Wilding returns to area with program about The Outermost House; was influenced by Sharon’s Nan Turner Waldron

Don Wilding, the co-founder of the nonprofit Henry Beston Society on Cape Cod and author of the book, Henry Beston’s Cape Cod, will present his multimedia program, Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: Inspiration for a National Seashore, at:

• North Attleboro Historical Society, 362 North Washington St., Rte. 1A, North Attleboro, on Monday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sharon Adult/Community Center, 219 Massapoag Ave., Sharon, on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 10:30 a.m. (Please RSVP at 781-784-8000).

Wilding, a former sports editor for The Sharon Advocate and The Foxboro Reporter and arts and entertainment editor for The Sun Chronicle, has presented this program on Cape Cod and across New England extensively since 2001.

Beston’s book, The Outermost House, was written in 1927 after Beston spent a solitary year in a 20x16 cottage on Eastham’s outer beach. The Outermost House is now considered an American classic on the level of the works of Thoreau, Muir and other noted nature writers, and was cited as a major influence on the establishment of the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961. Noted author Rachel Carson said that The Outermost House was the only book to ever influence her writing.

Wilding, 53, published Henry Beston’s Cape Cod in 2003, shortly after co-founding the nonprofit Beston Society with his wife, Nita. A new edition was published in July 2013.

The Beston Society is based in North Eastham, just a few miles from where Beston walked the outer beach, and has sponsored and/or taken part in lectures, theater productions and exhibits on the Cape. Wilding and the Beston Society are now producing a documentary film about Beston’s story and his influence on the Cape Cod National Seashore, in association with filmmaker Christopher Seufert and Mooncusser Films of Chatham.

Wilding’s presentation includes 170 slides of Beston and his famous cottage, along with pre-production footage from the documentary film project. Many of the photos of Beston’s famous house in the presentation were taken by longtime Sharon resident, the late Nan Turner Waldron, who wrote the book, Journey to Outermost House. “Nan was my Outermost House guru,” Wilding says.

The program tells how the Quincy native, still shaken by his experiences as an ambulance driver in France during World War I, took to writing fairy tales and eventually found the peace of mind he was looking for on Cape Cod’s outer beach. In doing so, he not only found himself as a writer, but prose from The Outermost House was quoted in National Park Service reports about Cape Cod that sealed its establishment as a national treasure.

Wilding will be available to sign copies of his book, along with copies of the DVD, Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: Meditations of the Outer Beach. The DVD, a fundraiser for the documentary film project, includes samples of interviews and scenic footage that have been gathered so far.

For more information, contact the Beston Society at 508-246-7242 or visit www.henrybeston.org.