On New England
One of the reasons I decided to move across the country was because I thought it would do me good to get out of Southern California and see what life is like in another part of the country. At first I was all "omgz all Boston bldgs r made of brick!!!", but I soon got used to that and the funny wooden apartments here. But today--today I saw something brand new.
I have a final class project about the potential for school consolidation in two little communities to the south of Boston, one of which I visited today. It took me 45 minutes to get to Cohasset via commuter rail, then 30 minutes of walking to get from the station to the library (I got to go back to my history roots by reading archival information about this town).
I found it to be such a weird and eerie place. The houses are huge, and many have separate barn-like structures. They're situated very far apart from each other, and have no fences--not like in southern California, where all the houses are smushed up next to each other and separated obviously by tall fences. All of the backyards just melted away into forests of barren trees. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was just house after house after house, with no sidewalk for me to walk on. I passed by 3 people walking, and greetings were exchanged each time. The 'downtown' was hilarious and tiny; it so felt like small-town Americana, or a little colonial town, or something. I don't think Cohasset has a Starbucks or any coffee shops at all. There are just a handful of restaurants, a barber, a tailor, et cetera. I guess with a population of only 7,000, what was I expecting?
Of course I try to relate everything to movies and TV shows - on the walk to the library, I realized that many of the things I remembered (or at least the ones in which location made a significant impression), were set in southern California. It definitely reminded me of Dawson's Creek, though - which makes sense, since it's set in Massachusetts. I walked back from the library at dusk, and was definitely reminded of horror movies - most of which were set in communities like this? The more yard space/scary wooded backyards, the easier for killers to sneak around and do their stuff without interference.
So, in summation: I guess what I got from this trip was that small-town New England is spooky.
I have a final class project about the potential for school consolidation in two little communities to the south of Boston, one of which I visited today. It took me 45 minutes to get to Cohasset via commuter rail, then 30 minutes of walking to get from the station to the library (I got to go back to my history roots by reading archival information about this town).
I found it to be such a weird and eerie place. The houses are huge, and many have separate barn-like structures. They're situated very far apart from each other, and have no fences--not like in southern California, where all the houses are smushed up next to each other and separated obviously by tall fences. All of the backyards just melted away into forests of barren trees. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was just house after house after house, with no sidewalk for me to walk on. I passed by 3 people walking, and greetings were exchanged each time. The 'downtown' was hilarious and tiny; it so felt like small-town Americana, or a little colonial town, or something. I don't think Cohasset has a Starbucks or any coffee shops at all. There are just a handful of restaurants, a barber, a tailor, et cetera. I guess with a population of only 7,000, what was I expecting?
Of course I try to relate everything to movies and TV shows - on the walk to the library, I realized that many of the things I remembered (or at least the ones in which location made a significant impression), were set in southern California. It definitely reminded me of Dawson's Creek, though - which makes sense, since it's set in Massachusetts. I walked back from the library at dusk, and was definitely reminded of horror movies - most of which were set in communities like this? The more yard space/scary wooded backyards, the easier for killers to sneak around and do their stuff without interference.
So, in summation: I guess what I got from this trip was that small-town New England is spooky.