Thornton W. Burgess House - Hampden, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 03.858 W 072° 24.365
18T E 714613 N 4660171
The home of Thornton W. Burgess, author of children's stories, is located at 789 Main Street in Hampden, MA.
Waymark Code: WMN2BT
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 12/13/2014
Views: 3
Thornton Waldo Burgess was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts on January 14, 1874 to Caroline F. Haywood and Thornton W. Burgess, Sr. He became an ardent conservationist, naturalist, and author of children's stories. His stories reflected his love of nature. He wrote over 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column, Bedtime Stories.
He moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he took a job as an editorial assistant at the Phelps Publishing Company. He married Nina Osborne in 1905, but she died a year later on May 18, 1906. He remarried in 1911 to Fannie Phillips who had two children from a previous marriage.
Burgess' first stories were written under the pen name W. B. Thornton. Burgess' first book, Old Mother West Wind was published in 1910. There and in later books he introduced many of his well known characters, including Peter Rabbit (a.k.a. Peter Cottontail), Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle, and Old Mother West Wind and her Merry Little Breezes.
In 1925 he bought a home in Hampden, Massachusetts which is now in 1925 now now part of the Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary operated by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He died on June 5, 1965, at the age of 91 and is buried in Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, MA.
A sign on a well at the entrance side of the house identifies the structure as that of Thornton Burgess and give a brief history of the home. It is inscribed:
STORYTELLER'S HOUSE
This Cape Cod home was built between
1780 - 1782 by Calvin Stebbins, one of
Hampden's earliest settlers. It is the former
residence of children's author Thornton w.
Burgess The Massachusetts Audubon Society
renovated the house in 1983 in consultation
with the Society for the preservation of New
England Antiquities with funds provided by
the Norcross Foundation of new York. The
Thornton w. Burgess was placed on
the National Register of Historic Places on
April 12, 1983.
Wikipedia list the following publications by Thornton Burgess:
1905 The Bride's Primer (contributor)
1910 Old Mother West Wind
1911 Mother West Wind's Children
1912 Baby Possum Has a Scare
1912 Baby Possum's Queer Voyage
1912 Mother West Wind's Animal Friends
1912 The Boy Scouts of Woodcraft Camp
1913 Little Animal Stories for Little Children
1913 Mother West Wind's Neighbors
1913 The Adventures of Reddy Fox
1913 The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
1913 The Boy Scouts on Swift River
1914 A Glad Time Made a Sad Time
1914 Danny Meadow Mouse Learns Something
1914 Fun with Farmer Brown's Boy
1914 How Unc' Billy Possum Met Buster Bear
1914 Jack Frost Helps Paddy the Beaver
1914 Jerry Muskrat Begins to Build
1914 Jerry Muskrat Is Laughed At
1914 Jerry Muskrat Wins Respect
1914 Jumper the Hare Cannot Sleep
1914 Mr. Toad and Danny Meadow Mouse Take a Walk
1914 Old Mr. Toad Gets His Stomach Full
1914 Peter Rabbit Puts on Airs
1914 Striped Chipmunk's Secret Joke
1914 The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
1914 The Adventures of Mr. Mocker
1914 The Adventures of Peter Cottontail
1914 The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum
1914 The Boy Scouts on Lost Trail
1914 Unc' Billy Possum Has a Fright
1915 Mother West Wind "Why" Stories
1915 My Own Bedtime Story
1915 Peter Rabbit's Get Acquainted Party
1915 The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel
1915 The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse
1915 The Adventures of Grandfather Frog
1915 The Adventures of Sammy Jay
1915 The Bedtime Story Calendar
1915 The Boy Scouts in a Trapper's Camp
1915 Tommy and the Wishing Stone
1915 Tommy's Wishes Come True
1916 Little Animal Stories for Children
1916 Mother West Wind "How" Stories
1916 The Adventures of Buster Bear
