On Saturday Sept. 2, 2023, my wife and I finally visited Woodchuck Lodge, the farmhouse where John Burroughs spent summers during the last decade of his life. The lodge, built by JB's brother Curtis when JB was 13 years old, is on the homestead land where JB was born and raised. The house and property is a National Historic Landmark and is owned and maintained by Woodchuck Lodge Inc., a non-profit founded in the 1970's by JB's great grandnephew.
About once a month from May through October (on the first Saturday of the month), the house is opened for guided tours - we were the first people there yesterday and got a personal tour from Howard "Pete" France, a member of the non-profit's board of trustees.
The house contains many of the original furnishings etc. from when John stayed there, including some he built himself. It is a good-sized, rustic, all-together charming place. Across the little-used road upon which the house sits is a beautiful field, covered thickly with native wildflowers, through which are cut mowed paths. There is also a short hike in the woods behind the Lodge.
A few hundred meters west of the farm is where John is buried, next to "Boyhood Rock," JB's favorite place on the property when he was growing up. John worked with a friend to design the gravesite prior to his death. As a huge fan of JB, I found the gravesite and entire experience deeply moving. Interestingly, the view across the mountains from the gravesite is kept open by a herd of goats kept in the field directly below, preventing the growth of new forest.
Woodchuck Lodge is in Roxbury, N.Y., in the northwestern Catskill Mountains, near the east branch of the Delaware River. The Lodge is well worth a visit, ideally when the house is open to the public (see jbwoodchucklodge.org). In fact, the entire Catskill Forest Preserve, one of the great areas of New York State, has a lifetime of exploration possibilities.
A number of years ago, long before beginning this website, Maria and I visited Slabsides, the cabin near Riverby, JB's primary home near the Hudson River in West Park, N.Y. John built Slabsides himself as a retreat from the constant stream of guests to Riverby (and, one gathers, as a retreat from his wife). Slabsides and the nature preserve surrounding it are maintained by a different non-profit from Woodchuck Lodge - specifically, The John Burroughs Association, which also awards the prestigious nature-writing medals discussed in a prior post.
I feel privileged to have visited and been able to go inside both of these beautiful and meaningful properties, where JB wrote so many of his timeless essays.
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