ALONG with botany and zoology, geography was clearly one of Henry Thoreau’s lifelong avocations. Most of his writings represent “the pleasure of poetry” that geography afforded, so the maps in this Gazetteer are presumably some of the “bald natural facts” that served as his raw material. The two elements, poetry and fact, mingled constantly in Thoreau’s work and affected his personal behavior. That he was a stickler for accuracy and detail, for example, probably explains why he was a reliable surveyor. He enjoyed surveying, for no other job gave him the same freedom to set his own hours and places...

WITH the exception of his Minnesota journey, this map represents all of Thoreau’s travels between the years 1836 and 1861. The routes of his most important trips—those of several weeks’ duration—are indicated, while the numerals refer to succeeding maps in theGazetteer.The map was drawn from sources contemporary with Thoreau’s time, but the spelling of place names follows Thoreau’s own usage; e.g., “Plattsburg” for Plattsburgh.

As this map indicates, travel was a fundamental part of Thoreau’s life. Lecturing took him over most of eastern Massachusetts, surveying brought him south to New Jersey, while curiosity—and later, the...

DRAWN by Thoreau himself, this map depicts the route of his first long journey, a voyage up river with his brother John in the late summer of 1839. Scaled originally at an eighth of an inch per mile (approx. 1:500,000),* the map extends from Concord, Massachusetts in the south (abbreviated “Con”) to New Hampshire’s White Mountains in the north. Thoreau represented the brothers’ nightly camping spots with small triangles, or tents, at the following locations: Billerica, Tyngsborough, Nashville, Bedford, Hooksett, and Concord, New Hampshire. This part of the journey was by boat; it took six days to complete—from Saturday,...

THOREAU first surveyed Walden Pond during the winter of 1846. He recorded his findings in a preliminary sketch and then shortly thereafter completed this fair copy. Mounted on cardboard, the map measures 16¼ by 20½ inches and contains a scale of ten rods to the inch (approx. 1:2,000). Thoreau has indicated features that will be familiar to readers ofWalden:his “house” near the northwest cove, the Fitchburg Railroad tracks on the southwest, and the wooded peaks—one “about 85 ft. high”—of the north side. Readers should note that north in this map is toward the bottom edge

Thoreau’s...

THOREAU’S three journeys to the Maine interior (1846, 1853, 1857) were more than simple vacation excursions. On each trip he explored the wilderness and studied Indian culture, seeking always to clarify his ideas about America’s past, present, and future. He traveled various routes by a variety of means: buggy, train, steamer, canoe, and on foot; but each time he came back convinced that his basic faith in nature was still justified. The woods were a place of “perpetual youth” and “the raw material of all our civilization”; the Indian who lived in their midst was a reminder that “intelligence flows...

VARIETY was the hallmark of Thoreau’s four journeys to Cape Cod. In 1849 he traveled with Channing by train from Bridgewater to Sandwich, by stage to Orleans, and by foot to Provincetown. During their walk, the two men visited Eastham, Wellfleet, and Highland Light. In 1850 Thoreau returned to Provincetown, this time alone, and walked as far south as Chatham before returning for the Boston steamer. During their brief stay in 1855, Thoreau and Channing confined themselves to the northern end of the peninsula: their longest hike that year was to North Truro. Thoreau’s farewell visit in 1857 was much...

THOREAU’S trip to Canada in 1850 was a disappointing venture, mostly because he was not able to study the terrain carefully in advance. Maps were a particular problem; adequate ones were just not available in Concord at the time. As compensation he copied Canadian maps while on the trip and asked natives to suggest additional details. After his return, he read a number of books on Canada and studied supplementary maps at the Harvard Library. From this research he eventually produced a lecture, a full-length manuscript (pub. 1866), a voluminous notebook, and at least two original maps.

This reconstruction offers...

HERBERT W. GLEASON (1855-1937), a photographer and naturalist from Boston, drew this map for the 1906 edition of Thoreau’s completeWritings.He used Thoreau’s drawings whenever possible, interviewed older residents, and relied heavily upon his personal knowledge of the area. His photographs of local scenery also appeared in the edition; today they are still among the finest ever taken of the “Concord Country.” Gleason’s map is loyal to Thoreau’s unconventional place names and for all its detail, it is a highly accurate depiction. Two errors were noted, however, by Mrs. Caleb Wheeler in the April, 1945 issue of theThoreau...

THIS reconstruction traces the route of Thoreau’s last journey (May 11-July 9, 1861), the only one he ever made into the American interior. Accompanied by Horace Mann, Jr., he traveled westward by rail, stopping a few days at Niagara Falls and Chicago before moving on to the Mississippi River at Dunleith (now East Dubuque), Illinois. There the two men boarded the steamerItascafor a trip up river to St. Paul, where they arrived on May 26. On June 17 they embarked from St. Paul on the steamerFrank Steelefor a trip up the Minnesota River to the Lower...