Boston Site History (Pre-19th Century)

South Bay Site History (Pre-19th Century)

SOUTH BAY RESEARCH NOTES & RESOURCES:

GEOLOGY & GEOGRAPHY:

ENGINEERING, SAFETY, & REGULATORY: 

"By 1630, English settlers had built a small village near Eliot Square and Roxbury had been established as a
Massachusetts Bay Colony town (MHC 1981:5). The town developed near the marshy banks of South Bay,
a large bay which stretched from the neck of the Shawmut Peninsula to Dorchester Neck. During this period,
Roxbury Neck, a narrow strip of land, was the only bridge to Boston and therefore an important area for trade
and industry. Roxbury's hills were used agriculturally and its water resources attracted water-powered
industries such as Dummer's 1633 grist mill and Pierpont's 1658 fulling mill on Stony Brook, a principal river
which drained into South Bay. By 1652, 120 houses were located throughout Roxbury (MHC 1981:5)."
BOS.RS, Lower Roxbury Industrial District, Roxbury; Dorchester Bay; Massachusetts Historical Commission (Aug. 1997).

"Preformal settlement on Shawmut peninsula by Blackstone (1625) as "Trimountain" with establishment of Massachusetts Bay Company as Boston in 1630. Original boundary with Cambridge and Charlestown remains as Charles River, although channel division follows early 20th century relocation of tide dam. Boundary between Boston and Roxbury originally followed channel of Roxbury Creek as Roxbury Neck through Back Bay with former division at Kendall-Hammond Streets. Later annexation of Back Bay (1825) created boundary with Brookline at Muddy River, redefined around Kenmore Square at St. Marys Street in 1874. Boundary between Boston and Dorchester originally followed Fort Point Channel until annexation of South Boston (1804) and later adjustment with Dorchester annexation (1869). Boston incorporated as a city in 1822."

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report, Associated Regional Report: Boston Area, MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION (1981).

Native Americans

"The archaeological record indicates that the region’s aboriginal inhabitants established temporary settlements at the fall line of the Charles at Watertown and elsewhere along both the north and south shores of the basin between 9,000 and 10,000 years ago. Coming from the south and southwest, these paleo-Indians entered the region not long after the glacier had receded, leaving in its wake a barren, tundra-like landscape similar to that found in the northern reaches of modern-day Canada and much broader in extent than what confronted the first Europeans.
Over the next several thousand years continuously milder climatic conditions encouraged a succession of forest types—first spruce parkland/ woodland, then pine-oak forest, and finally the mixed deciduous forest of today—on the once-treeless land bordering the river. At the same time sea level rose continuously until it submerged much of the former coastal plain. The region’s estuaries were created along the newly defined coast between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. Climatic and topographical changes created a woodland habitat for edible plants and wildlife, an estuarine habitat for fish, and fertile coastal land. From the beginning of the contact period, about 475 years ago, early European explorers and settlers described numerous Indian villages and small gardens in forest clearings throughout the area."
MA, https://www.mass.gov/doc/appendix-a-prehistory/download

"In pre-contact periods, the Massachuseuk dominated a roughly fifteen-mile shoreline from Quinobequin, or Winding Water (now the Charles River) to Patuxet (now Plymouth). Led by the sachem Chickataubut (House of Fire), they were centered at Cohasset, near modern Scituate, with a base at Passonagessit hill, some two miles south of Moswetuset Hummock. The Massachuseuk derived their name from the sacred hill Massa-adchu-es-et, which lies about seven miles inland from the Atlantic. The volcanic formation in question is five miles long, trending east-west, with a spring at the western end that is the source of the Naponset River, a waterway that was the central axis of the Massachuseuk world. The mouth of the river, where the Hummock is located, was called Messatsoosec, “the great hill’s mouth,” and was known for its mollusks. The area between the hills and the shore, in what is now Dorchester, was a corn-growing zone. On the southern edge of the Massa-adchu-es-et is a pond called Ponkapoag, a word thought to mean “sweet water” or “a spring that bubbles from red soil.” This area, protected from northern winds, served as the group’s winter residence."
The “Indianized” Landscape of Massachusetts, https://placesjournal.org/article/the-indianized-landscape-of-massachusetts/

