News Release

Guardians of Thoreau’s Legacy: Cape Cod and Maine National Park Superintendents to Discuss Efforts to Protect the Iconic Landscapes that Captivated Famed Naturalist Henry David Thoreau

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod will host a forum on October 18 with superintendents from Cape Cod National Seashore and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument to explore the legacy of Henry David Thoreau.

Courtesy Scot Miller

News Release Date: September 27, 2018

Contact: Brian Carlstrom, Superintendent

WELLFLEET, Mass. – What could a 60-year-old national park on the sandy shores of Cape Cod and a newly established national monument in the remote woods of interior Maine have in common? The differences between the two are apparent, yet there are similarities linking these two jewels of the National Park System that have their roots in New England’s natural, historic, and literary heritage, as memorialized by the famed naturalist and writer, Henry David Thoreau. 

On October 18, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod will host a forum, Guardians of Thoreau’s Legacy, featuring a discussion with Tim Hudson, superintendent of Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and Brian Carlstrom, superintendent of Cape Cod National Seashore. Mindy Todd, host of “The Point” on WCAI-FM, the Cape Cod and Islands’ local NPR affiliate, will moderate the panel discussion and audience participation. The forum will take place at 7 pm at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth. The forum is free, but advance registration is recommended. To register, visit www.apcc.org/events or contact the Association to Preserve Cape Cod at 508-619-3185 or [e-mail].

The event is being held in conjunction with a photographic exhibition throughout the month of October, Thoreau, The Maine Woods to Cape Cod: A Journey in Photographs by Scot Miller. The exhibit of fine prints by photographer Scot Miller offers a visual focus to Thoreau’s connection to Cape Cod and Maine as experienced through the travels and writings of the celebrated 19th century essayist and devotee of nature. 

The exhibition and forum are part of APCC’s series of events in 2018 celebrating the nonprofit environmental organization’s 50th anniversary.

The forum is a unique collaboration between two National Park Service sites. Superintendent Carlstrom and Superintendent Hudson will discuss the distinctly different characteristics and surprising similarities of two regions in New England that factored prominently in the travels of Thoreau. These sites inspired some of his most revered writings. The National Park Service helps guard this legacy by protecting landscapes at Cape Cod National Seashore and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The superintendents will also discuss the mission of the National Park Service to protect and preserve natural resources and regional character.