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While sitting in traffic on your way to work, the last thing you'd expect to see as you look out your car window is a bigger-than-life basket of pears, grapes the size of your car tires, and... a giant bundle of asparagus? That is, of course, unless you live in Brighton and are on your way into Cambridge by way of Parsons Street: Then, friends, you are looking at history.
Commissioned in 2005 by the MTA Underpass Beautification Program, the agricultural bounty growing under the Pike overpass celebrates Brighton's early history as "Little Cambridge." That's right, before Brighton became it's own distinct neighborhood, it was part of the great Cambridge cattle empire of the 1700s. That is, until Poppa Cambridge decided to leave the bridge that connected it to Little Cambridge in disrepair (a decision akin to deciding to changing the locks when your kid goes off to college) and--according to the Brighton Board of Trade--Cambridge "made other decisions that threatened the well-being of the local cattle industry." This mysterious footnote in history leads one to imagine Cambridge politicians sitting around in powdered wigs writing out "cattle-threatening legislation" with their ink-soaked quill pens. Perhaps Cambridge's ancestors were the forerunners of the Whole Foods organic food craze that still thrives there today.
Post and photo contributed by Bailey Triggs. Check out her other work at Diverted Motion and her full Flickr photoset of vegetable wonderfulness.
But what of the "Asparagus Officialis," the "Pyrus Communis" (French Williams Pear), and the "Vitis Labrusca" (Concord Grape) that have taken up residence under the bridge? Where did all the cattle go? Well, after Brighton incorporated in 1807 they began expanding their markets into horticulture. By 1820, Brighton was the hottest spot in Boston for green thumb enthusiasts including W.C. Strong, cultivator of the Concord Grape, and Joseph Breck, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society from 1859-1862. Both men also make an appearance in the murals under the overpass, representing not only Brighton's illustrious agricultural history, but also the impressive facial hairstyles that were popular in the 1800s. Mutton chops, ahoy!
Upon closer inspection of the murals, you may notice a striking similarity to other public art around Boston. Well, you're right! (Good job!) They were created by Joshua Winer, Boston's go-to public muralist. He's also responsible for the trompe l'oeil mural over the Harvard Square Theater and the Davenport Street Mural in Cambridge; The Chestnut Hill Highway Mural in Newton; the Kennedy Family Mural in Brookline; the Elephant Murals and the Alpha Omega Watch Mural in the Prudential Center; and The Newbury Street Mural on (you guessed it!) Newbury Street.
And all this time you thought you were just stuck in traffic, surrounded by weird vegetable art and fantasizing about your morning coffee, when really you were sitting in the middle of Brighton's historic past!
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My pee smells like trompe l'oeil.
That is, of course, unless you live in Brighton and are on your way into Cambridge by way of Parsons Street
Cambridge is for suckers, all the cool kids are on their way to Watertown....
Grahams might be right about Cambridge; I wouldn't know because whenever I drive by the asparagus I'm actually on my way to Nonantum... I like to make my articles as misleading as they are informative.
I am the artist who made those murals. Thanks Caroline for a good job writing the article- interesting and accurate. It was fun to research Brighton's agricultural history, then to buy the vegetables and fruits and create still lifes, then to paint those huge cutouts.I'm glad you noticed!
I think the trompe l'oeil pee joke is pretty funny. I'll pass that along to my Doctor friends, who told me the protein that causes that strong smell is called asparagine.