Woods Burner

The Boston Globe has a story linking Henry David Thoreau's Walden and a forest fire that occurred that may have pushed Thoreau to write it.

From the story...

"Walden" established Thoreau's reputation as one of America's great literary figures, and to this day, both the book and the pond are synonymous with naturalism, environmentalism, and the austere pursuit of self-reliance.

So what finally motivated Thoreau to leave the comforts of his family home and embark on this radical experiment? The most common explanation is that Thoreau did so at the urgings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Ellery Channing, and other friends who were eager to see a promising young man fulfill his potential.

But there is one curious event in the life of Henry David Thoreau that has received little attention, and which may have been a formative event, influencing not only his decision to sequester himself at Walden Pond, but also the development of his environmentalist philosophy.