Thoreau Country: Location Note

The Beech Spring at the foot of Pine Hill (Lincoln, Mass.)

The Beech Spring (on private property) is hidden at the foot of Pine Hill near the new Thoreau Institute. It emerges from under the roots of a large, old beech. Thoreau would visit Pine Hill often, for it was just east of Walden Pond. I can find in Thoreau's writings only one reference to the Beech Spring, however: On May 15, 1856, he wrote of clearing out the spring, i.e., removing the leaves and other debris that may have accumulated over the winter. This annual country custom kept the spring flowing freely and reduced the silt that would cloud the water when it was dipped. The custom may have been even then falling into disuse in Concord as the area gradually became less rural, so Thoreau's reference to "important work" may have been ironic. In 2002, the spring is covered by fallen limbs. Thoreau's journal entry follows:

"Cleared out the Beech Spring, which is a copious one. So I have done some service, though it was a wet and muddy job. Cleared out a spring while you have been to the wars. Now that warmer days make the traveller thirsty, this becomes an important work. This spring was filled and covered with a great mass of beech leaves, amid and beneath which, damp and wet as they were, were myriads of snow-fleas and also their white exuvi; the latter often whitening a whole leaf, mixed with live ones. It looks as if for coolness and moisture --which the snow had afforded-- they were compelled to take refuge here."

The Beech Spring flows from this old beech into all this greenery. Stepping stones lead to the verge.

On the day this photo was taken, my companion and I saw a rare hybrid warbler, the Lawrence's Warbler, which perched for a moment on the bush just above the Beech Spring. Up until 1980, it had been recorded only about 35 times in Massachusetts. The species has been seen more frequently in the last decade (i.e., it is now observed in the state a couple of times a year) because of a changing mix in the warbler gene pool.

It was an interesting bird, gorgeous in the dappled sunlight, and was a good omen for this verdant place.

The path to the Beech Spring in Walden Woods. This moist, green trench of valley (Lincoln conservation land) lies a few feet to the north of the Beech Spring and is to the east of the Beech Forest on Pine Hill. It was blasted out by a rush of glacial meltwater, when an upstream ice dam melted. It is a wonderful habitat contrast to the drier Pine Hill.

 [Photos by S. Ells in 1995.]
<http://homepage.mac.com/sfe/henry/index.html>

Epilogue. Unfortunately in the spring and summer of 2002, the Beech Spring was very much changed by a backhoe. For information, click here.