A fine view of the Connecticut valley from the hilltop

September 11.

P. M. — Walked over what Alcott calls Farm Hill, east of his house. 

Erigeron annuus, four feet high, by roadside; also Ranunculus Pennsylvanicus, or bristly crowfoot, still in bloom. Vide press. 

A fine view of the Connecticut valley from the hilltop, and of Ascutney Mountain, but not of Monadnock. Descended a steep side of the hill by a cow-path, made with great judgment regularly zigzag, well worn and deep. 

Visited the graveyard and Colonel Benjamin Bellows, the founder's, gravestone and more recent monument. 

In the evening read an interesting pamphlet account of the Bellows family of Walpole, prepared by Dr. Bellows of New York, on occasion of the family gathering and erection of the monument. A large part of the inhabitants of Walpole are descendants of Colonel B. Bellows. The writer quotes from a paper in "the Cheshire Gazette of April 28, 1826," "understood to be prepared by our respected townsman, Dr. Morse," Dr. B. saying first, "A Mrs. Watson of Germantown, Pennsylvania, was alive in 1826, who resided in Walpole in 1762, then only 8 years old," but she had a remarkable memory. 

He then quotes Morse, who states that her father came and built a house in Walpole in 1762. "The roof of the house was covered with bark, and the gable ends remained open some time, which enabled them to hear the barking of foxes, the howling of wolves, and the cries of the panther, while sitting before the fire. The latter resembled the voice of a woman in distress, and [seemed] intended to decoy people into the woods, where the salutations of these roving gentry were apt to prove troublesome, unless prevented by the presence of fire-arms." According to this woman (and Morse), "a shad was taken near the falls which had a rattlesnake's head in its stomach." Dr. B. states that there is a tradition that the founder, Colonel B., once killed, on Fall Mountain, two bears and a very large panther, which last alarmed him considerably. According to Morse and the woman, "a large portion of pin money was derived from the sale of golden thread, ginseng, and snakeroot, which were procured from their [the ladies'] own hands." This should probably be "lands," or the preposition, "by.”

In Alcott's yard, sprung up from his bird's seed, hemp, like common except fragrant. These are the plants I obtained on this excursion . . .

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 11, 1856

From Alcott’s Journal:

Thoreau is persistency manly and independent as of old. His criticisms on men and the times as characteristic, individual, and urged with all the honest pertinacity befitting a descent of the Scandinavian Thor. A man of a genealogy like his — Franko-Norman-Scottish-American — may well be forgiven for a little foolhardiness, if not pugnacity, amidst his great common sense and faithfulness to the core of natural things.  ... 

In the evening Thoreau reads Dr. Bellow’s Historical Sketch of the Founder’s Family, and takes all there is known of Walpole to bed with him, to be used for such ornaments of his jaunt this day as our traveller’s humour shall dictate.

Bronson Alcott's Journals
Selected Thoreau entries, from 1848 to 1862