CHARLEMONT/HAWLEY — The Tyler Memorial Library in Charlemont and the Sons and Daughters of Hawley invite the public to celebrate Henry David Thoreau’s 200th birthday on Sunday, Sept. 10, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the picnic area (mile post 36) on Route 2 in East Charlemont. Parking is available in the pullout below the Hilltop Motel or in the field at Hall Tavern Farm on Route 2.
The event is free and open to the public as part of the Thoreau Bicentennial Statewide Read.
Michael Hoberman of Buckland, a professor of American literature at Fitchburg State University, will lead a discussion on Thoreau’s 1843 walking tour of northern Franklin and Berkshire counties, which he wrote about in his first book, “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers” (1849).
“Somewhere along his meandering westward journey,” said Hoberman, who then quoted a passage: “‘in the shade of a maple, where the river had found a broader channel than usual, and was spread out shallow, with frequent sandbars exposed,’ — he stopped to enjoy a noonday nap.”
Whether or not the picnic area off Mohawk Trail in East Charlemont is exactly where Thoreau snoozed, that’s where people will come to celebrate Thoreau’s legacy and “talk about how his uniquely detailed and unhurried writing succeeds in capturing the natural beauty of rural New England,” Hoberman said.
At 4 p.m., the celebration will continue at a Harvest Supper sponsored by the Sons & Daughters of Hawley. The supper will be held at Stump Sprouts on West Hill Road in Hawley. Lloyd and Suzanne Crawford, owners of Stump Sprouts, will serve a supper made mostly from ingredients grown in or near Hawley.
Participants are invited to bring a favorite Thoreau passage to read after the supper. Hoberman will be there to lead the reading and discussion.
The supper is a fundraiser to support the Sons & Daughters of Hawley. Suggested donation is: $25 per person. RSVP to Lloyd or Suzanne Crawford at stmpsprt@crocker.com or 413-339-4265. Participation is limited to 50 people.
The Thoreau Bicentennial Statewide Read is an initiative of The Walden Woods Project, University of Massachusetts Lowell Honors College, Massachusetts Center for the Book, and Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area.