My main reason for coming to Boston is to visit my niece, Stephanie, who is a graduate student at Emerson College, studying publishing and writing. Her college is smack in the middle of downtown Boston, but she lives in Allston.
Allston is the far western neighborhood of Boston. It was named for artist Washington Allston. The area first revolved around railroad and livestock trade. It now has a mix of several minority groups that give the area a funky take on a blue-collar town. While walking with Stephanie, I noticed many Brazilian restaurants.
Allston lies between two major universities, Harvard and Boston University. While most people associate Harvard with the town of Cambridge, to the north of Boston, a sizeable part of the university lies within Allston.
The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the oldest public school in the United States for deaf children, and is located in Allston. Helen Keller attended this school. Alexander Graham Bell also taught at the school, and his experiments to help the deaf lead to the invention of the telephone.
Back to funky - the band Aerosmith lived here at one time, and wrote their first song while living in Allston.
And of course, I forgot to take my camera with me when Steph and I went to pick up the rental car. So, I will try to get some pictures in at a later time. The next few days will focus on the Pilgrims and Plymouth, as we are going to Plimouth Plantation.
