In this book, W. Barksdale Maynard has crafted a biography of Waldon Pond, interweaving social, cultural, and environmental history. He details the geography of the pond, Thoreau and Emerson's experiences at the place over their lifetimes, and the development of the cult pf Thoreau and the growth of the pond as a site of literary and spirtual pilgramages. Waldon's zoning as a park and the subject of a famous court case, and the ecological symbol it has become
today. It is illustrated with original maps of Thoreau Country and historic photographs, amny of them never before published.