20 Fascinating Henry David Thoreau Facts that Will Leave You Amaze

Welcome, little fact explorers, to take a look at the life and contribution of one of the most famous scientists, poets, and naturalists of America, Henry David Thoreau😲!

From being the writer of the famous essay “Civil Disobedience” to becoming a vital contributor to the American philosophical and literary movement, this famous person has several fascinating facts to offer!

This article will provide some wonderful facts about Henry David Thoreau that will amaze you!

Let us begin the fascinating fact-revelation!

Interesting Henry David Thoreau Facts

Henry David Thoreau: This famous person was born in Concord, Massachusetts

The famous philosopher, poet, naturalist, and environmental scientist was born in Concord, Massachusetts. 

His father was a pencil maker named John Thoreau, and his mother was Cynthia Dunbar. 

Henry had two older siblings, Helen and John Jr, and a younger sister Sophia Thoreau. 

Henry’s father was of French Protestant descent, and Henry got his name David Henry after his recently deceased paternal uncle, David Thoreau.

Another interesting fact about Thoreau is that his parental grandfather Asa Danbury led the first recorded student rebellion in 1766 in Harvard called the ‘Butter Rebellion.’

Thoreau and his physical appearance

Want to know what Thoreau looked like? Let me tell you this secret.

Thoreau had a distinctive look, with a nose that he called his “most prominent feature.”

According to Ellery Channing, “His face, once seen, could not be forgotten.”

Thoreau accidentally started a fire at the age of 26

Henry David Thoreau accidentally started a major forest fire on April 30, 1844, in the Concord woods!! 

This happened when he was cooking fish that he had caught with his friend. 

The fire spread so fast with the help of wind that it eventually destroyed around 300 acres of forest and almost destroyed Concord! 

The Concord Freeman, the local newspaper, chastised Thoreau for his ‘thoughtlessness’ and estimated the damages as over $2000. 

In a journal entry in 1850, Thoreau described how the earth was ‘uncommonly dry’ because there was no rain and how the fire ‘spread rapidly.’ 

Henry David Thoreau: Most of us are probably mispronouncing the name

I am really amazed to learn this interesting fact about Thoreau!

David Henry Thoreau took birth on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts.

 Later, after graduating from Harvard, Thoreau switched his first and middle name, though his legal name was always David Henry.

Although most people today pronounce his surname Thoreau with the emphasis on the second syllable, he himself most likely pronounces it as “THOR-oh.” 

Edward, son of Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote that the accent on Thoreau’s name was usually on the first syllable, and many of his friends called him “Mr. Thorough.”

Harvard College: Thoreau studied here

Between 1833 and 1837, Thoreau studied at Harvard College 🏛️. 

He took courses in classics, rhetoric, mathematics, philosophy, ad also science and lived in Hollis Hall. 

He was a member of the Institute of 1770, now famous as the Hasty Pudding Club.

According to legend, Thoreau refused to pay the fee of five-dollar (equivalent to $147 in 2022) for a Harvard master’s diploma. 

The traditional professions open to graduates -the church, law, medicine, and business, did not interest Thoreau. 

Thus, in 1835, he took a leave of absence, and during that time, he taught at a school in Canton, Massachusetts. 

Thoreau: He and his brother proposed to the same woman

In 1839, Thoreau wrote in his journal that he fell in love with Ellen Sewall, an 18-year-old girl👩 from Cape Cod.

Later, in 1840, John Thoreau’s older brother proposed marriage to Sewall but got rejected! 

So, Thoreau wrote a letter to Sewall proposing that she marry him instead. 

However, Sewall rejected him too, probably due to her family’s disapproval of Thoreau and his family’s liberal views on Christianity!

 Thoreau invented a machine to improve pencils

Did you know this amazing secret about Henry David Thoreau? No? Let me explain.

In the 1820s, Thoreau’s father began manufacturing black-lead pencils. 

Between his works of surveying land, teaching students, and even working as a handyman, Thoreau made money by working for the pencil business of his family. 

After researching German techniques for making pencils✏️, Thoreau invented a special grinding machine that created better quality plumbago. 

It was a mixture of graphite, lead, and clay inside a pencil. 

After the death of his father, Thoreau took charge of his family’s pencil company. 

Henry was a minimalist

Thoreau wrote about the benefits of living a minimalistic, simple lifestyle. 

In his famous book Walden, he wrote about giving up luxuries of daily life in order to quiet the mind and have some time for thinking. 

He wrote, “My greatest skill has been to want but little.” 

Also, Thoreau related his love of simplicity to the craft of writing. 

He wrote, “It is the fault of some excellent writers…that they express themselves with too great fullness and great. 

They give the most accurate, natural, and lifelike account of their mental and physical sensations, but they lack moderation and sententiousness.”

Thoreau’s house at Walden Pond: It became a pigsty later

After Thoreau left the house he built in 1847 in Walden Pond, the structure went through several iterations. 

He even sold the house to Emerson, and later Emerson sold it to his gardener! 

As the gardener never moved in, the house remained empty until in 1849, a farmer, James Clark bought it. 

Clark moved it to his farm nearby and used it to store grain. In 1868, the building’s roof was removed from the base and used to cover a pigsty🐖. 

