Walden Pond Site : Trailer Park Vanishing as Residents Die

Henry Caswell cooks his dinner every night, takes a drive once a day and is eager to show off the trailer he has occupied across from Walden Pond for more than 40 years.

Caswell, 94, is cheerful about his life and surroundings here in a wooded area that writer Henry David Thoreau made famous. But there is a pall that hangs over the rustic trailer park.

Walden Breezes is dying.

When the state acquired the land 10 years ago, the owner insisted that the residents of the park called Walden Breezes have life tenancy. But the state ruled that vacant trailers must be removed. State officials plan to make the trailer park part of Walden Pond State Park after the last resident has died or moved away.

As a result, long cement slabs are all that remain of many trailer homes in the park. Caswell’s home is one of only 20 in Walden Breezes, which onced housed 70 trailers.

Cherish Their Independence

Residents say they are used to the dwindling number of neighbors, in part because they all cherish their independence. But Caswell’s closest friend, James S. Swaffield, who lives across the park and “will talk you blind if you let him,” is sometimes nostalgic for the old days when Walden Breezes was bustling and family-filled.

“‘People are moving away or dying,” said Swaffield, who also lives alone in his trailer. “Every now and then you get a call that someone’s passed on.”

Caswell and Swaffield moved to Walden Breezes after their wives died and spend most of their time alone. As recently as last year they fished together at Walden Pond almost daily.

Most of Walden Breezes’ remaining residents have outlived their neighbors and their spouses.

Ed Johnson, 80, a widower for three years, still wears his wedding band. He is philosophical about the sense of finality of Walden Breezes.

“It’s kind of like, here today, gone tomorrow,” Johnson said, pausing between a strenuous raking of leaves around his trailer. “When someone dies, they just go ahead and sell all the articles inside and get rid of the . . . thing.”

‘Young at Heart’

Johnson said he still feels “young at heart” and has resisted attempts by his children to get him to move in with them.

“This is a place where elderly people can live independently,” he said. “Most people should realize that we don’t have to be put away.”

Independence at Walden Breezes is so strong that remarriage among the widows and widowers is uncommon.