John Burroughs

John Burroughs. . , The Life of a Natural Philosopher , John Burroughs (1837-1921), one of the country’s best-loved naturalists/philosophers, was born the seventh of ten children on a farm that included this field. He called the farmhouse the “old home.” He attended school at a nearby stone schoolhouse and later at the West Settlement School. Burroughs left Roxbury at the age of 17 to take a teaching job in Ulster County. He spent much of his adult life with his wife Ursula (1837-1917) and son Julian at Riverby, their Hudson River home in West Park, New York., An Inspirational Foundation , Daily experiences on the family farm, surrounded by natural beauty, inspired Burroughs’ later writing. During his years at Riverby, Burroughs used nearby Slabsides as a retreat and escape. Throughout the last ten years of his life, Burroughs summered at Woodchuck Lodge, a farmhouse built by his brother around 1860 not far from the family farm. There he hiked, camped, and wrote. Burroughs died in 1921 while returning home from a trip to California. He was buried on his 84th birthday near Boyhood Rock, where a lifetime of appreciation of nature had been kindled., “The nature lover is not looking for mere facts but for meanings, for something he can translate into terms of his own life.” , “The Gospel of Nature” from Time and Change by John Burroughs, Boston: Houghton- Mifflin Company 1912, “I was hungry for the private and circumscribed; I knew it when I saw this sheltered farmstead. I had long been restless and dissatisfied – a vague kind of Homesickness; now I knew the remedy. Hence when … I was offered a tract of wild land … I quickly closed the bargain, and built me a rustic house there, which I called Slabsides.” , “Wildlife About My Cabin” from Far and Near by John Burroughs Boston: Houghton-Mifflin 1904, (photo captions, counterclockwise from top left) , - The family farm was rebuilt when John Burroughs was 13., - As a young man, Burroughs had a series of jobs before he could support himself as a writer. These included selling harness buckles, studying medicine, working at the U.S. Treasury in Washington D.C., and serving as a bank examiner., - “Here I climbed at sundown when a boy to rest from work and play, and to listen to the vesper sparrow sing, and here I hope when my work and play are over when the sun goes down – here by my boyhood rock.” , from John Burroughs: Boy and Man by Clara Barrus M.D. Doubleday and Co. 1920, - John Burroughs married Ursula (Sulle) North in 1857; they had one son named Julian, - Slabsides was Burroughs secluded retreat near his house, Riverby, - In 1911, John Burroughs began using the little house on the east end of the family farm as a summer retreat. There, he would sit and write or sleep on the simple rustic porch. Woodchuck Lodge, located just down the road from John Burroughs Memorial is now a National Historic Landmark and is maintained by the non-profit Woodchuck Lodge, Inc., - The West Settlement School, which Burroughs attended from 1844 to 1854 was two miles from his home. There Burroughs studied alongside Jay Gould, who later amassed a fortune as a railroad tycoon. , - This is the first school John Burroughs attended. Known locally as the Stone Jug, it is located on Hardscrabble Road, one mile from his childhood home., Lasting Influence , During his lifetime, Burroughs was one of the country’s most widely read authors and respected philosophers. One and one-half million copies of his 27 books were sold, and his essays were published in prominent magazines. Not only was Burroughs’ contemplative nature writing taught in schools around the country, but he also sparked public interest in the environment. Inspiring such latter-day crusaders as Rachal Carson and Joseph Wood Krutch. Burroughs’ popular work became the foundation of today’s environmental movement, and he is honored in the Ecology Hall of Fame., “One cannot but reflect wat a sucked orange the Earth will be in the course of a few more centuries. Our civilization is terribly expensive to all its natural resources; one hundred years of modern life doubtless exhausts its stores more than a millennium of the life of antiquity.” , “The Grist of the Gods” from Leaf and Tendril by John Burroughs Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company 1908, “The unknown, the inaudible forces that make for good in every state and community – the gentle word, the kind act, the forgiving look, the quiet demeanor, the silent thinkers and workers, the cheerful and unwearied toilers, the scholar in his study, the scientist is his laboratory – how much more do we owe to