Henry David Thoreau didn’t like crowds or parties, and it is unlikely he would have shown up for the celebration of his 200th birthday on Saturday, July 15, at the Aquinnah library. Perhaps appropriately, no one did show up.

In the front of the library, there was a festive display of books by and about the party boy. In the middle was one titled Henry David Thoreau: Cycles and Psyche. The author, a psychiatrist, argued that Thoreau was suffering from seasonal affective disorder, post traumatic stress and numerous other emotional aches and pains, as well as hypergrafia, an overwhelming desire to write, something we can all be grateful for.

Eventually, two librarians, a 17-year-old male volunteer and a reporter gathered. The professor who had been scheduled to read from Nature couldn’t come because he wasn’t feeling well, and a librarian volunteered to fill in.

But first there was a trip to the Gay Head Moraine, a land bank forest off Lobsterville Road. The four of us drove there. The forest seemed deserted. This may have been because it was hot and muggy and there appeared to be an invasion of especially aggressive mosquitoes.

We trekked up what was described as a “bracing” loop trail and down a “rugged hill,” which unfortunately encouraged stumbling. Off in the distance, we could hear the noble croaking of a toad, a catbird’s song and crickets up the wazoo.

We were a meditative, quiet band, but occasionally a simple observation would ring out as we staggered down the trail. “I love being out in the woods.” “It’s so peaceful.” “What a nice boulder.” Then, another more ominous question: “I wonder what the tick situation is?”

Finally, we reached a bench and sat there as a librarian read, I think it was something from Walden or it might have been Civil Disobedience. For a transcendental moment, the mosquitoes vanished, a breeze cooled my sweaty brow and a poet’s words overcame me. After she had finished reading, several more moments went by. No one, it seemed, wanted to break the spell.

But what’s a party without refreshments? The Dorito chips were unexpected, but since I had begun to sweat profusely again, I needed the salt. Complementing the chips were organic grapes. And what to drink? Oh Henry David, how could we do better than a glass of cold water?

Ted Sutton lives in Newton and Aquinnah.