1600s

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

Plymouth Colony & Mayflower Compact (1620); Wampanoag treaty (1621)
Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company (1628)
Massachusetts Bay Colony charter (1629)
Pequot War (1636-1638)
King Philip's War (1675–1678)
England revoked the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1684.
Quitclaim deed for the peninsula of Boston (1685)
Boston Revolt (April 18, 1689)(popular uprising in which Boston colonists overthrew royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros, and his administration of the Dominion of New England)
The Boston Declaration of Grievances, Cotton Mather & Others (April 18, 1689)
Charter of Province of Massachusetts Bay (1691)

"The first English settlement in Boston was by Samuel Maverick who settled in Chelsea in 1624. The English civil war of 1642-1649 relaxed controls over colonial trade and stimulated commerce in the colonies. By 1660 Boston handled most of the trade between England and New England."

FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATMENT ON DEBRIS REMOVAL FROM BOSTON HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1980).

1630 Shoreline overlaid on modern South End and Back Bay

1689

The Neck, 1630-1775

1695

1634

1630-1675 mapped on 1880 shoreline

THE changes in the fauna of the region immediately surrounding Boston, wrought by civilization, are merely such as would be expected to occur in the transformation of a forest wilderness into a thickly populated district, namely, the extirpation of all the larger indigenous mammals and birds, the partial extinction of many others, and the great reduction in numbers of nearly all forms of animal life, both terrestrial and aquatic, as well as the introduction of various domesticated species and those universal pests of civilization the house rats and mice. The only other introduced species of importance are the European house-sparrow and a few species of noxious insects.

Lynxes were quite common, and bears rather numerous, the latter being hunted for their oil and flesh, which were esteemed " not bad commodities." Wolves roamed in large packs, and were very destructive to sheep, swine, and calves. Among animals long since extirpated from Massachusetts is the " Jaccal " mentioned by Josselyn, 4 who describes it as " ordinarily less than Foxes, of the colour of a gray Rabbet, and do' not scent nothing near so strong as a Fox" This account points unquestionably to the Virginian or gray fox {Urocyon cinereo-argcntatus} , which during the last hundred years has receded southward and westward with great rapidity. There are, distinct references to the occurrence of the moose {Alces malchis) at Lynn and elsewhere northward and westward within forty miles of Boston. It was sometimes referred to under the name elk." The common deer (Cariactu virginianus) was, from its abundance, by far the most important of the larger native animals, and for many years afforded a ready supply of animal food. Morton states that " an hundre have bin found at the spring of the yeare, within the compasse of a mile," 3

Among other mammals that have entirely disappeared are the beaver, the marten, and the porcupine. The otter and the raccoon are nearly extinct, and nearly all the smaller species occur in greatly reduced numbers, including the muskrat, mink, weasels, shrews, moles, squirrels, and the various species of field-mice. The marine mammals have declined equally with the land species. There are many allusions to the abundance, in early times, of seals, whales, and the smaller cetaceans. One writer, in speaking of Massachusetts Bay, says, " for it is well knowne that it equalizeth Groinland for Whales and Grampuses." It is a matter of history that a profitable whale-fishery was at one time carried on in the Bay itself, the whales being pursued at first in open boats from the shore. The crane was probably the brown crane (Grus canadensis), while the swans embraced both of the American species.

