"Mrs. Jack Gardner's Italian palace" is both a marvelously quaint descriptor for what is now the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and a reminder of how deeply entrenched patriarchy was at that time--she still was merely "Mrs. Jack Gardner," why bother with acknowledging her autonomous identity, as a woman?

cool

By Anon on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 12:05pm.

its interesting that he's calling out places we all know today, roads, the river, etc.. But with the context none of us know.. "where old john's italian restaurant is". I imagine i'll be saying the same thing.. "where urban renewal used to be on brighton ave". Anyway, would be a trip to have him see what it looks like now.

The accepted spelling appears

By anon on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 12:57pm.

The accepted spelling appears to be "abattoir". Though the ward map at http://www.bahistory.org/Abattoir.html gets it wrong a different way as "abbatoir". That page also says that by 1872 there was just a single abattoir in Brighton, where Soldiers Field Road and the Staples/IHOP strip are today.

I'm sure there were plenty of

By anon on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 1:08pm.

I'm sure there were plenty of 311 calls with smart phone pictures of horse poop telling the city to clean it up.

And Italians from a small

By redheadedjen on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 1:27pm.

And Italians from a small little village in Italy called San Donato Val Di Comino.

I still know a few that still

By Muerl on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 3:02pm.

I still know a few that still live there (In Brighton) or have children who do. Though several of them did sell out and move when they retired a in 2020.

Also, it is a great little village, stare out at mountains and valleys and eat and drink. The Spring Festival was an awesome time :)

Also, the only place I have ever been where people who did not really speak English wanted to ask me about Brighton and would bring over people to translate.

I wonder what will happen if I go back and tell them I moved to Newtonville :)

Not sure the Italian community was there in 1900

By Anon on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 3:51pm.

I believe that is when the immigration from San Donato began. This link mentions 1900-1930 as to when biggest wave occurred. Fred Salvucci and Paul Cellucci are descended from immigrants from that town. I've visited, and it is quite beautiful.

https://wpmarchione.com/2017/08/28/brighton-center-walking-tour-part-2/

THE (WILD WILD) WEST BOSTON

By BRADEN on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 4:13pm.

good find~!

BRIGHTON

By THOMAS MCCUSKER on Fri, 02/03/2023 - 6:20pm.

Great story, I lived for a while across from the abattoir when I was a kid. Nice to read this.

Brighton used to be full of cattle, sheep and poker players

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