Tag: Victorian era

If you were to walk . . . or race a sleigh through Downtown Lowell’s Streets – 1906

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Did you know that Jingle Bells was composed by James Lord Pierpoint in Medford, Massachusetts in 1850?  It’s claimed that the town’s 19th century sleigh races inspired the song, and that it was originally written as a Thanksgiving, not Christmas song.  Why “jingle bells”?  Music historian James Fuld informs that the horse-drawn sleighs of the […]

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In His Words: Charles Dickens’ Perspective on New England and Public Transport, 1842

.Reading time 13 minutes.

We New Englanders have long called Boston “the Hub”.  And there’s a sense, just barely concealed, that we’re really referring to the hub of the universe, and not merely the hub of the state or region.   Undoubtedly, New England has a strong regional identity that includes the ubiquitous image of the “proper Bostonian” as well as a […]

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The Civility of the Past – Our Ancestors’ Experiences with Public Transport

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Do you commute to work using public transportation?  There’s a certain etiquette, a set of norms, that is easily observable when you are on the bus, the train, the subway, or even a plane.  There’s a prevailing thought out there that civility is a “thing of the past”.  But, was it?  Did our ancestors live […]

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