The great auk and the Labrador duck are believed to have become everywhere extinct, especially the former, and five or six other species long since disappeared from southern New England. The wild Turkey is well known to have been formerly abundant. Wood speaks of there sometimes being " forty, three-score, and an hundred of aflocke," while Morton alludes to a " thousand " seen in one day. According to Josselyn, they began early to decline. The pinnated grouse (Cupidonia cupido) likewise soon disappeared.
The few which still remain on Martha's Vineyard are believed to be a remnant of the original stock, The former presence of the great auk {A lea impennis} along the coast of Massachusetts is not only attested by history but by the occurrence of* its bones in the Indian shell-heaps at Ipswich and neighboring points. It seems to have existed in the vicinity of Boston till near the close of the seventeenth century, but probably did not survive to a much later date.

The abundance of water-fowl and shore-birds seems worthy of brief notice. Morton describes three kinds of geese, and says: "There is of them great abundance. I have had often 1000. before the mouth of my gunne . . . the fethers of the Geese that I have killed in a short time, have paid for all the powther and shott, I have spent in a yeare, and I have fed my doggs with as fatt Geese there as I have ever fed upon my selfe in England." Of ducks he mentions three kinds, besides " Widggens," and two sorts of teal. No bird appears to have been more numerous in early times throughout the whole Atlantic slope than was the wild pigeon. The early historians of the region here in question speak of flocks containing " millions of millions," having seemingly, as Josselyn expresses it,
" neither beginning nor ending," and " so thick " as to obscure the sun. Other writers speak of their passing in such immense clouds as to hide the sun for hours together.

The antipathy to snakes, which so generally impels their destruction at every opportunity, has left few of these in comparison with their former numbers. The draining of ponds and marshy lands has greatly circumscribed the haunts of frogs, salamanders, and tortoises, which at many localities have become nearly extirpated. A few quotations respecting some of the more important kinds of edible fish will show to how great a degree our streams and coast waters have been depopulated. Respecting the codfish, the bass, and the mackerel, Morton speaks as follows : " The Coast aboundeth with such multitudes of Codd, that the inhabitants of New England doe dunge their grounds with Codd ; and it is a commodity better than the golden mines of the Spanish Indies. . . . The Basse is an excellent Fish. . . . There are such multitudes, that I have scene stopped into.the river [Merrimack] close adjoyning to my howse with a sand at one tide, so many as will loade a ship of a 100. Tonnes. The Mackarels are the baite for the Basse, and these have bin chased into the shallow waters, where so many thousands have shott themselves ashore with the surfe of the Sea, that whole hogges-heads have bin taken up on the Sands ; and for length they excell any of other parts: they have bin measured 18. and 19. inches in length, and seaven in breadth : and are taken ... in very greate quantities all alonge the Coaste."

Wood says, "... shoales of Basse have driven up shoales of Macrill from one end of the sandie Beach to another [referring to Lynn Beach] ;which the inhabitants have gathered up in wheelc-barrowes." Higginson, in speaking of " a Fish called a Basse," states that the fishermen used to take more of them in their nets than they could " hale to land, and for want of Boats and Men they are constrained to let a many goe after they have taken them, and yet sometimes they fill two Boats at a time with them." Other kinds of fish appear to have been correspondingly abundant. " There is a Fish, (by some called shadds, by some allizes)," says Morton, "that at the spring of the yearc, passe up the rivers to spaune in the ponds and are taken in such multitudes in every river, that hath a pond at the end, that the Inhabitants doung their ground with them.

From the accounts left us by the authors already so frequently quoted, it appears that the lobster has declined greatly in numbers
and in size. In the quaint language of the times, they are said to have been " infinite in store in all parts of the land, and very excellent," and to have sometimes attained a weight of sixteen to twenty-five pounds. They appear to have been an important source of food to the Indians, as Morton 2 says, "... the Salvages will meete 500, or 1000. at a place where Lobsters come in with the tyde, to eate, and save dried for store, abiding in that place, feasting and sporting a moneth or 6. weekes together.

