Henry Beston
Encyclopedia
Henry Beston was an American
writer and naturalist, best known as the author
of The Outermost House
, written in 1925.
, he grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts
with his parents, Dr. Joseph Sheahan and Marie Louise (Maurice) Beston Sheahan, and brother George. Beston attended Adams Academy
in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College
.
After leaving Harvard, Beston took up teaching at 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 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
, a fellow author of children's literature, during this time.
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 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 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 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 Guard officers, 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.
in 1929, and 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 quality that he achieved in The Outermost House.
In the 1940s, Beston received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College
, Dartmouth College
, and University of Maine
and 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 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 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
.
The house was carried away by astronomically 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 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."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and naturalist, best known as the author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of The Outermost House
The Outermost House
The Outermost House is a book by naturalist writer Henry Beston. It was published in 1928 by Doubleday and Doran and is now published by Henry Holt and Company in New York...
, written in 1925.
Early life and work
Born Henry Beston Sheahan in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, he grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
with his parents, Dr. Joseph Sheahan and Marie Louise (Maurice) Beston Sheahan, and brother George. Beston attended Adams Academy
Adams Academy
Adams Academy was a school that opened in 1872 in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. John Adams, the second President of the United States, had many years before established the Adams Temple and School Fund. This fund gave of land to the people of Quincy in trust...
in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
.
After leaving Harvard, Beston took up teaching at the University of Lyon
University of Lyon
The University of Lyon , located in Lyon and Saint Etienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 16 institutions of higher education...
. 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
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
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 the British Grand Fleet
British Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main fleet of the British Royal Navy during the First World War.-History:It was formed in 1914 by the British Atlantic Fleet combined with the Home Fleet and it included 35-40 state-of-the-art capital ships. It was initially commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, 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
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
. He also met his future wife Elizabeth Coatsworth
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth was an American author of children's fiction and poetry. Her novel The Cat Who Went to Heaven won the 1931 Newbery Medal....
, a fellow author of children's literature, during this time.
The Outermost House
The Outermost House, now considered a Cape CodCape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Beston retreated to the outer beach at Eastham
Eastham, Massachusetts
Eastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,453 at the 2000 census....
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 the Cape Cod National Seashore
Cape Cod National Seashore
The Cape Cod National Seashore , created on August 7, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, encompasses on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion...
. Author Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson
Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....
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 the Cape in the winter. His house was located two miles south of the Nauset Coast Guard Station, with the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
near his front door and Nauset Marsh behind him. His only neighbors were the Coast Guard officers, 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.
Leaving the Outermost House
Beston married writer Elizabeth CoatsworthElizabeth Coatsworth
Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth was an American author of children's fiction and poetry. Her novel The Cat Who Went to Heaven won the 1931 Newbery Medal....
in 1929, and the couple eventually bought a farmhouse called "Chimney Farm" in Nobleboro, Maine
Nobleboro, Maine
Nobleboro, founded in 1788, is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,626 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000,...
. Beston wrote several more books while living in Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
(Northern Farm
Northern Farm
Northern Farm: A Chronicle of Maine is a 1949 book by naturalist/writer Henry Beston. It chronicles a season on a small Maine farm. Beston is also the author of The Outermost House....
and Herbs and the Earth among them), but never again approached the overall quality that he achieved in The Outermost House.
In the 1940s, Beston received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, and University of Maine
University of Maine
The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
and 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 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
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(AAAS) in 1954. In 1959, he was the third recipient of the AAAS' Emerson-Thoreau Medal, previously awarded to only Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
and T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
.
Beston donated the "Fo'castle" to the Massachusetts Audubon Society
Massachusetts Audubon Society
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Protecting the nature of Massachusetts." Mass Audubon is independent of the National Audubon Society, and in fact was founded...
in 1959. One of its tenants was a woman from Sharon, Massachusetts
Sharon, Massachusetts
Sharon is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,612 at the 2010 census. Sharon is part of Greater Boston, about 17 miles southwest of downtown Boston....
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
Nobleboro, Maine
Nobleboro, founded in 1788, is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,626 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000,...
.
The house was carried away by astronomically 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 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."