Thoreau Alliance 2026 Online Auction
2026-03-01 - 2026-03-31
Join us for our annual online auction, taking place March 1–31, 2026, and bid on an exciting array of fun, unique, and one-of-a-kind items—all while supporting two mission-driven organizations.
Each year, we bring together extraordinary experiences and exclusive offerings generously donated by our community partners. Past contributors have included the Museum of American Bird Art, Mount Vernon, the Worcester Red Sox, Gropius House (part of Historic New England), and Arrowhead, the historic home of Herman Melville. From cultural experiences and historic tours to sports packages and special-access opportunities, there’s something for everyone.
Proceeds from the auction directly support the shared mission of the Thoreau Society and Thoreau Farm. Funds raised help advance cutting-edge scholarship, preserve the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau, provide educational programs throughout the year, and inspire all to engage deeply with Thoreau’s enduring legacy.
Donations are welcome at any time. If you would like to contribute an item—or suggest one for this year’s auction—please email info@thoreaualliance.org.
Mark your calendar and get ready to bid for a cause this March!
Special thanks to our auction sponsor The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (Princeton Edition)!

Look for items from:

Thoreau Farm Reading Group: "A Natural History of Massachusetts"
2026-03-19 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Spring 2026 Series: Exploring Thoreau’s Essays Together
One Thursday per month. One essay per meeting.
March 19: A Natural History of Massachusetts

Register

Other Reading Group sessions:
April 16: Moon and Moonlight
May 21: A Walk to Wachusett
June 18: Slavery in Massachusetts

At Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA
6:00 pm – light refreshments, socializing (and reading the essay, if you haven’t yet)
7:00 pm – lively discussion

FREE (suggested donation: $5/session)
Registration encouraged, drop-ins welcome. Essays will be provided digitally to registered participants and some printed copies will be available on-site during the events.
Join us at Thoreau Farm for a new monthly reading group exploring the essays of Henry David Thoreau—works originally delivered as public lectures and still deeply relevant today. Each session will center on a selected essay, inviting lively conversation around Thoreau’s views on nature, society, and moral responsibility.
This informal, community-focused series welcomes readers of all backgrounds—no prior experience with Thoreau necessary. Come each month or drop in as you’re able. Readings will be drawn from The Essays of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Lewis Hyde, who may join us for select sessions.
Discussions will be led by Richard Smith and Amity Wilczek.
Dr. Amity Wilczek is an evolutionary ecologist whose role as an educator and researcher has been shaped by attention to place, history, and student experience. Her teaching career started at Harvard and Brown before transitioning to Deep Springs College, where over 10 years she served as Herbert Reich Chair of Natural Sciences, Academic Dean, and Vice President. Many of the courses she has offered feature Thoreau’s writings. Her research on plant responses to changing environments has appeared in Science, Ecology, and many other journals. Amity currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts and saunters in Thoreau country at every opportunity.
Richard Smith is a Public Historian in Concord, Massachusetts and has been portraying Henry Thoreau for over 20 years. While he spends most of his time (as Thoreau) at Walden Pond, he also travels a great deal, and has performed as Thoreau across the country and in Canada. In addition, Richard has written eleven books (including two about Thoreau) for Applewood Books.
Let’s walk together through Thoreau’s words and ideas—deliberately and in good company.

My Wild Life: Peter Alden Shares his Memoir
2026-03-27 19:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Register to Attend IN PERSON

After traveling to more than 100 countries in pursuit of rare birds, Peter Alden has accumulated a lifetime of remarkable stories. Beginning in the 1960s—long before nature travel and birding tourism were widely popular—he led groups of adventurous travelers to remote corners of the globe, from tented safaris to small-boat expeditions across all seven continents and the seven seas.
Over the course of his career, he helped pioneer many of the earliest birding, wildlife, and cultural tours, scouting destinations and designing journeys to places rarely visited by outsiders. Along the way, he encountered unforgettable landscapes, extraordinary birds, and more than a few strange and surprising moments.
In this lively talk, he shares highlights from decades of exploration and introduces his memoir, filled with the stories, humor, and adventures that come from a lifetime spent chasing birds around the world. Attendees will leave with a glimpse into a pioneering era of nature travel—and plenty of tales to enjoy.
We are also offering this program streaming online. If you prefer to attend virtually, please Register on Zoom

Super Cup Fungus Foray with Lawrence Millman
2026-03-29 14:00 - 16:00 | Hapgood-Wright Forest, Walden Street, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
THIS EVENT WAS RESCHEDULED FROM FEBRUARY 15
Register
Mycologist and author of Fascinating Fungi of New England, Fungipedia, Lawrence Millman, will be the foray leader on a mushroom identification walk in Hapgood-Wright Forest.
Scheduled this year to NOT conflict with the Super Bowl, the Super Cup Fungus Foray offers much excitement for those with a sporting spirit. We will be searching not only for super cup fungi, but also other interesting winter species. The focus will be on ecology and not, definitely not, edibility!

