" An old place-based culture has a lore, a body of literature, songs, a kind of weaving, sculpture, a design on pots, that speak in subtle ways about the land." Gary Synder
Pedestrians walk with dark umbrellas swaying overhead as they make their way across the Southeast Corridor parkway. Along Columbus Street, men and women shield themselves under canopies from the autumn wind and rain. A photograph of a woman and child "Rainy Day Boston" taken in 1885 is reminiscent of the current scene. The continuity of rowhouses lining the street opens to the expanse of a gray sky. A series of grand boulevards, the South End was originally constructed following the infill of the Great Bay to create the Back Bay district, during the period of 1850 - 1865. What was once the narrow the Boston Neck, connecting the Shamut Penninsula (downtown Boston) to Roxbury, evolved into a neighborhood of detached homes, with churches and public buildings woven through the residential landscape.While the South End rose up in tandem with the Back Bay, it was unable to attract the wealthy Bostonians who preferred residences in the latter destination. Many of the original homes were quickly reconfigured as multi-family dwellings. A piano factory and baseball stadium were added in the late 1800s. By the end of the 19th century, the South End - primarily a lodging district at that time - became synonymous with transience.
A mural of women drawn in chalk against the side of a brick rowhouse opens these pages of history. The photograph creates an edge between the border of Tent City - a site of protest signalling fears of displacement among South End residents in recent times - and the Back Bay commercial district illuminated in the distance. These South End vistas reveal themselves in a landscape of change and renewal.