US Postal Service Debuts New Thoreau Stamp At Walden Pond

CONCORD (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is dedicating its new Henry David Thoreau postage stamp at a ceremony at Walden Pond, where the 19th century American philosopher and naturalist spent two years in solitude and reflection.

Writer of "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau is being honored on the bicentennial year of his birth in Concord, Massachusetts. The postal service says Thoreau's way of living simply and rejecting materialism continues to inspire people.

Actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., a board member of the Walden Woods Project , plans to attend the ceremony Tuesday in Concord along with Massachusetts and U.S. Postal Service officials.

The stamp image comes from an oil-on-panel painting of Thoreau's face based on an 1856 daguerreotype by Benjamin Maxham. It also includes his signature and a branch of sumac leaves.

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