast American civic spirit and democratic values with a colony apparently ruled by illegitimate religious and military power. Whereas his own country had had its revolution, in Canada history had failed to turn. In 1851, Thoreau became increasingly fascinated with natural history and narratives of travel and expedition. He read avidly on botany and often wrote observations on this topic into his journal. He admired William Bartram and Charles Darwin 's Voyage of

5076-711: The abolitionist movement began to accept Brown as a martyr, and by the time of the American Civil War entire armies of the North were literally singing Brown's praises . As a biographer of Brown put it, "If, as Alfred Kazin suggests, without John Brown there would have been no Civil War, we would add that without the Concord Transcendentalists, John Brown would have had little cultural impact." Thoreau contracted tuberculosis in 1835 and suffered from it sporadically afterwards. In 1860, following

5184-537: The advice of Emerson, using Emerson's publisher, Munroe, who did little to publicize the book. In August 1846, Thoreau briefly left Walden to make a trip to Mount Katahdin in Maine , a journey that was later recorded in "Ktaadn", the first part of The Maine Woods . Thoreau left Walden Pond on September 6, 1847. At Emerson's request, he immediately moved back to the Emerson house to help Emerson's wife, Lidian, manage

5292-421: The age of 18 living with them, 42.2% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.7% were non-families. 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.85. In the city, the population was spread out, with 18.0% under

5400-467: The age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 women and girls, there were 92.5 men and boys. For every 100 women age 18 and over, there were 89.7 men. The median income for a household in the city was $ 45,185, and the median income for a family was $ 54,312. Men had a median income of $ 36,446 versus $ 28,756 for women. The per capita income for

5508-539: The boat so perfectly, either with two paddles or with one, that it seemed instinct with his own will, and to require no physical effort to guide it." He was not a strict vegetarian, though he said he preferred that diet and advocated it as a means of self-improvement. He wrote in Walden , "The practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness; and besides, when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It

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5616-418: The center of Northampton and southwest 4 miles (6 km) to Southampton. Massachusetts Route 141 (Union Street, Cottage Street, and Holyoke Street) leads southeast from the center of Easthampton 6 miles (10 km) past Mount Tom to Holyoke. Interstate 91 and U.S. Route 5 cross the northeastern tip of Easthampton near the Connecticut River, leading north to Northampton and south to Holyoke. According to

5724-438: The city was $ 21,922. About 5.9% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 15.0% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over. Easthampton was first established in 1785 as a town, with a board of selectmen acting as the executive. It had a town meeting form of legislature. Local voters enacted their newest charter in July 1996, establishing a city form of governance while retaining

5832-579: The city's public school district includes a single PK-8 school, Mountain View School, and a high school ( Easthampton High School ), which was built in 2013. In addition, Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School (K–8), and the Williston Northampton School (7–12), a private preparatory school are based out of Easthampton. As of the census of 2010, there were 16,053 people, 7,224 households, and 4,066 families residing in

5940-461: The city. The population density was 1,192.1 inhabitants per square mile (460.3/km ). There were 7,615 housing units at an average density of 527.9 per square mile (203.8/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 93.6% White , 3.7% Hispanic , 1.1% African American , 0.2% Native American , 2.4% Asian , <0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.1% from other races , and 1.6% from two or more races. There were 7,224 households, out of which 21.6% had children under

6048-527: The college". He commented, "Let every sheep keep its own skin", a reference to the tradition of using sheepskin vellum for diplomas. Thoreau's birthplace still exists on Virginia Road in Concord. The house has been restored by the Thoreau Farm Trust, a nonprofit organization, and is now open to the public. The traditional professions open to college graduates—law, the church, business, medicine—did not interest Thoreau, so in 1835 he took

6156-416: The dispersal of seeds by winds or animals. In this lecture, first presented to a cattle show in Concord, and considered his greatest contribution to ecology, Thoreau explained why one species of tree can grow in a place where a different tree did previously. He observed that squirrels often carry nuts far from the tree from which they fell to create stashes. These seeds are likely to germinate and grow should

6264-465: The early 1960s a number of critical closures hit the town hard. Revitalization attempts began with the opening of a new industrial park and continued with a joint government-private industrial mall which has failed to solve significantly higher rates of unemployment and poverty compared to Hampshire County as a whole. Small farms and well-established small businesses remain the economic core of Easthampton. Easthampton changed its charter in 1996 to become

