A group of students from the Whitman Middle School, in Whitman, Mass., walk past a bronze statue of author Henry David Thoreau, left, near a replica of the author’s house, behind, at the Walden Pond State Reservation, in Concord, Mass., Thursday, July 12, 2001. Group nature walks, lectures, and wine-and-cheese socials were planned for an expected 200 people marking Thoreau’s 184th birthday Thursday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)