Author and Arctic explorer Lawrence Millman has written 18 books, including such titles as Our Like Will Not Be There Again, Last Places, Hiking to Siberia, At the End of the World, Fascinating Fungi of New England, Fungipedia, and Goodbye, Ice. He is also a contributor to Thoreau Farm’​s book: What Would Henry Do? Volume II. He has visited Henry’s grave more times than he’s visited either his mother’s or his father’s graves. He lives in Cambridge.

Thoreau Documentary: Talk with the Experts
2026-04-12 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-05-13 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-06-14 14:00 - 15:00 | Zoom
Register
Join leading Thoreau scholars featured in the new documentary for a free public webinar exploring the documentary.
In this lively conversation, the experts who helped shape the film will reflect on the themes introduced in the opening episode, discuss the historical context surrounding Henry David Thoreau, and share additional insights from the making of the documentary. This is an opportunity to hear directly from the scholars who appear in the film as they unpack the ideas, landscapes, and questions that frame the series.
The conversation will include time for audience questions.
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
Ken Burns presents Henry David Thoreau, a film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers premieres on PBS on March 30 (Episodes 1 and 2) and March 31, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings).

Thoreau Farm Reading Group: "Moon and Moonlight"
2026-04-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Spring 2026 Series: Exploring Thoreau’s Essays Together
One Thursday per month. One essay per meeting.
April 16: Moon and Moonlight

Register

Other Reading Group sessions:
March 19: A Natural History of Massachusetts
May 21: A Walk to Wachusett
June 18: Slavery in Massachusetts

At Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA
6:00 pm – light refreshments, socializing (and reading the essay, if you haven’t yet)
7:00 pm – lively discussion

FREE (suggested donation: $5/session)
Registration encouraged, drop-ins welcome. Essays will be provided digitally to registered participants and some printed copies will be available on-site during the events.
Join us at Thoreau Farm for a new monthly reading group exploring the essays of Henry David Thoreau—works originally delivered as public lectures and still deeply relevant today. Each session will center on a selected essay, inviting lively conversation around Thoreau’s views on nature, society, and moral responsibility.
This informal, community-focused series welcomes readers of all backgrounds—no prior experience with Thoreau necessary. Come each month or drop in as you’re able. Readings will be drawn from The Essays of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Lewis Hyde, who may join us for select sessions.
Discussions will be led by Richard Smith and Amity Wilczek.
Dr. Amity Wilczek is an evolutionary ecologist whose role as an educator and researcher has been shaped by attention to place, history, and student experience. Her teaching career started at Harvard and Brown before transitioning to Deep Springs College, where over 10 years she served as Herbert Reich Chair of Natural Sciences, Academic Dean, and Vice President. Many of the courses she has offered feature Thoreau’s writings. Her research on plant responses to changing environments has appeared in Science, Ecology, and many other journals. Amity currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts and saunters in Thoreau country at every opportunity.
Richard Smith is a Public Historian in Concord, Massachusetts and has been portraying Henry Thoreau for over 20 years. While he spends most of his time (as Thoreau) at Walden Pond, he also travels a great deal, and has performed as Thoreau across the country and in Canada. In addition, Richard has written eleven books (including two about Thoreau) for Applewood Books.
Let’s walk together through Thoreau’s words and ideas—deliberately and in good company.

