I read with interest the Scott Van Voorhis article “Concord estate goes for $8.6m” in Sunday’s Globe West concerning the record-shattering sale of a 16-acre estate in Concord. The story mentioned the house estate on Fairhaven Hill Road has six bedrooms and seven baths. Also included is a post-and-beam barn with indoor basketball court, a heated outdoor swimming pool, and tennis courts.
I was surprised that the article also mentioned the property , covering 16 acres in Walden Woods, was a favorite haunt of Concord writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, because it is so completely at odds with the simple lifestyle that that he espoused.
As I read this story I was reminded of one Thoreau's most famous quotes:
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.”
I'd say an $8.6 million estate is a long way from keeping your accounts on your thumb nail. So why even bother to mention the hermit of Concord in an article that was so clearly targeted to the up-scale, high-end real estate market?