{"id":78114,"date":"2026-02-04T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=78114"},"modified":"2026-02-03T20:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T03:00:02","slug":"they-went-to-the-woods-because-they-wished-to-live-deliberately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/they-went-to-the-woods-because-they-wished-to-live-deliberately\/","title":{"rendered":"They went to the woods because they wished to live deliberately"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"They<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jasper and Satchel Sieniewicz can\u2019t believe it was a one man job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As children, their father read to them from Henry David Thoreau\u2019s \u201cWalden,\u201d which includes lengthy descriptions of Thoreau building his cabin at the eponymous pond in Concord, Mass., using hand tools to form beams from fallen timber and upcycling wood from a fisherman\u2019s shanty. All of it he did alone except for raising the frame with a few friends, though even this Thoreau qualifies as \u201crather to improve so good an occasion for neighborliness than from any necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After building a full-scale replica of Thoreau\u2019s cabin in the woods behind their family\u2019s vacation home in Maine, the brothers don\u2019t buy it. Even using a saw mill and power tools, it took them three summers of labor, on and off between school and work beginning the first summer of the pandemic, plus the help of their father, Tom Sieniewicz. Thoreau was living in his cabin in under three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no way that he did it by himself in the time period that he said it was done,\u201d said Jasper, now 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No registry tallies how many people have made replicas of Thoreau\u2019s cabin, but they exist across the country, built for private use, for writers\u2019 retreats, for academic purposes and as Airbnb rentals. Aiding the projects, The Thoreau Society started selling blueprints of the 10-by-15-foot cabin at their gift shop about seven years ago. And at the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute in Adrian, Mich., you can sign up for a four-week \u201cWalden Cabin series\u201d which teaches all the skills necessary to make your own cabin using only the tools and technologies of the time. (Axe craft gets a week of its own.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1845, Thoreau moved into his one-room cabin in the woods and proceeded to live there for two years, two months and two days in significant (though not total) quietude, seeking, as he wrote, \u201cto front only the essential facts of life.\u201d He published his account of this experience, \u201cWalden; or, Life in the Woods\u201d in 1854.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, it seems quaint to imagine a man so overwhelmed by 19th-century society that he\u2019d seek such extended retreat. There was no electricity back then, no cellphones, no nudifying A.I. chatbots. But Thoreau\u2019s prescription for a life lived more simply, one more attuned to nature, is an enticing response to this unmatched moment of political, social and technological chaos. It\u2019s likely why his legacy has survived so long; perhaps why he\u2019s far more popular a writer today than he ever was in his own life. (The first print run of 2,000 copies of \u201cWalden\u201d took more than five years to sell; it has since been translated into nearly every language spoken on Earth.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it is also why people are building his cabin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building Castles in the Air<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sieniewicz brothers originally hoped to build a treehouse, but the elder Mr. Sieniewicz, an architect, prohibited them from damaging or removing any living trees on the property, prompting a pivot: \u201cI somehow convinced them that building Henry David Thoreau\u2019s cabin was their idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boys had visited the site in Concord with their father years prior, but admittedly, the interest in Transcendentalism was mostly his, especially insofar as the philosophy emphasizes individualism, self reliance and a connection to nature. Still, they were game to build the cabin with his blessing, using mostly recycled materials and milling their own wood from fallen trees they found in the forest. \u201cGive a couple teenagers a commercial chain saw, what could happen?\u201d Tom Sieniewicz joked. The boys picked up the new skills they needed by watching YouTube videos; the rest they\u2019d learned as children in woodworking classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone who builds a replica Walden cabin takes as long as the Sieniewicz family because not everyone takes as strict an environmental approach. But like them, most have made it a group effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim and Rachel Van Eerden had a \u201cbarn raising\u201d for their cabin in Stokesdale, N.C., with friends building historically accurate furniture, a contractor working on the frame, and even a blacksmith forging nails in the style of the 1850s. Their \u201cWalden\u201d cabin is the first in a growing series of literature-inspired structures on their homestead property, rented out via Airbnb and VRBO. The listing explicitly warns would-be visitors about the lack of plumbing, electricity and Wi-Fi; showers and toilets are available at nearby \u201cNarnia cottage,\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their cabin\u2019s interior is nearly true to Thoreau\u2019s model, with even the dents and nicks in the wood desk matching the writer\u2019s own. They made a few additions to the structure though. \u201cWe gave ourselves what we called the \u2018third year liberty\u2019 where we said, \u2018OK, if Thoreau would have stayed a third year, he would have wanted a little front porch. He would\u2019ve wanted a garret,\u2019\u201d said Mr. Van Eerden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Ryan had originally planned to build his cabin solo to mimic Thoreau, but he pivoted after nearly falling from an 8-foot ladder. \u201cThat\u2019s when I said, \u2018Time out, I\u2019m calling for help,\u2019\u201d Mr. Ryan said. He completed the work on his cabin with the help of a childhood friend, building it in the woods behind his house in Maine. In line with Thoreau\u2019s environmentalist ethos, he sourced used and recycled materials wherever possible \u2014 many of the wood beams were leftovers from the construction of his main house, the wood stove was a gift from a neighbor, and the antique windows were purchased on Facebook Marketplace. \u201cI\u2019ve stayed remarkably true to his vision,\u201d he said. He also stayed close to Thoreau\u2019s cost: Mr. Ryan spent $1,670 on supplies. Thoreau spent $28.12\u00bd; about $1,200 in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for others, using Thoreau\u2019s exact methods is beside the point. Kevin Klein built his cabin in the woods behind his house in Hingham, Mass. two years ago, tapping his stepfather, a master carpenter, to help. He paid a contractor to put on the roof and spent roughly $4,500 on materials from Lowe\u2019s. