Kaitlin Kelsch

12/14/2015
Thoreau and the Tiny, Tiny House Project
By Kaitlin Kelsch
Introduction
For my report, I chose to tell the story of Henry David Thoreau and to build a tiny, tiny house in his
honor. Why did I build a tiny, tiny house you ask? Well after we discussed Henry David Thoreau and his
famous Walden Pond experiment here in class, I really took to his story. Ive always been interested in
the philosophy of Minimalism and since I believe many of his principles and beliefs on living simply hold
true today, I thought that it would be perfect if I could build a tiny, tiny house and dedicate it to him.
I also have a great deal of experience in diorama making. I used to make a lot of dioramas for projects in
grade school and high school (never on this scale, though) and when was younger, I used to sketch a lot
of house plans for a whole lot of different things, like tree-houses and RVs. Homes like these, homes
that dont really fit the traditional, cookie-cutter mold, really fascinate me. And since my Dad just so
happens to be a professional architect, I knew that I would have plenty of resources to help me if
pursued this as a project.
About Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was born David Henry Thoreau on July 12th, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. His
father, John Thoreau, ran a pencil factory and his mother Cynthia Dunbar, rented out parts of the
familys home out to boarders. He also grew up with two older siblings, John and Helen, and a younger
sister named Sophia. Henry was very close to his brother, who became a major influence on both his
works and his life. Later, while living at Walden Pond and after John passed away suddenly from lockjaw
in 1842, he would write his first novel about a boating trip he and John took in 1839 up the Concord and
Merrimack rivers to Mount Washington in New Hampshire.
Thoreau attended Harvard College (which later became Harvard University) and there he studied Greek
and Latin as well as German. Despite having had to drop out for several months for financial and health
reasons, he graduated in the top half of his class in 1837. He had a difficult time afterwards deciding
what path in life he should pursue, but since both Helen and John were teachers, he figured he was
quite suited to the profession and became a teacher at Concords local public school. He was fired after
only two weeks teaching there, however, after he refused to carry out corporal punishment on a
student, and a year later, when he tried to start a private school with his brother John, the project
ground to a halt after John became ill.
So, in between the times that Thoreau was teaching (and in other spots in his life, as well) Henry went to
work for his fathers pencil factory. And overall, he was a great asset to his familys business Not only

was he seen as a keen and savvy businessman, but his research into German pencil-making techniques
propelled Thoreau Family Pencils to become, at the time, the best brand of pencils in America.
Thoreau also came to befriend a writer by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who hired Thoreau to be
a live-in handyman for his house. Not only did Emerson introduce Thoreau to the budding philosophy of
Transcendentalism, but he became Thoreaus lifelong friend and mentor. Transcendentalism is a
philosophy that tries to examine the spiritual with rational thinking. The secret of successful living, to a
Transcendentalist, was to hold oneself up above the material concerns of the world and to focus as
much as possible on spiritual matters.
Emerson introduced Thoreau to many of the Transcendentalist movements leading figures at the time
(such as Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, for instance) and once Thoreau
began writing nature poetry in the 1840s, Emerson used his sway in the literary community to promote
Thoreaus writings and had helped to publish some of Thoreaus works in a Transcendentalist magazine
called The Dial.
The Walden Pond Experiment
Work in the pencil factory was rather tedious and boring, however, and since his parents home was
crowded with boarders, there was little peace and quiet in the house. Seeking a simpler life and a
tranquil environment in which he could write his first book, he remembered the time he had spent living
with a man by the name of Charles Stearns Wheeler, one of Thoreaus old college classmates. Together
they had spent six weeks in the summer of 1835 living in a one-room shack that Wheeler had built near
Flints Pond in Lincoln, Massachusetts. So in 1844, Thoreau persuaded Emerson to let him build a 10 by
15 foot house on 14 acres of land that Emerson had purchased on the shores of Walden Pond. Henry
would receive a quiet, natural space in which he could conduct his experiment in peace and Emerson
would receive someone willing to clear and maintain the land. Thoreau also wanted to experiment with
working as little as he possibly could. While most people back then were expected to work six days a
week with one day off, Thoreau wanted to see if he could work one day a week, using the other six days
to pursue his literary and philosophical interests.
Most people who hear of Henry David Thoreau think that he was a hermit who ventured out into an
inhospitable expanse of woods and cut himself off from all human contact so he could live a primitive
life. In reality, however, Thoreau had many friends, who came to visit him often, such as his family,
Emerson, and Thoreaus best friend, Ellery Channing. One time, Thoreau had even managed to fit 30
individual people into there! Whats more, the cabin was only a mile and a half away from Concord and
was right near two main roads. Anything that he couldnt grow or make by himself he could easily go
and buy in town.
And while most of the townspeople in Concord thought Henry to be a lazy ner-do-well, in reality, he was
actually quite productive! Not only did he make a living growing beans, corn, potatoes, beans, turnips,
peas, beans, beans and more beans (seriously, there were a lot of beans!) but he also did land surveying,
carpentry, and other kinds of various day-labor jobs to make ends meet. He might not have worked 6
days a week, 12-14 hours a week like the other Concordians, but considering that by the first year he

