Walden Pond was made famous by writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who lived on the northern shore of the pond for two years starting in the summer of 1845 . he shunned the traditional living of the time, to go to the woods to live simply, and as he put it, "live deliberately" . except for very brief visits to the town, he secured his own food, by growing beans, peas, corn, turnips, and potatoes, and occasionally fishing in the pond . i've read the book that he wrote (Walden; or, Life in the Woods) about this period of his life many times, and i highly recommend it.