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a strict, historical fetishization project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Klein first became acquainted with Thoreau when he was in high school, watching \u201cSouth Park.\u201d In a Season 1 episode, Cartman wins a writing contest by plagiarizing \u201cWalden\u201d and Mr. Klein, curious and unfamiliar, bought a copy. It still lives on his bookshelf, and he\u2019s read it multiple times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before \u201cWalden,\u201d critics questioned Thoreau\u2019s motivations for building and moving into his isolated cabin. \u201cI think he touches a lot of nerves,\u201d said Laura Walls, a scholar of American Transcendentalism. \u201cWhat a lazy bum this guy has to be, not pulling his weight in society and isolating himself like that,\u201d she said, paraphrasing his detractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for fans of Thoreau, that individualism is the appeal, \u201cthe whole idea of leaving society behind and rebelling against industrialization and being self-reliant with hand tools,\u201d said Luke Barnett, whose Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute offers the Walden cabin series. Mr. Barnett was first introduced to Thoreau in fifth grade, bribed with Snickers bars as part of a reading program. \u201cI loved it,\u201d he said, \u201cIt\u2019s kind of dry, let\u2019s not lie and pretend it\u2019s not. But the concepts in it attracted me and I reread it every few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child, Mr. Barnett experienced periods of homelessness and came into his woodworking career after dropping out of high school. Though most of his work involves power tools, Mr. Barnett still sees the value in doing things by hand and offers his class to help empower like-minded woodworkers and outdoors people. \u201cWith just those tools, they can build anything they could ever imagine. They do not even need electricity,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody can ever take that away from you. You are completely self reliant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to championing self-reliance, Thoreau was an early environmentalist. Today\u2019s Walden Pond is lush with trees, thanks to a state reservation program, but Thoreau witnessed immense swathes of the forest torn down by loggers. He was among the first to decry the loss, and among the first to question the rampant consumerism which drove its degradation. An Abolitionist, Thoreau avoided sugar, which was produced by slave labor, and he wore simple clothes instead of the new Paris fashions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be an ethical consumer of food, clothes, shelter or even entertainment today is difficult. But a few hours alone in a simple cabin can offer some perspective. Dr. Walls explained, \u201cThe whole point for Thoreau was a deliberate experiment in simplifying our wants \u2014 what we think we want \u2014 and trying to get to the heart of what it means to live a full life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great Ocean of Solitude<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self reliance doesn\u2019t mean hermitude. It didn\u2019t for Thoreau \u2014 while living at Walden, he regularly went into Concord for supplies, visited with friends and ate meals with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, he also sometimes needed a break. While at Walden, Thoreau read and wrote, swam in the lake, and spent hours in total stillness, raptly observing nature from his doorway. \u201cI grew in those seasons like corn in the night,\u201d Thoreau wrote of the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mr. Ryan, his cabin offers a peaceful space just for writing. \u201cThe simplicity invites focus,\u201d he said. He has just a kerosene lamp, a desk modeled after Thoreau\u2019s and bookshelves full of research material (to avoid using Google). \u201cIt naturally makes me not want to check email impulsively. I\u2019m there to write.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Klein mostly uses his cabin as a quiet place to smoke his cigars. He, his wife and their four children hike in the woods behind their home and will occasionally sleep out in the cabin, using mats and blankets from the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Van Eerdens only sometimes get to read in their cabin; at about $130 a night, it\u2019s usually booked \u201cWe have literally had guests from Germany, from New Zealand, from Paris, from London, all arriving with this excitement about stepping into a book that made a mark on them,\u201d Mr. Van Eerden said. Sometimes the excitement exceeds experience; he\u2019s had to explain to some guests how to start a fire in the fireplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasper Sieniewicz has read some Thoreau, but not as extensively as his father. \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s instilled in me in ways that I probably am not even really aware of,\u201d he said. His father has furnished the cabin authentically, with hard wooden chairs and a desk; if it were up to Jasper, there\u2019d be a couch instead, but he recognizes that his father will be enjoying more time there than he and his brother, who are busy building their careers as engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose woods are spooky.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n