Later, the rest of the structure was utilized as a shed and the timber was used in his barn.

Speculation about Thoreau’s sexuality

Have you heard this unique fact about Thoreau?

Despite the incident regarding his proposal to Ellen Sewell, some biographers and historians speculate that Thoreau was gay. 

He never married, reportedly preferred celibacy, and even his journals reveal references to male bodies but no female ones.

One scholar even said that he wrote the poem to Edmund, as he couldn’t bring himself to write it to Anna, Edmund’s sister. 

The Boston Society of Natural History: Thoreau donated his collections to this institute

The Boston Society of Natural History received a huge gift, after Thoreau’s death. 

Thoreau, a member of the society gave it his collections of Indian antiquities, plants, and birds’ nests, and eggs🥚!

The plants were pressed and numbered, and there were actually over 1000 species!! 

Moreover, the Native American antiquities included several stone weapons that Thoreau had collected while walking in Concord. Quite impressive, isn’t it?

 Thoreau was praised for his originality

I am really impressed to learn this interesting fact about Henry David Thoreau! What about you my friend?

In the year 1862, newspapers reported the news of Thoreau’s death. 

Obituaries for the 44-year-old writer came out in The Liberator📰, The Boston Transcript, The Boston Journal, The Boston Daily Advertiser, The Salem Observer, and The New York Daily Tribune. 

These described Thoreau as an “eccentric author” and also “one of the most original thinkers our country has produced.”

Thoreau even took copious notes

Want to explore an interesting fact about Thoreau?

Although Thoreau was a minimalist, he wrote an abundance of ideas and notes in his journals, letters, and essays! 

He jotted down his observations of nature, taking detailed notes about everything from how plant seeds spread across the land to the changing temperature of Walden Pond, as well as animal behavior.

In addition to his plethora of environmental data and notes, Thoreau also collected hundreds of bird’s eggs and specimens of plants 🌳.

 Despite popular misconception, Thoreau was not a loner

Historians have debunked the popular misconception that Thoreau was a selfish hermit who lived alone, while being away from other people. 

Instead of being a loner, Thoreau was an individualist who was quite close to his family and lived with Emerson’s family for years.

He even got help from his friends, including Bronson Alcott and Emerson, to construct his cabin in the woods. 

During his stay in the woods, he often visited friends, entertained guests, and walked to the nearby town of Concord.  

Moreover, a large group of friends attended Thoreau’s funeral at First Parish Church in Concord.

Don Henley of the Eagles: Meet a huge fan of Thoreau

As a big fan of Transcendentalism and Thoreau, musician Don Henley of the Eagles began the Walden Woods Project in 1990. 

He started this to stop 68 acres of Walden Woods to become offices and condominiums. 

The project became a success, and today, The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization that preserves Thoreau’s legacy, conserves Walden Woods, and manages an archive of Thoreau’s maps, books, manuscripts, and letters. 

Henley, in an interview with Preservation Magazine, described the importance of preserving Walden Woods. 

Thoreau in 1846: He spent a night in jail

On July 24 or 25, 1846, Thoreau ran into Sam Staples, the local tax collector. 

Sam asked Thoreau to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. 

Thoreau refused this due to his opposition to the Mexican-American War and slavery. 

Hence, he had to spend a night in jail because of this refusal!! 

The next morning, Thoreau was freed, when a person, likely to have been his aunt paid the tax, against his wishes. 

This strange experience had quite a strong impact on Thoreau, and later he even explained his tax resistance at the Concord Lyceum.

Henry and his two sisters died of tuberculosis

I am very sad to learn this unfortunate fact about Henry David Thoreau!!

Henry’s elder sister Helen died ⚰️at age 37 from tuberculosis, and younger sister Sophia died at age 56 of the same ailment. Henry himself died of tuberculosis at age 44. 

Only Henry’s elder brother died of tetanus after cutting himself while shaving at age 27.

Thoreau’s birthplace still exists on Concord’s Virginia Road

The birthplace of this world-famous naturalist and philosopher still exists on Virginia Road in Concord! 

The Thoreau Farm Trust has restored the house. The Thoreau Farm Trust is a non-profit organization and is open to the public now.

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers: Thoreau completed its first draft at Walden Pond

Did you know this wonderful fact about Thoreau? No? Let me explain.

Thoreau completed the first draft of his famous elegy to his brother John called A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers at Walden Pond. 

In this, Thoreau described their trip to the White Mountains⛰️ in the year 1839. 

However, he did not find a publisher for his book and printed 1000 copies at his own expense, and fewer than 300 copies were sold.

Thoreau’s only travel outside the United States

In the summer of the year 1850, Thoreau and Channing journeyed from Boston to Quebec City and Montreal. 

These could be called Thoreau’s only travels outside the country of the United States✈️.

After enjoying this trip, he developed his lectures that eventually formed A Yankee in Canada.

Thoreau even jested that all he received from this adventure ‘was a cold.’ Interesting, isn’t it?

Summing up

Henry David Thoreau….isn’t the person and facts regarding him wonderful 😲!

We have tried to collect as much information about him as possible…so that your treasure of knowledge is enhanced.

Hope you liked them😲!!