Walking Towards Walden

One Columbus Day, John Mitchell made an "Americana" pilgrimage, from an ancient burial site, along the Great Road used during the Revolution by the minutemen, 15 miles to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the home of Thoreau, Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and Emerson. This is the account of the trip.

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If there is such a thing as an Americana pilgrimage, it must be to Concord. One brilliant Columbus Day, John Mitchell made just such a pilgrimage, from an ancient burial site, along the Great Road followed during the Revolution by the minutemen, fifteen miles to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and the home not only of Thoreau but of Hawthorne, the Alcotts, and Emerson. Along the way of this delightful narrative, natural and human history converge and we begin to understand what is meant by a sense of place and why this landscape is our countrys sacred site.