John Burroughs Memorial
1415 Burroughs Memorial Rd
Roxbury, NY
The beloved nature essayist John Burroughs lies on the plain boulder he sat on as a farm boy, looking out over the Catskill fields that made him a writer.
John Burroughs was the writer who taught Gilded Age America how to look at nature. Born on this Roxbury farm in 1837, he grew into one of the most widely read and beloved nature essayists the country has produced, a founder of the American nature-writing tradition alongside Thoreau. He wrote nearly thirty books about birds, flowers, streams, and the plain beauty of rural life, and readers by the hundreds of thousands came to see the world more closely because of him.
When he died in 1921, he was brought home and buried, on his eighty-fourth birthday, beside a great glacial boulder called Boyhood Rock, the very rock he had sat on as a farm boy gazing out over the family's fields. There is no grand monument here, only that plain stone, a bronze plaque with his likeness, and the wide view of the Catskill farmland he loved. It is one of the quietest and most moving spots in these mountains.
What Guests Love
- Boyhood Rock, the great boulder where Burroughs sat as a boy and where he is now buried
- The sweeping, peaceful view over the same Catskill farmland he wrote about all his life
- An outdoor exhibit that tells the story of one of America's most beloved nature writers
- Nearby Woodchuck Lodge, his summer home, open for tours on select weekends
Worth Knowing
- The memorial field and grave are free and open to walk anytime during daylight hours, most of the year
- The roads in are narrow rural lanes, so drive slowly and watch for farm traffic
- Woodchuck Lodge, his summer house up the same road, is cared for by a volunteer nonprofit and opens for tours only on select seasonal weekends, so check ahead if you want to see inside
- This is a contemplative stop rather than a big attraction, well suited to an hour of quiet walking and reflection
Details
Roxbury, NY
Learn about John Burroughs Memorial
The man who taught America to look
John Burroughs grew up on this hillside farm, worked as a teacher and then as a clerk in Washington, and along the way became one of the essential American nature writers. His first book, Wake-Robin, appeared in 1871, and a long line of gentle, closely observed essays followed. He wrote about the birds outside his window and the streams in his hills in a way that felt like a friend showing you what you had been walking past all your life.
In Washington he befriended Walt Whitman, whom he championed early and later wrote about, and over the years his fame drew a remarkable circle to him. He was close to the naturalist John Muir, corresponded with President Theodore Roosevelt, and joined the auto-camping trips of the men who were building the modern industrial world.
The Vagabonds and Woodchuck Lodge
Up the same road from the grave stands Woodchuck Lodge, the plain farmhouse where Burroughs spent his later summers writing and rambling. It is now a National Historic Landmark, cared for by a volunteer nonprofit that opens it for tours on select weekends in the warmer months. To stand in it is to see how simply this famous man lived, close to the ground he came from.
It was here and on the road that Burroughs kept company with an unlikely crew. Beginning around 1916, he joined Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone on the celebrated summer motor-camping expeditions they called the Vagabonds, four of the most famous men in America driving off to sleep in tents. On a 1920 trip the group came to Burroughs's own Catskill retreat. The old naturalist, it is said, would pitch his tent apart from the others so he could wander among the plants and creatures in his linen coat and long white beard, more at home with the woodchucks than the tycoons.
That is the quiet wonder of this place: the humble farm boy who wrote about wrens and wildflowers ended up beside the men who put the country on wheels and wired it for light, and he is buried not under their marble but on his own boyhood rock, facing his own fields.
Visiting the John Burroughs Memorial
The memorial lies about two miles west of Roxbury village, on Burroughs Memorial Road. The grounds are a New York State historic site, free and open through daylight hours for most of the year, so you can walk out to Boyhood Rock and the grave on your own time. A short trail leads to the boulder, and an outdoor exhibit fills in the story of his life and work.
Give yourself an unhurried hour to read the plaque, take in the long view over the farmland, and feel the stillness of the spot. If you can time your visit to one of the seasonal open-house weekends, add a tour of Woodchuck Lodge up the road. It is a small, honest, deeply American place, the resting spot of a man who spent his life asking others simply to slow down and pay attention.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Roxbury
Kirkside Park, Roxbury
About 2 miles
A restored public park in Roxbury village with a stream, rustic bridges, and shaded walking paths, once part of the estate of the railroad-magnate Gould family who called Roxbury home.
Pratt Rock, Prattsville
About 12 miles
A cliff face carved in the 1800s with relief sculptures celebrating the tanner Zadock Pratt, sometimes called New York's Mount Rushmore, reached by a short steep trail with valley views.
Delaware and Ulster Railroad, Arkville
About 10 miles
A heritage excursion train that runs through the Catskills along the East Branch of the Delaware River in vintage coaches and open-air cars during the warmer season.
Belleayre Mountain
About 18 miles
A state-run recreation mountain in the Catskill Park with winter skiing and summer hiking, plus a swimming lake at its base.