n.
Town (pop., 2000: 16,993), eastern Massachusetts, U.S. Founded in 1635, it was the first inland Puritan settlement.
In 1775 the British were marching to seize its storehouse of military supplies when they were checked by minutemen (see Battles of Lexington and Concord ). In the 19th century it was a noted cultural centre and the home of writers Ralph Waldo Emerson , Henry David Thoreau , Nathaniel Hawthorne , and Louisa May Alcott (all buried there). Several historic houses are now museums; Walden Pond, where Thoreau lived and wrote, is nearby.