author
Mason Augustus Walton
b. 1838
Best known for writing about a life lived close to the natural world, this 19th-century American author brought unusual warmth and patience to his observations of wild animals. His work blends memoir, solitude, and early nature writing in a way that still feels vivid.
1 Audiobook
A Hermit's Wild Friends; or, Eighteen Years in the Woods
by Mason Augustus Walton
About the author
Born in Old Town, Maine, in 1838, Mason Augustus Walton was an American writer and naturalist remembered for A Hermit's Wild Friends; or, Eighteen Years in the Woods. Sources about his life describe him as a keen observer of birds, animals, and plant life, with a strong interest in living simply and studying nature firsthand.
He is closely associated with Gloucester, Massachusetts, where local historical accounts remember him as the "Hermit of Gloucester." After health problems led him to Cape Ann in the 1880s, he spent many years in a woodland shelter, watching wildlife at close range and turning those experiences into the reflective, conversational writing that shaped his best-known book.
Walton's appeal comes from the mix of autobiography and natural history in his work. Rather than treating animals as distant subjects, he wrote about them as individual creatures with habits, intelligence, and character, giving his book a gentle, personal voice that continues to interest readers of classic nature writing.