Thoreau's house at Walden

As a final type of primitive hut, tents had special meaning in the architectural thought of the day, having been, according to Chambers, "The First sort of Huts" inhabited by humankind [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 12 OMITTED], and Thoreau, too, makes frequent literary use of them.(57) Brown discovered in nomads' tents a modern-day version of the primitive hut, writing of how "to this day the wild Arabs, Tartars, and some of the Turks live in a kind of tent." Echoing Brown's account of Tartar tents, Thoreau suggestively links his own house on the nearer shore of Walden with the primitive huts he imagines on the far: "I dwelt nearer to those eras in history which had attracted me, and . . . I also lived in primitive time. Over the south shore of the pond . . . I seemed to look toward the country of the Tartars, where tribes of men dwelt in tents."(58)

His most detailed reference to the primitive hut appears in a journal entry of 1842-44, written prior to the Walden episode, in which he considers how architecture had begun with "taking shelter in caves from sun and rain," which in turn had led to built habitations:

Some genius (I say) nicely discriminating what was essential in the cave and what adventitious - invented the roof - the cave above ground - the portable cave invented to stand under a palm tree - to extend palm leaves over head - impermeable to sun and rain - an effectual protection - the record of which remains yet in all languages; In the Latin tectum in English shelter or roof. . . . And this invention has been patented in sun and rain to this day - roofs of palm leaves with flickering sun beams instreaming, and dates . . . dropping upon table - of bark or boughs - of grass and stubble - of linen woven and stretched - of stone and tiles - of boards and shingles.(59)

Repeated in Walden (28), this discussion lends special significance to Thoreau's project of building his own house. His interest in the primitive hut was never merely academic; while living beside the pond in 1845, he recounted in a remarkable passage his preoccupation with actually building a primitive hut for modern times:

Though the race is not so degenerated but A man might possibly live in a cave today and keep himself warm by furs[.] Yet as caves and wild beasts are not plenty enough to accommodate all at the present day - it were certainly better to accept the advantages which the invention and industry of mankind offer.

In thickly settled civilized communities boards & shingles lime & brick are cheaper and more easily come at than suitable caves - or the whole logs or bark in sufficient quantity - or even clay or flat stones.(60)

In Walden he adds, "I speak understandingly on this subject, for I have made myself acquainted with it both theoretically and practically" (40) - a strong suggestion that the Walden house was meant to be, quite literally, the "practical" explication in readily available "boards & shingles lime & brick" of the "theory" of the primitive hut, the tangible realization of a historical and philosophical ideal.