In Boston, the past and the present carry on in parallel. The steps we take as we hurry for the T or head to a coffeeshop to meet friends trace those who came before us, maybe even in sync. One such literary place, where numerous authors have made their homes over the year, is Beacon Hill, and in this series we’ll take you on a tour of Four Doors of Pinckney Street.
#15 Pinckney Street: Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s Kindergarten
Many years after the Thoreau family lived nearly across the street, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody opened the first English-speaking kindergarten in the U.S. at 15 Pinckney Street. The item of note, though, isn’t so much the kindergarten itself as the woman behind it, one of the most intellectually-affecting citizens of 19th century Boston. As one write-up termed it, “Miss Peabody was identified with all the great movements of her time; indeed, she was characterized by an enthusiasm for humanity.”
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