March 19, 2004

'Walden Pond: A History'

By NINA C. AYOUB

For 150 years, readers of Walden have imagined the place where Henry David Thoreau sought solitude. Actually visiting, however, many have been shocked. Walden Pond is really a lake. Sixty-one watery acres of New England understatement greet Thoreauvian pilgrims. If the weather is hot, thousands of swimmers and picnickers may greet them as well.Visions of a tiny aquatic jewel in sylvan isolation give way to more-complex and, in fact, longstanding realities.

Both those images and

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