6372-514: The early 20th century, after agricultural interests shifted west and charcoaling became unprofitable, rural New England became largely forested again. A 2004 ecological resource study conducted for the National Park Service suggests that the Metacomet Ridge may have remained more or less forested (cleared only intermittently) throughout New England's agricultural period, thereby allowing the area to retain its biologic diversity through

6480-537: The east side of the range. The project changed hands several times until its closure in 1988 when competition from larger amusement parks gradually sapped business away what had become affectionately known by locals as "The Queen of the Mountain." Both the Holyoke Range and the Mount Tom Range were part of a 1966 proposal by the National Park Service for a "Connecticut River National Recreation Area." Although

6588-437: The face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs. Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist , delivering lectures that attacked the fugitive slave law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending the abolitionist John Brown . Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience later influenced

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6696-451: The family's sons while seeking contacts among literary men and journalists in the city who might help publish his writings, including his future literary representative Horace Greeley . Thoreau returned to Concord and worked in his family's pencil factory, which he would continue to do alongside his writing and other work for most of his adult life. He resurrected the process of making good pencils with inferior graphite by using clay as

6804-541: The few successes during this time was the American Character Doll Company , also known as Paragon Rubber, whose cofounder, Edward Schaeffer, was credited with inventing the first rubber doll mass-marketed in the United States. World War II provided some relief for the Easthampton economy, as several of the older textile companies as well as newer heavy manufacturing corporations received another round of federal contracts. However, beginning in

6912-543: The first of three trips to northern Maine. His expectations were high because he hoped to find genuine, primeval America. But contact with real wilderness in Maine affected him far differently than had the idea of wilderness in Concord. Instead of coming out of the woods with a deepened appreciation of the wilds, Thoreau felt a greater respect for civilization and realized the necessity of balance." Of alcohol, Thoreau wrote, "I would fain keep sober always. ... I believe that water

7020-944: The first recorded student protest in the American colonies. David Henry was named after his recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau. He began to call himself Henry David after he finished college; he never petitioned to make a legal name change. He had two older siblings, Helen and John Jr., and a younger sister, Sophia Thoreau . None of the children married. Helen (1812–1849) died at age 37, from tuberculosis. John Jr. (1814–1842) died at age 27, of tetanus after cutting himself while shaving. Henry David (1817–1862) died at age 44, of tuberculosis. Sophia (1819–1876) survived him by 14 years, dying at age 56, of tuberculosis. He studied at Harvard College between 1833 and 1837. He lived in Hollis Hall and took courses in rhetoric , classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science. He

7128-704: The four at-large council seats. The reform took effect for the 2021 city elections. In 2023, the city voted by referendum to adopt proportional multi-winner ranked-choice voting for the four at-large districts. At the state level, Easthampton is in the Hampshire & Hampden district of the Massachusetts Senate , represented by John Velis (D-Westfield), and the 2nd Hampshire district of the Massachusetts House of Representatives , represented by Daniel R. Carey (D-Easthampton). Easthampton

7236-613: The household while her husband was on an extended trip to Europe. Over several years, as he worked to pay off his debts, he continuously revised the manuscript of what he eventually published as Walden, or Life in the Woods in 1854, recounting the two years, two months, and two days he had spent at Walden Pond. The book compresses that time into a single calendar year, using the passage of the four seasons to symbolize human development. Part memoir and part spiritual quest, Walden at first won few admirers, but later critics have regarded it as

7344-539: The local tax collector , Sam Staples, who asked him to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes . Thoreau refused because of his opposition to the Mexican–American War and slavery , and he spent a night in jail because of this refusal. The next day Thoreau was freed when someone, likely to have been his aunt, paid the tax, against his wishes. The experience had a strong impact on Thoreau. In January and February 1848, he delivered lectures on "The Rights and Duties of

7452-545: The local laboratory of his Concord experience. Among his famous aphorisms is his advice to "live at home like a traveler". After John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry , many prominent voices in the abolitionist movement distanced themselves from Brown or damned him with faint praise . Thoreau was disgusted by this, and he composed a key speech, " A Plea for Captain John Brown ", which was uncompromising in its defense of Brown and his actions. Thoreau's speech proved persuasive:

7560-424: The luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. Thoreau was an early advocate of recreational hiking and canoeing , of conserving natural resources on private land, and of preserving wilderness as public land. He was himself a highly skilled canoeist; Nathaniel Hawthorne , after a ride with him, noted that "Mr. Thoreau managed