Walden For Hire: A Conversation with Ken Lizotte
2026-04-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Register to Attend
Join us for an inspiring evening exploring the entrepreneurial spirit of one of America’s most original minds: Henry David Thoreau.**
Best known for his reflections on simple living and principled resistance, Thoreau is rarely recognized for something equally compelling—his sharp business instincts and inventive professional life. In this dynamic author talk, bestselling author Ken Lizotte reveals the surprising lessons hidden within Thoreau’s career and philosophy, drawn from his groundbreaking book Walden for Hire.
While many associate Thoreau with Transcendentalism and his iconic work Walden, or his influential essay Civil Disobedience, this talk uncovers a different dimension: Thoreau as an innovative professional, creative problem-solver, and quietly successful entrepreneur.
Discover how Thoreau:

Turned curiosity into opportunity
Approached farming, manufacturing, surveying, and writing with bold experimentation
Built multiple income streams on his own terms
Modeled independence long before the modern gig economy

Lizotte brings to life Thoreau’s unconventional methods—revealing a man who didn’t just reject the status quo, but redesigned it.
The book also features a special conversation with Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, Codirectors of Henry David Thoreau, a three-part PBS documentary that reexamines Thoreau’s life and enduring influence.
Whether you’re a business leader, solopreneur, student of history, or simply someone seeking a more intentional professional path, this event offers fresh insight into how one 19th-century thinker continues to shape modern innovation.
Come prepared to rethink everything you thought you knew about Thoreau—and to leave with practical, timeless strategies for carving your own unconventional path.
We are delighted to also offer online access to this event. To attend virtually Register on Zoom
This event is part of The Write Connection at Thoreau Farm, our literary series of programs.

The American Chestnut: A Conversation with Donald Davis
2026-05-03 14:00 - 15:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Register to Attend
Before 1910, the American chestnut was one of the most common—and cherished—trees in the eastern United States. Its rot-resistant wood framed barns and fences; its abundant nuts fed wildlife, livestock, and families. Then a blight fungus arrived, and within decades the species was functionally extinct across its native range—an ecological catastrophe and a cultural loss still felt today.
Join environmental historian Donald Edward Davis for a compelling conversation about this once-dominant tree and the long story of its rise, fall, and possible return. Drawing from The American Chestnut: An Environmental History, Davis traces the chestnut’s place in Native American life, early American industry, and everyday culture—and examines modern restoration efforts, from breeding programs to genetic research.
For readers of Henry David Thoreau—who walked among chestnuts in Concord and understood forests as living communities—this story resonates deeply. What does it mean when a foundational species disappears? And what might restoration teach us about attention, responsibility, and hope?

This event can also be joined virtually. To attend online Register on Zoom

This event is part of The Write Connection at Thoreau Farm, our literary series of programs.

Thoreau Farm Reading Group: "A Walk to Wachusett"
2026-05-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Spring 2026 Series: Exploring Thoreau’s Essays Together
One Thursday per month. One essay per meeting.
May 21: A Walk to Wachusett

Register

Other Reading Group sessions:
April 16: Moon and Moonlight
March 19: A Natural History of Massachusetts
June 18: Slavery in Massachusetts

At Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA
6:00 pm – light refreshments, socializing (and reading the essay, if you haven’t yet)
7:00 pm – lively discussion

FREE (suggested donation: $5/session)
Registration encouraged, drop-ins welcome. Essays will be provided digitally to registered participants and some printed copies will be available on-site during the events.
Join us at Thoreau Farm for a new monthly reading group exploring the essays of Henry David Thoreau—works originally delivered as public lectures and still deeply relevant today. Each session will center on a selected essay, inviting lively conversation around Thoreau’s views on nature, society, and moral responsibility.
This informal, community-focused series welcomes readers of all backgrounds—no prior experience with Thoreau necessary. Come each month or drop in as you’re able. Readings will be drawn from The Essays of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Lewis Hyde, who may join us for select sessions.
Discussions will be led by Richard Smith and Amity Wilczek.
Dr. Amity Wilczek is an evolutionary ecologist whose role as an educator and researcher has been shaped by attention to place, history, and student experience. Her teaching career started at Harvard and Brown before transitioning to Deep Springs College, where over 10 years she served as Herbert Reich Chair of Natural Sciences, Academic Dean, and Vice President. Many of the courses she has offered feature Thoreau’s writings. Her research on plant responses to changing environments has appeared in Science, Ecology, and many other journals. Amity currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts and saunters in Thoreau country at every opportunity.
Richard Smith is a Public Historian in Concord, Massachusetts and has been portraying Henry Thoreau for over 20 years. While he spends most of his time (as Thoreau) at Walden Pond, he also travels a great deal, and has performed as Thoreau across the country and in Canada. In addition, Richard has written eleven books (including two about Thoreau) for Applewood Books.
Let’s walk together through Thoreau’s words and ideas—deliberately and in good company.

