Walden Pond

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Thoreau's Cove, Concord, Mass.

Walden Pond is a 102-foot (31 m) deep pond, 61 acres in area and 1.7 miles around, located in Concord, Massachusetts. A famous example of a kettlehole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 - 12,000 years ago.

The writer, transcendentalist, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau lived on the shores of the pond for two years starting in the summer of 1845. His account of the experience was recorded in Walden, or, Life in the Woods, and made the spot famous.

Boston's "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, harvested ice yearly on Walden Pond for export to the Caribbean, Europe, and India. In his journal, Thoreau philosophized upon the wintry sight of Tudor's ice harvesters: "The sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well ... The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."

Now managed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Walden Pond State Reservation is a popular swimming destination in the summer. In the spring and fall, many people hike the trails that ring the pond and visit the site of Thoreau's one-room cabin.

In 1990, Eagles member and solo artist Don Henley initiated The Walden Woods Project to prevent the area around Walden Pond from being developed.

At one point there was an amusement park built on the far end of the pond but it burnt down and was never rebuilt.^{[citation needed]}