7668-410: The methods and findings of ecology and environmental history , two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close observation of nature, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity , and attention to practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in

7776-535: The monthly Art Walk Easthampton in which visual, music and performance artists showcase their talents at venues around the city. In November 2018, the administration of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced a $ 3.5 million grant through the MassWorks program to the Ferry Street Mill redevelopment project in the city. Easthampton is just south of the geographic center of Hampshire County. It

7884-547: The most varied and unusual instructive sayings. Henry David Thoreau was born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts , into the "modest New England family" of John Thoreau, a pencil maker, and Cynthia Dunbar. His father was of French Protestant descent. His paternal grandfather had been born on the UK crown dependency island of Jersey . His maternal grandfather, Asa Dunbar, led Harvard's 1766 student " Butter Rebellion ",

7992-408: The mountains from the mid-1880s to the early 20th century. In 1861, following the success of the hotel on the summit of Mount Holyoke across the river, William Street opened a summit hotel on Mount Nonotuck and named it Eyrie House. The hotel was closer to the Connecticut River and therefore more accessible than the hotel on Mount Holyoke, which spurred the owners of the latter establishment to build

8100-558: The name "Town" in its official name. Michael Tautznik was elected the first mayor of Easthampton in September 1996, after a charter was passed making the mayor the chief executive officer. The town council replaced town meeting as the legislative branch and consists of four at-large members and five district councilors. In 1999 the mayor and council petitioned the General Court to remove the word "town" from its name and to replace

8208-496: The name should be pronounced "Thó-row", with the h sounded and stress on the first syllable. Among modern-day American English speakers, it is perhaps more commonly pronounced / θ ə ˈ r oʊ / thə- ROH —with stress on the second syllable. Thoreau had a distinctive appearance, with a nose that he called his "most prominent feature". Of his appearance and disposition, Ellery Channing wrote: His face, once seen, could not be forgotten. The features were quite marked:

8316-486: The nose aquiline or very Roman, like one of the portraits of Caesar (more like a beak, as was said); large overhanging brows above the deepest set blue eyes that could be seen, in certain lights, and in others gray,—eyes expressive of all shades of feeling, but never weak or near-sighted; the forehead not unusually broad or high, full of concentrated energy and purpose; the mouth with prominent lips, pursed up with meaning and thought when silent, and giving out when open with

8424-402: The opposite side of the Connecticut River, Elizur Holyoke , gave his name to Mount Holyoke . Before the mid-19th century, very little history had been recorded about the Mount Tom Range to distinguish it from the surrounding landscape. Native Americans inhabited the area around the Mount Tom Range for at least 10,000 years; they grew maize , tobacco , beans , squash and other vegetables in

8532-552: The pencil factory to produce plumbago, a name for graphite at the time, which was used in the electrotyping process. Once back in Concord, Thoreau went through a restless period. In April 1844 he and his friend Edward Hoar accidentally set a fire that consumed 300 acres (120 hectares) of Walden Woods. I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what

8640-634: The political thoughts and actions of notable figures such as Leo Tolstoy , Mahatma Gandhi , and Martin Luther King Jr. Thoreau is sometimes referred to retrospectively as an anarchist , but may perhaps be more properly regarded as a proto-anarchist . In his seminal essay, "Civil Disobedience", Thoreau wrote as follows: "I heartily accept the motto,— 'That government is best which governs least;' and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,— 'That government

8748-540: The powerful images of the unjust forms of authority of his time and then imagines the stirrings of a radically new form of social action. At Walden Pond, Thoreau completed a first draft of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers , an elegy to his brother John, describing their trip to the White Mountains in 1839. Thoreau did not find a publisher for the book and instead printed 1,000 copies at his own expense; fewer than 300 were sold. He self-published on

8856-581: The project was never realized, it has been followed through in spirit by a number of similar local and national conservation efforts, including an increased effort to acquire land on both ranges for state park expansion, the creation by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of the Connecticut River Greenway State Park , and the recent proposal by the National Park Service for the inclusion of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in

8964-493: The range drains into the Connecticut River thence to Long Island Sound; the west side drains into the Manhan River, thence to the Connecticut River. According to popular folklore, Mount Tom (the high point on the range) takes its name from Rowland Thomas , a surveyor who worked for the settlement of Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1660s. Thomas supposedly named Mount Tom after himself while his fellow surveyor working on

