Thornton Burgess

Have you discovered Thornton Burgess yet? Chances are, your grandparents or great-grandparents read his books, which are still in print. This book, given to me by my grandfather Daddy Jim, was published in 1911. It is about Old Mother West Wind, her children the Merry Little Breezes, and all the animal characters of the forest and pond.


You can visit the tiny Thornton Burgess Museum in Sandwich, Massachusetts to see a collection of old tinware toys and boxes bearing pictures of some of Burgess' characters.

There is also a diorama with many of the other characters, like Hooty Owl.

Thornton Burgess was a scientist, naturalist, and storyteller from Sandwich, Massachusetts. His father died when he was a baby, and as a boy he found many odd-jobs to supplement the family income. Many of these jobs took him to the ponds and forests surrounding Sandwich, and his observations of nature led him to develop the stories of his Old Mother West Wind series. Today, the Greenbriar Nature Center is situated next to the little pond which later figured in his stories as Smiling Pond, with its nearby Old Briar Patch.

Click on the title of this posting for a link to the Thornton Burgess Museum, and The Greenbriar Nature Center and Jam Kitchen. They have a wonderful line-up of nature classes for children and adults, and I like the little articles about native animals and seasonal changes around Shawme Pond, Sandwich village's mill pond.