1916 The Adventures of Old Man Coyote
1916 The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad
1916 The Adventures of Prickly Porky
1917 An Important Meeting at the Smiling Pool
1917 Busy Folks and Sleepy Folks
1917 Four little Mice at School and Play
1917 Johnny Chuck Loses His Temper
1917 Mother West Wind "When" Stories
1917 Paddy the Beaver Gives Warning
1917 Peter Rabbit Introduces His Big Cousin
1917 Peter Rabbit Learns from Striped Chipmunk
1917 Striped Chipmunk Has a Secret
1917 The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
1917 The Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
1918 Happy Jack
1918 Happy Jack Squirrel's Thrift Club
1918 Mother West Wind "Where" Stories
1918 The Adventures of Bobby Coon
1918 The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
1919 Mrs. Peter Rabbit
1919 The Adventures Bobby White
1919 The Adventures of Ol' Mistah Buzzard
1919 The Burgess Bird Book for Children
1920 Bowser the Hound
1920 Old Granny Fox
1920 The Burgess Animal Book for Children
1921 Lightfoot the Deer
1921 Tommy's Change of Heart
1922 Blacky the Crow
1922 Buster Bear Invites Old Mr. Toad to Dine
1922 Grandfather Frog Stays in the Smiling Pool
1922 Whitefoot the Woodmouse
1923 Buster Bear's Twins
1923 The Burgess Flower Book for Children
1924 Billy Mink
1925 Animal Pictures
1925 Little Joe Otter
1926 Jerry Muskrat at Home
1926 The Christmas Reindeer
1927 A Frightened Baby
1927 A Great Joke on Jimmy Skunk
1927 A Woe-Begone Little Bear
1927 An Imp of Mischief
1927 Cubby Bear Has a Mind of His Own
1927 Cubby Finds an Open Door
1927 Cubby Gets a Bath
1927 Cubby in Mother Brown's Pantry
1927 Digger the Badger Decides to Stay
1927 Grandfather Frog Gets a Ride
1927 Happy Jack Squirrel Helps Unc' Billy
1927 Longlegs the Heron
1927 Milk and Honey
1927 The Neatness of Bobby Coon
1927 What Farmer Brown's Boy Did
1928 Bobby Coon Has a Good Time
1928 Bowser the Hound Meets His Match
1928 Grandfather Frog Fools Farmer Brown's Boy
1928 Happy Jack Squirrel's Bright Idea
1928 Peter Rabbit Learns to Use His New Coat
1929 Farmer Brown's Boy Becomes Curious
1929 Little Joe Otter's Slide
1929 The Burgess Seashore Book for Children
1929 Wild Flowers We Know
1929 Wild Flowers We Should Know
1930 Betty Bear's Lesson
1930 Whitefoot's Secret
1932 Big Book of Green Meadow Stories
1932 The Burgess Big Book of Green Meadow Stories
1933 Birds You Should Know
1933 Jimmy Skunk's Justice
1933 Peter Rabbit's Carrots
1935 The Wishing-Stone Stories
1937 Big Thornton Burgess Story-book
1937 Tales from the Storyteller's House
1937 The Book of Animal Life
1938 Mother Nature's Song and Story Book
1938 While the Story-Log Burns
1940 A Merry Coasting Party
1940 A Robber Meets His Match
1940 Bobby Coon's Mistake
1940 Paddy's Surprise Visitor
1940 Peter Rabbit Proves a Friend
1940 Reddy Fox's Sudden Engagement
1940 The Three Little Bears
1940 Young Flash the Deer
1941 Little Pete's Adventure
1941 The Little Burgess Animal Book for Children
1941 The Little Burgess Bird Book for Children
1942 Animal Stories (also published as The Animal World of Thornton Burgess)
1942 Little Chuck's Adventure
1942 Little Red's Adventure
1942 Thornton Burgess Animal Stories
1944 On the Green Meadows
1944 The Feast at Big Rock
1944 Why Peter Rabbit's Ears Are Long and Three Other Stories
1945 At the Smiling Pool
1945 The Big Book of Burgess Nature Stories
1946 The Crooked Little Path
1947 The Dear Old Briar-Patch
1949 Along Laughing Brook
1949 Baby Animal Stories
1949 Nature Almanac
1950 A Thornton Burgess Picture Story Book
1950 At Paddy the Beaver's Pond
1953 Everybody Lends Jerry Muskrat a Hand
1953 Peter Rabbit's Prank
1953 Reddy Fox Takes a Bath
1954 Peter Rabbit and Reddy Fox
1954 The Littlest Christmas Tree
1955 Aunt Sally's Friends in Fur
1955 Stories Around the Year
1956 50 Favorite Burgess Stories
1956 Little Peter Cottontail
1957 How Peter Cottontail Got His Name
1958 Read Aloud Peter Rabbit Stories
1959 Bedtime Stories
1959 Nature Stories to Read Aloud
1960 Now I Remember: Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist
1963 The Million Little Sunbeams
1965 Mother West Wind Stories to Read Aloud
1965 The Burgess Book of Nature Lore