Conserving the Historic Stone Walls of New England

Robert Thorson has been active in public history since the 1998 publication of Stone Wall Secrets, a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children. In 2002 he published the authoritative Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls. In a 2023 Smithsonian essay he linked their history to literature, ecology, climate change, and geoscience, an article selected by the History News Network for the “Best History Writing of 2023.” At the University of Connecticut, he coordinates the Stone Wall Initiative as scholarly engagement within the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. For three decades he’s been a stump evangelist for the preservation of New England’s historic landscapes, giving more than a thousand public lectures, mostly to historical societies, museums, public parks, land trusts, and conservation organizations. His work also includes consultancies for Minuteman National Historic Park, the Nature Conservancy, various state agencies, and private landowners as an expert witness. In 2018 he was elected to membership of the American Antiquarian Society. His expertise and scholarly engagement extends to the environmental history associated with Henry D. Thoreau, who had much to say about stone walls. Thorson’s first-ever Guide to Walden Pond targets public history.