Roland W. Robbins

Roland Wells Robbins (1908–1987) was an American archaeologist, author, and historian who is known for discovering the site of Henry David Thoreau's house at Walden Pond. His other discoveries include the Saugus Iron Works and the John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites.

Early life Robbins was born on March 21, 1908, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He dropped out of high school in 1924 and went to work as an office boy at R.G. Dun & Co. He later worked for two employment agencies and was manager of the Boston Reference Bureau. During the Great Depression, Robbins was unable to find steady work, working as a handyman, house painter, and window-washer.

Archaeology Thoreau site On July 4, 1945, the 100th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau's first day at Walden Pond, Robbins decided to look for the site of Thoreau's cabin. He used Walden and notes on the house by William Ellery Channing as a reference. Robbin's replica was visited by hundreds of people, including P. B. Gajendragadkar and Toshi and Pete Seeger. Robbins' excavations uncovered the major manufacturing units of the Iron Works, including the foundations of buildings, remains of the blast furnace, holding ponds, and canal, a 500-pound hammer used in the forge, and a waterwheel that powered the bellows for the blast furnace, along with its wheel pit. In total, more than 5,000 artifacts were found. Robbins also clashed with the project's architects, who he thought were ignorant about and uninterested in archeological data, and was upset with the FIWA's decision to base the reconstruction of the Iron Works primarily on documentary, rather than archeological, evidence. In 1967 he was commissioned by the town of Middleboro, Massachusetts, to clear and restore the Oliver Mills.

In 1947, Robbins purchased 1,230 negatives of Herbert W. Gleason, a photographer who took several thousand pictures of areas frequented by Thoreau. His collection of Gleason's work eventually grew to 6,000 pieces. Robbins displayed these works in his Thoreau-Walden Room.

Robbins died on February 8, 1987, at his home in Lincoln.