Henry Beston (June 1, 1888 – April 15, 1968) was an American writer and naturalist, best known as the author of The Outermost House , written in 1928.
21-403: Beston is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Henry Beston (1888–1968), American writer and naturalist John Beston (died 1428), English writer See also [ edit ] Besson (surname) [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Beston . If an internal link intending to refer to
42-609: A fellow author of children's literature with whom he had two daughters, Margaret and Catherine.[3]:97 They lived at Hingham, Massachusetts , and Chimney Farm in Nobleboro, Maine .[6], during this time. The Outermost House , now considered a Cape Cod nature literary classic, was written after Beston spent what he called "a year of life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod". Spiritually shaken by his experiences in World War I , Beston retreated to
63-421: A grassroots campaign to support the funding for the purchase price of the conservation easement from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), secured by U.S. Senator John Kerry, U.S. Representative Bill Delahunt, and former Senator Ted Kennedy. The Biddle Property, home of the late Francis Biddle , who was the U.S. attorney general during World War II and served as the primary American judge during
84-477: A specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beston&oldid=1096949037 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Monitored short pages Henry Beston Born Henry Beston Sheahan, he
105-739: Is administered by the National Park Service . Notable sites encompassed by the CCNS include Marconi Station (site of the first two-way transatlantic radio transmission), the Highlands Center for the Arts (formerly the North Truro Air Force Station ), the Dune Shacks of Peaked Hill Bars Historic District (a 1,950-acre historic district containing dune shacks and the dune environment), and
126-515: Is buried in a small cemetery at Chimney Farm. Chimney Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. The house was carried away by extreme high tides during a winter hurricane in February 1978. Waldron wrote that thousands still come to the beach each year, wanting to learn more about this man who retreated to the outer beach "in a search for the great truth, and found it in
147-609: The British Grand Fleet and to be aboard an American destroyer during combat engagement and sinking. His second book of journalistic work, Full Speed Ahead , described these experiences. Following the end of World War I , Beston began writing fairy tales under the name "Henry Beston". In 1919, The Firelight Fairy Book was published, followed by The Starlight Wonder Book in 1923. During this time, he worked as an editor of The Living Age , an offshoot of The Atlantic Monthly . He also met his future wife Elizabeth Coatsworth ,
168-518: The Cape Cod National Seashore . Author Rachel Carson said that Beston was the only author who ever influenced her writing. The 20x16 house, dubbed "the Fo'castle" by Beston, was built by Eastham carpenter Harvey Moore in the late spring of 1925. Beston stayed there, on and off, for about two years, leaving the beach occasionally, but was usually on the beach for the many severe storms that struck
189-591: The University of Lyon . In 1914, he returned to Harvard as an English department assistant. Beston joined the French army in 1915 and served as an ambulance driver. His service in le Bois le Pretre and at the Battle of Verdun was described in his first book, A Volunteer Poilu . In 1918, Beston became a press representative for the U.S. Navy . Highlights from this period include being the only American correspondent to travel with
210-614: The glacial erratic known as Doane Rock . A former United States Coast Guard station on the ocean in Truro is now operated as a 42-bed youth hostel by Hostelling International USA. There are several paved bike trails: There are several excellent beaches along the coastline with public facilities available seasonally. These include Race Point Beach in Provincetown and Coast Guard Beach in Eastham. Both of these have made "top beaches in
231-617: The 1950s. He also revised his earlier work in children's literature and published Henry Beston's Fairy Tales in 1952. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 1954. In 1959, he was the third recipient of the AAAS' Emerson-Thoreau Medal, previously awarded to only Robert Frost and T. S. Eliot . Beston donated the "Fo'castle" to the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1959. One of its tenants
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#1732885008610252-675: The Cape in the winter. His house was located two miles south of the Nauset Coast Guard Station, with the Atlantic Ocean near his front door and Nauset Marsh behind him. His only neighbors were the Coast Guardsmen, who patrolled the beach. The Outermost House was published in 1928, and has gone through dozens of printings since then. An audiobook version was released in 2007. Beston married writer Elizabeth Coatsworth in 1929, and
273-745: The US" lists over the years. As part of the NPS Centennial Initiative, the Herring River estuary will be restored to its natural state through removal of dikes and drains that date back to 1909. In 2010, the North of Highland Campground was protected with a conservation easement. The Trust for Public Land , the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Truro Conservation Trust, and other groups led
294-624: The couple eventually bought a farmhouse called " Chimney Farm " in Nobleboro, Maine . Beston wrote several more books while living in Maine ( Northern Farm and Herbs and the Earth among them), but never again approached the overall acclaim that he achieved in The Outermost House . In the 1940s, Beston received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College , Dartmouth College , and University of Maine and
315-413: The outer beach at Eastham in search of peace and solitude. "Nature is part of our humanity, and without some awareness of that divine mystery, man ceases to be man," Beston wrote. Beston, who dedicated himself as a "writer/naturalist", is considered one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement, and The Outermost House has been called one of the motivating factors behind the establishment of
336-759: The post-war Nuremberg trials, was added to the Cape Cod National Seashore in 2011. Using funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund , the Trust for Public Land purchased the property and conveyed it to the National Park Service. As part of the restoration efforts, a number of run-down and unsafe buildings of no historical significance will be removed from areas around CCNS and the affected lands will be restored. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) has provided more than $ 8 million to oversee this project that
357-482: The spirit of man," as his National Literary Landmark dedication plaque read. "Many know the book, some carry it with them," Waldron wrote. "Still they come, pilgrims of a sort- stirred by his sense of wonder but drawn by his vision of hope." Cape Cod National Seashore The Cape Cod National Seashore ( CCNS ) encompasses 43,607 acres (68.1 sq mi; 176.5 km ) on Cape Cod , in Massachusetts . CCNS
378-443: Was a woman from Sharon, Massachusetts named Nan Turner Waldron, who would spend several weeks each year there from 1961 to 1977. Her experiences are chronicled in the book Journey to Outermost House . With his health deteriorating, Beston returned to the beach in Eastham one last time on October 11, 1964, when his famous house was dedicated as a National Literary Landmark . Beston died on April 15, 1968, in Nobleboro, Maine , and
399-555: Was born and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts with his parents, Dr. Joseph Sheahan and Marie Louise (Maurice) Beston Sheahan, and brother George, a doctor. Beston attended Adams Academy in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College . While at Harvard , he lived at the historic Parson Capen House in Topsfield, Massachusetts . In 1912, Beston took up teaching at
420-574: Was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy , when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years prior. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion . The CCNS includes nearly 40 miles (64 km) of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in the towns of Provincetown , Truro , Wellfleet , Eastham , Orleans and Chatham . It
441-433: Was made honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. He was also made honorary editor of National Audubon Magazine . In 1949, a twentieth-anniversary edition of The Outermost House was released. Beston also edited an anthology of writings about Maine, White Pine and Blue Water (1950). Beston lectured regularly at Dartmouth College and wrote for publications like The Atlantic and Christian Science Monitor throughout
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