Thoreau Prize Honoring Ross Gay
2026-06-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Register to Attend

The Thoreau Alliance announces that Ross Gay is the winner of the 2026 Henry David Thoreau Prize for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing.
On June 14, 2026, Gay will appear in Concord, Massachusetts, to accept the Thoreau Prize and deliver an address at the Trinitarian Congregational (TriCon) Church on Walden Street.
Through his writing, Ross Gay reminds us to notice the small wonders of life, to approach the world with curiosity, and to find delight in the ordinary—expanding what we think of as nature writing in ways that are both tender, insightful, and exuberant.
He is the author of four books of poetry—Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His three essay collections—The Book of Delights (2019), Inciting Joy (2022), and The Book of (More) Delights (2023)—invite readers into the attentive, joyful world he so thoughtfully renders.
In doing so, he shows that gratitude, curiosity, and delight are themselves a way of being fully present—a sensibility that echoes Thoreau’s attentiveness to nature, his reverence for the small details of daily life, and his belief that wonder is essential to living well.
The Thoreau Prize, established in 2010 by nature writer Dale Peterson and administered by the Thoreau Society (now the Thoreau Alliance) since 2020, is awarded annually to a writer who, like Henry David Thoreau, speaks for nature with insight, eloquence, and ethical depth. Past recipients include Jane Goodall, Drew Lanham, Mary Oliver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer.

This program will be free for students and educators. Contact info@thoreaualliance.org to register.
Details about online access to follow.
The Thoreau Alliance does not exclude anyone because of the inability to pay. Please contact rebecca@thoreaualliance.org to request reduced rates.

Thoreau Farm Reading Group: "Slavery in Massachusetts"
2026-06-18 18:00 - 20:00 | Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Spring 2026 Series: Exploring Thoreau’s Essays Together
One Thursday per month. One essay per meeting.
June 18: Slavery in Massachusetts

Register

Other Reading Group sessions:
April 16: Moon and Moonlight
March 19: A Natural History of Massachusetts
May 21: A Walk to Wachusett

At Thoreau Farm, 341 Virginia Road, Concord, MA
6:00 pm – light refreshments, socializing (and reading the essay, if you haven’t yet)
7:00 pm – lively discussion

FREE (suggested donation: $5/session)
Registration encouraged, drop-ins welcome. Essays will be provided digitally to registered participants and some printed copies will be available on-site during the events.
Join us at Thoreau Farm for a new monthly reading group exploring the essays of Henry David Thoreau—works originally delivered as public lectures and still deeply relevant today. Each session will center on a selected essay, inviting lively conversation around Thoreau’s views on nature, society, and moral responsibility.
This informal, community-focused series welcomes readers of all backgrounds—no prior experience with Thoreau necessary. Come each month or drop in as you’re able. Readings will be drawn from The Essays of Henry David Thoreau, edited by Lewis Hyde, who may join us for select sessions.
Discussions will be led by Richard Smith and Amity Wilczek.
Dr. Amity Wilczek is an evolutionary ecologist whose role as an educator and researcher has been shaped by attention to place, history, and student experience. Her teaching career started at Harvard and Brown before transitioning to Deep Springs College, where over 10 years she served as Herbert Reich Chair of Natural Sciences, Academic Dean, and Vice President. Many of the courses she has offered feature Thoreau’s writings. Her research on plant responses to changing environments has appeared in Science, Ecology, and many other journals. Amity currently lives in Concord, Massachusetts and saunters in Thoreau country at every opportunity.
Richard Smith is a Public Historian in Concord, Massachusetts and has been portraying Henry Thoreau for over 20 years. While he spends most of his time (as Thoreau) at Walden Pond, he also travels a great deal, and has performed as Thoreau across the country and in Canada. In addition, Richard has written eleven books (including two about Thoreau) for Applewood Books.
Let’s walk together through Thoreau’s words and ideas—deliberately and in good company.

85th Thoreau Society Annual Gathering
2026-07-08 - 2026-07-12 | Trinity Episcopal Church, 81 Elm Street, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Living Well: Thoreau, Health, and Flourishing
“Nature is but another name for health,” Thoreau wrote in “Huckleberries,” an essay he left unpublished at his death at age 44 from tuberculosis. Thoreau celebrated health even as he battled his final illness. He found ways to flourish in spite of a body, and a society, that was anything but well. In our own time, when civic and natural ailments are both chronic and acute, what can Thoreau, and his time, show us about the conditions that promote flourishing—physical, mental, spiritual, social, ecological—as well as the conditions that hinder or prevent it? How can we be well in a troubled world? How can we live well in troubled times? For the 2026 Annual Gathering, we will explore some of the many aspects of health in Thoreau’s world and ours.