had raised a house, cleared two and a half acres of land to farm, and was working on a novel at the time,
his time at Walden Pond was rather busy, indeed!
Henry spent most of his days at the cabin taking long walks through the woods, making notes and
observations about nature, writing, reading, and entertaining guests. Most people think that he was
also writing Walden around this time, but it was only after the two-year experiment concluded that he
had started to develop the book out of notes that he kept in his journal and a lecture he gave to some
curious townspeople once who were interested about what he was doing out on the pond. The book
was published in 1854, received generally good reviews, and had a fair amount of sales. Only until much
later did it reach a wider audience.
Thoreau was also an ardent abolitionist, serving as a conductor on the Underground Railroad and
making a bold statement in support of Captain John Brown, a radical abolitionist who was executed for
leading a slave uprising in Virginia. He greatly opposed the Mexican American war and was arrested
while living on Walden Pond after he refused to pay a poll tax. It was this experience that led him to
write of his most famous essays, Civil Disobedience, which went on to inspire the likes of Martin
Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi in their own protest movements.
His Later Years
For most of the rest of his life after the Walden Pond experiment, he rented a room in his parents home
and made his living by working at the pencil factory, doing land surveying work, lecturing occasionally,
and by publishing essays in newspapers and journals. He also stayed in Ralph Waldo Emersons house
for two years after Emerson left for a lecture tour in Europe.
Thoreau regularly struggled with Tuberculosis, which he first contracted decades earlier while he was in
college, and May 6th, 1862, he finally fell victim to it. Upon his death, he was heralded as an original
thinker and a man of simple tastes, hardy habits, and of preternatural powers of observation. In
addition, Ralph Waldo Emerson had this to say upon his death: The country knows not yet, or in the
least part, how great a son it has lost. His soul was made for the noblest society; he had in a short life
exhausted the capabilities of this world; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue,
wherever there is beauty, he will find a home.
About the House
I really love tiny houses because of how environmentally friendly and self-sufficient they are. Theyre
tremendously cheaper than the average mortgage, theyre towable so you can always take your house
with you wherever you go, and theyre so cozy and compact that it kind of forces you to spend the
majority of your time outdoors, either out amongst nature, like in Thoreaus case, or out there getting to
know your neighborhood.
Since the house was built at a scale of one inch equals one foot, the house would be 234 square feet,
not including the storage loft, the bed loft, and the porch. Also, you can see that there are two solar
panels on the side of the roof, two skylights, and an electric coil heater attached to the inside wall (not a

real one, of course, just a replica). If it were real size, of course, itd be towable and youd be able to
hook it up to its own independent utilities.
The general color scheme of the interior consists of red, white, black, sliver, and light-wood tones and
the furniture is a combination of hand-made items and furniture I found on Amazon and eBay. Theres a
stackable Washer/Dryer set, a sofa bed, a bookcase, full-length mirror, and a vanity sink outside the
main bathroom area to help wash clothes. I also made coat rack and a bench that make sort of a mud
area, I made a little Chinese Watercolor painting for the wall (I love that kind of art) and, if you look
closely, youll see that theres no TV. With the amount of music I listen to on a daily basis, I honestly
need a radio more.
Finally, I need to mention that I did not complete the tiny house entirely by myself. My Dad advised me
on a lot of the woodworking on the outside of the house since I dont have a whole lot of experience
with it and the rug and the comforter on the bed were crocheted by my mother and my sister. Overall,
it took about blank man-hours to make and lets just say that forests hate me now because of all the
Popsicle sticks I used.
Vision for the Future
I believe that tiny houses have the potential to change society for the better. Imagine if everyone had a
tiny house, and even tiny apartments, located in denser, walkable communities. Pollution rates could
be reduced, the open space between cities could be preserved, and tiny houses are totally an option for
those who live in poverty. And what if, instead of searching for your dream home when you moved to a
new place (which would already be hitched to the back of your truck), you searched for your dream
neighborhood instead? When Tiny Houses force you spend most of your time outdoors and all you have
to do is buy a lot and plunk your house down on it, why not?
Conclusion
Henry David Thoreau was a major forefather of the Minimalist movement as we know it today and
dedicated his life towards lifting the burdens of others. He was fiercely determined to solve any
problem placed in his path, he had a deep respect for nature and the beauty of the outdoors, and he
was a highly observant person. Ive always cared about the condition of the world and about the wellbeing of other people and so I think hes an excellent example of the kind of humanitarian I want be one
day.
I also hope that you can take away from this project that simple living doesnt always mean forcing
yourself to become poor, renouncing all comfort, and living the life of a wandering monk. Simple living,
at its basic core, is about paring down all the useless clutter and distractions of the world and reexamining your priorities so you can focus on the things that matter the most to you, the things that
give you the most joy in life. How you define that is up to you, whether you think it means spending
more time with family friends, helping those who are less fortunate than you, going out and exploring
that big, wide world, or hungering after eternal truth. As long as you keep pursuing whatever you think
is important, and as long as you persevere in face of any obstacles that stand in your way, one day Ill be

able to look back and say I did good. I lived life to its fullest extent. And this, in its most basic, distilled
form, is the epitome what our classroom theme of Happiness and the Good Life is all about.
Id like to leave off by reciting a quote from Henry David himself. I like it because it describes exactly
what he was hoping to find while living at Walden Pond. Perhaps if you take his advice to heart, youll
be able to find whatever it is you seek, as well. I went the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what they had to teach, and not, when
I came to die, discover that I had not lived.