9072-564: The rich soils of the region—one of the few places in New England where tobacco can grown with commercial success. Rugged highlands, such as the Holyoke Range and Mount Tom Range, although unsuitable for farming, were often harvested of timber to produce charcoal , a primary source of fuel for the steel industry prior to the extraction of coal in the mid-Appalachians . Highland areas were also burned of timber when lowland fires, set to clear land for farms, raged out of control. However, by

9180-407: The rise of environmental history and ecocriticism as academic disciplines, several new readings of Thoreau began to emerge, showing him to have been both a philosopher and an analyst of ecological patterns in fields and woodlots. For instance, "The Succession of Forest Trees", shows that he used experimentation and analysis to explain how forests regenerate after fire or human destruction, through

9288-700: The spreading mass of humanity in North America. He decried the latter endlessly but felt that a teacher needs to be close to those who needed to hear what he wanted to tell them. The wildness he enjoyed was the nearby swamp or forest, and he preferred "partially cultivated country". His idea of being "far in the recesses of the wilderness" of Maine was to "travel the logger's path and the Indian trail", but he also hiked on pristine land. In an essay titled, "Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher", environmental historian Roderick Nash wrote, "Thoreau left Concord in 1846 for

9396-505: The squirrel die or abandon the stash. He credited the squirrel for performing a "great service ... in the economy of the universe." He traveled to Canada East once, Cape Cod four times, and Maine three times; these landscapes inspired his "excursion" books, A Yankee in Canada , Cape Cod , and The Maine Woods , in which travel itineraries frame his thoughts about geography, history and philosophy. Other travels took him southwest to Philadelphia and New York City in 1854 and west across

9504-404: The time—and to facilitate the operation of the machinery, a local brook was dammed, creating Nashawannuck Pond. Other mills soon opened nearby, a number of them specializing in elastic and rubber thread manufacturing. Following this spurt of industrial development, the town's first high school and first national bank opened in 1864, and a town hall was built in 1869. Constables were replaced by

9612-624: The town responded to the population increase resulting from the growth of the West Boylston and Hampton Companies. The Center Street School, an eight-room school, replaced the Center Union School. In 1920, the interior of this building was reconfigured as a 12-room school. It has served as a middle school, high school, and grade school. Replacing the Lovefield Street School in 1902, the Parsons Street School

9720-426: The town's first police officer in 1871, the same year that Easthampton became a regular stop on the railroad . The town's public library opened in 1881, and fourteen years later in 1895 the community was introduced to two new innovations, telephones and streetcars. With the influx of new residents came a number of new churches, founded for Catholic , Episcopalian , Lutheran , and Methodist parishioners, as well as

9828-402: The town, covering an area of 26 square miles (67 square kilometers), in his journal, a two-million-word document he kept for 24 years. He also kept a series of notebooks, and these observations became the source of his late writings on natural history, such as "Autumnal Tints", "The Succession of Trees", and "Wild Apples", an essay lamenting the destruction of the local wild apple species. With

9936-526: The towns of Easthampton and Holyoke . The Metacomet Ridge continues south from the Mount Tom Range as East Mountain and east across the Connecticut River as the Holyoke Range . The Metacomet Ridge is broken to the north; the Mount Tom Range is separated from the Pocumtuck Ridge , 9 miles (14 km) away by a relatively low-lying area punctuated with occasional rises. The east side of

10044-569: The weaker sedimentary layers faster than the basalt layers, leaving the abruptly tilted edges of the basalt sheets exposed, creating the distinct linear ridge and dramatic cliff faces visible today. One way to imagine this is to picture a layer cake tilted slightly up with some of the frosting (the sedimentary layer) removed in between. The Mount Tom Range hosts a combination of microclimates unusual in New England . Dry, hot upper ridges support oak savannas , often dominated by chestnut oak and

10152-590: The word town with "city". Mayor Tautznik was elected to an eighth term in November 2010. In November 2013, Karen Cadieux was elected mayor after Mayor Tautznik did not seek reelection. In 2017, lawyer Nicole LaChapelle defeated long-time district councilor Joy Winnie to become the city's next mayor. In 2019, the city voted by referendum to adopt single-winner ranked-choice voting to elect the mayor as well as city council members from single-winner districts, while retaining plurality first-past-the-post elections for