these than the clamorous an discordant voices of the world of politics and the newspaper! Art, literature, philosophy, all speak with the still small voice.” , ”Still Small Voice” from Under the Apple Trees by John Burroughs Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company 1916, (photo captions, counterclockwise from top left) , - John Burroughs received great recognition during his lifetime. He was one of the first people elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he was awarded honorary degrees from Colgate and Yale Universities and the University of Georgia. This 1918 photograph shows Burroughs receiving his degree from Yale University., - Clara Barrus, John Muir, John Burroughs and Robert Underwood Johnson are pictured at Barrus’ home. Barrus was Burroughs’ literary advisor and assistant. She edited two of his books post humorously and wrote extensively about his life, - In the above photograph, John Burroughs is shown laying the cornerstone for the Burroughs Grotto. Henry Ford created the grotto as a bird sanctuary at his Fair Lane Estate in Dearborn, Michigan to honor Burroughs. Gathered for the June 1918 ceremony, Clara Ford, Clara Barrus, and Henry Ford look on while Burroughs leaves his mark, - The statue of John Burroughs, by C.S. Pietro, now in the Toledo Museum of Art, was replicated by the sculptor’s brother for the brass plaque now marking John Burroughs’ grave., - John Burroughs’ works gave him the necessary influence to help guide the government’s involvement in the conservation of nature. In 1913, he made a trip to Washington D.C. to lobby for the Weeks-McLeon Bill that regulated the hunting of migratory birds including wild ducks. This law led to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, - Elizabeth, seated, and Ursula next to their grandfather, ca. 1915. John Burroughs’ grandchildren visited him frequently, and he exposed them to the nature he loved and wrote about. Elizabeth devoted most of her life to her grandfather’s memory., Famous Friends , As his fame grew, John Burroughs gained many rich and powerful friends. Walt Whitman, who was the subject of Burroughs’ first book, was s great inspiration to the young writer. Burroughs joined California naturalist John Muir, noted scientists, explorers, and artists on the 1899 Harriman expedition to Alaska. Burroughs’ works, which reflected a love of nature and life in the outdoors, attracted men such as Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison who became close friends. Burroughs hosted his friends at his homes and went with them on camping excursions., “To the scientist Nature is a storehouse of facts, laws, processes; to the artist she is a storehouse of pictures; to the poet she is a storehouse of images fancies, a source of inspiration; to the moralist she is a storehouse of precepts and parables; to all she may be source of knowledge and joy.” , “The Art of Seeing Things” from Leaf and Tendril by John Burroughs Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1908, How the contemplation of Nature as a whole does take the conceit out of us! , “The Gospel of Nature” from Time and Change Boston, Houghton-Mifflin, 1912, (photo captions, counterclockwise from top left) , - Burroughs served as historian on the famed 1899 Harriman Expedition., - Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs eat in their tent in Bolar Springs, Virginia while on a camping trip to Asheville, North Carolina. They took a number of such trips together, and called themselves The Four Vagabonds, - John Muir, Olga Brant, John Burroughs, Harriet Ashley, Clara Barrus (top to bottom) descending Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon in 1909. John Burroughs was such a celebrity that The New York Times published a story about his trip to the Grand Canyon with excerpts from his letters to his wife Sulle., - Thomas Edison, John Burroughs, and Henry Ford pose while vacationing at Edison’s home in Florida, - Burroughs received a gift of a Ford touring car from Henry Ford in 1912. Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone were some of the men fueling the nation’s industrialization with their booming businesses. Through his relationships with these men, Burroughs encouraged a love and respect for nature., - President Theodore Roosevelt , also a lover of nature, was a vocal supporter of Burroughs’ work and invited the naturalist to accompany him on a trip to Yellowstone National Park in 1903. Dedicating his book Pastimes of an American Hunter to the man he called “Oom John,” Roosevelt wrote in 1903, “It is a good thing for our people that you have lived.”