While Some Things Change . . .
Some things remain the same. Vestal Street looks different from when Maria Mitchell was a child here at 1 Vestal Street. I am happy to say, her home has not really changed either inside or out. Some aspects of the rest of the street have not changed either, particularly down here on the lower end where the MMA is located. Here I am talking about the built environment. She would recognize houses, recognize changes that were made before she left island in 1861, and even changes made as she returned from time to time over the next decades.
One thing that does not change at all is the sound the rain makes on the roof of the Mitchell House. Still fully exposed to the elements as no trees hang over the House – and never did – the rain continues to make its drumming noise – the same as Maria, her siblings, and her parents heard – particularly when they were in the attic or the garret. It’s a pleasing noise – though I’m not a fan when it’s a torrential downpour! Though we have much more frequently with climate change than they obviously did in the Mitchells day.
I noticed this sound again the other day when it began to pour a fast burst of rain for a short period of time. Vestal Street became not just wet but steamy in the summer humidity, bubbles popped up in the puddles of the asphalt that was just laid in the spring (another change from the dirt of Maria’s day and until 1948 or so!). And the smell of summer rain as it mixed with leaves and grass and just was its own rain smell. I made myself sit in the attic stairs for a moment just to listen and breath. And I reminded myself, this is what Maria heard when she was in the attic at 1 Vestal Street.
JNLF
Photograph by Henry Michaelis
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