10260-473: The work of landscape architects such as Frederick Law Olmsted , and the writings of philosophers like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson . This philosophical, artistic, and environmental movement transformed many areas of the Metacomet Ridge (as well as other places in New England) from a commercial resource to a recreational and aesthetic resource. Hotels, parks, and summer estates were built on

10368-432: The world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. Thoreau felt a need to concentrate and work more on his writing. In 1845, Ellery Channing told Thoreau, "Go out upon that, build yourself a hut, & there begin the grand process of devouring yourself alive. I see no other alternative, no other hope for you." Thus, on July 4, 1845, Thoreau embarked on

10476-827: The year. Every February the Friends of the Nashawannuck Pond host WinterFest to raise funds for Nashawannuck Pond and develop public awareness about ongoing efforts to keep the pond healthy. Thunder in the Valley is a summer music concert featuring fireworks. All proceeds are donated to the Children's Miracle Network. Every summer, MillPond.Live brings a festival series designed to unite people from all walks of life to Easthampton's Millside Park, with local and international music, food, art, and community. This festival sees thousands of attendees. Easthampton City Arts (ECA)

10584-576: Was a member of the Institute of 1770 (now the Hasty Pudding Club ). According to legend, Thoreau refused to pay the five-dollar fee (approximately equivalent to $ 153 in 2023) for a Harvard master's diploma, which he described thus: Harvard College offered it to graduates "who proved their physical worth by being alive three years after graduating, and their saving, earning, or inheriting quality or condition by having Five Dollars to give

10692-561: 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 his essay " Civil Disobedience " (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument in favor of citizen disobedience against an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, in which he anticipated

10800-563: Was built to serve children in the New City section of town. In 1912, a new high school was built. An eight-room school was expanded in 1934, adding a gymnasium and an auditorium. After a new high school was built in 1962, this building was used for a junior high school and middle school. In 1975, it was converted for use as a grade school and renamed the Neil A. Pepin School . As of March 2023,

10908-453: Was divided into four school districts. By the middle of the 19th century, the town offered over twelve small schools. Over the following century, the town began to reduce the number of small schools and to build schools suited for higher volume. In 1897, an eight-room school was constructed on Maple Street. The Maple Street School was later enlarged to 16 rooms. The junior high school was consolidated here from 1950 to 1962. After 1962, this school

11016-556: Was dying, Thoreau's last words were "Now comes good sailing", followed by two lone words, "moose" and "Indian". He died on May 6, 1862, at age 44. Amos Bronson Alcott planned the service and read selections from Thoreau's works, and Channing presented a hymn. Emerson wrote the eulogy spoken at the funeral. Thoreau was buried in the Dunbar family plot; his remains and those of members of his immediate family were eventually moved to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Most of

11124-420: Was first settled by European immigrants beginning in 1664 as the village of Pascommuck and was originally part of Northampton. On 24 May 1704 during Queen Anne's War , a party of 72 Native Americans attacked the village, killing 19 of 38 residents. The village was soon resettled, and by 1785, Easthampton was established as a "district" by Massachusetts (a former type of political entity with less independence than

11232-525: Was held in September 2023 and will return in 2024). Easthampton also features several Open Studios throughout the year, hosted by various artists and studios located in some of the city's many converted mill buildings. Cottage Street Open Studios will take place in May, and Eastworks Open Studios will take place in November. Henry David Thoreau This is an accepted version of this page Active Defunct Publications Works Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862)

11340-421: Was insignificant and unnecessary, and cost more than it came to. A little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well, with less trouble and filth." Thoreau neither rejected civilization nor fully embraced wilderness. Instead he sought a middle ground, the pastoral realm that integrates nature and culture. His philosophy required that he be a didactic arbitrator between the wilderness he based so much on and

11448-646: Was never rebuilt; in 1902 the property became the first parcel to become the Mount Tom State Reservation. In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps assisted with the construction of reservation structures and park roads still existent through the turn of the 21st century. In 1897 the Holyoke Street Railway Company began constructing what would become known as "Mountain Park", a trolley park and later an amusement park on

11556-454: Was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to

11664-427: Was used for elementary classes. Mount Holyoke College graduate Sarah Chapin, the last principal of girls at Williston Seminary, became the town's first high school principal in 1864. Chapin designed the initial curriculum, and served as principal until ill health in 1891. She retired with the class of 1901 and died that summer. In 1864, Williston Seminary decided to stop offering classes for girls. The town constructed

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