History Around Every Corner

I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. Generally, Hawaii is regarded as an ancient place - the legends and lore and culture all speak to a place with a long history. But aside from the stories and the artifacts on display in the Bishop Museum, the physical evidence of truly *ancient* human activity in Hawaii is limited to a few heiau (temples) in remote locations. When it comes to history you can see and touch on a daily basis, Hawaii's history began in the late 1800s, and the vast majority has been constructed since the 1960s. The 1926 Royal Hawaiian Hotel is one of the oldest buildings in Waikiki, and a fifty-year-old house is regarded as "very old."

So when I moved to Boston one of the first things I noticed was the staggering amount of history you see every day. The Old North Church, figuring so prominently in our sentimental history of the Revolution, is right next to an italian sandwich place I go to regularly for lunch. Boston Common, Fenway Park, Faneuil Hall - these are places that are woven into the daily life of the city, not set apart as some preserve or museum. The Back Bay, Copley Square - the fact that the story of most every building goes back a century or more is common. People from Boston probably don't even notice.

Belmont is no different, really. My home is across the street from the Benton Library, constructed in 1892 and in more or less continuous use ever since. The river-stone house tucked behind a commercial building in Cushing Square house is an original American Craft home from the same period. The Rotary Club/Belmont Center Train station, the homes on Pleasant Street, Town Hall - all have the same story, and can all be seen in the grainy black-and-white or sepia-toned photographs from the turn of the previous century, all remarkably unchanged since then.

For those of us inclined to dig a bit deeper, the history leaps out at you. Once you know the story behind Cushing (of the eponymous Square) or Waverley (of the Estate), those names cease to become anonymous word on maps and become bookmarks for voluminous lore, all interlocking with the present. History, after all, is about the stories behind things and events and people, not the things or events or people per se. And it's those stories that make things interesting. To remain unaware of the history through which you move on a daily basis is to omit a part of what makes a life rich and interesting to live. And it makes it interesting to turn every corner.