Oysters were found in " greate store " " in the entrance of all Rivers," and of large size. Wood says the oyster-banks in Charles River " doe barre out the bigger ships." He thus describes the oysters : " The Oisters be great ones in forme of a shoo home, some be a foote long, these breede on certaine bankes that are bare every Spring tide. This fish without the shell is so big that it must admit of a division before you can well get it into your mouth." From some not well-known cause the oysters died out so long ago along most parts of the Massachusetts coast. Of clams (" Clames," " Clammes," or "Clamps," as they were variously designated), it is said " there is no want, every shore is full." Besides their ordinary uses they were esteemed " a great commoditie for the feeding of Swine, both in Winter and Summer; for being once used to those places, they will repaire to them as duely every ebbe, as if they were driven to them by keepers." The changes in respect to insect-life have unquestionably been great, some species having decreased while others have become more numerous.

THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON. INCLUDING SUFFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 1630 1880. VOL. I. THE EARLY AND COLONIAL PERIODS. EDITED BY JUSTIN WINSOR. BOSTON (1881).

1700's-1760s

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

Dummer's War (1722–1725)
King George's War (1744–1748)
French and Indian War / Seven Years War (1756-1763)
Stamp Act 1765 (taxes)
Townshend Acts of 1767 (taxes)

"During the 1700’s this area, known then as Gallows Cove, operated as a thriving maritime center capable of handling vessels of all descriptions engaged in world commerce. The land expansion of Boston Proper, South Boston and Dorchester combined with requirements for increased wharfage succeeded in reducing the waterway to a relatively narrow channel. Progress, in the nature of bridge crossings, for land transportation, limited the movement of large sailing vessels causing owners to seek more accessible berthing facilities. The merchants relocated their operations to follow suit thus initiating the decline of the area which has continued unchecked to the present state of dilapidation.

1959 Senate Bill 0498. Report of the Special Commission Relative to Filling and Improving South Bay and Part of Fort Point Channel in the City Of Boston: A Comprehensive Report for the Filling and Improving a Portion of Fort Point Channel and South Bay. (1959).

By 1708 Boston and Charlestown had 78 wharves. Long Wharf, which provided direct access for sea going ships, was opened in 1713 and became the focus of shipping activities."
FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATMENT ON DEBRIS REMOVAL FROM BOSTON HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1980).

The Neck was, in the words of William Muir Whitehill “a mangy kind of natural causeway, soggy at high tide and spray blown in a storm, that leads to a fortified gate at what is now Washington and Dover Streets. This is the only means of approaching by foot or horse. All other routes require boats. As it is made no more exhilarating by the presence of a gallows just outside the town gate, and as it leads through the least settled portion of the town, we will gain a more favorable impression by choosing to approach Boston from the sea... So forlorn was the Neck that even the street leading from it into town had no official name until the eighteenth century. Bartholomew Green’s broadside of 1708 identified the highway described in 1650 as “the High wayes from Jacob Eliot’s Barne to the Farthest gate bye Roxbury Towns end” as Orange Street.
Walter Muir Whitehill, Boston: A Topographical History

1708	1722, Bronner

1711

1728

1711	Bronner, 1725

Boston's geography was key to its development as a commercial center. The city's harbor and its position at the mouth of three rivers extending inland made Boston an ideal location for trade. Boston became the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the commercial hub of New England. By the 1720's, Boston already looked like
a city.
In the 1800's Boston's population grew significantly, as did its geographic area. Boston's physical expansion happened in three different ways. First, residential areas
spread as population increased. Second, large portions of the city were man-made, as harbors, mudflats, channels and rivers were filled in with land from hills that were quarried or with fill from the suburbs brought in by rail. These man-made areas included the Back Bay, the South End, most of East Boston and a large portion of South
Boston. Third, Boston also grew by annexing immediately adjacent towns, including Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxbury, and West Roxbury. Hyde Park was the last town to be annexed, in 1912.
By 1740, the entire region looked to Boston for trade. The city found its niche not in agriculture or manufacturing, but in the packaging, purchasing and selling of the goods of other areas. After the Revolution, when trade with the British declined, enterprising Bostonians established trade with ports all around the world. By the late 1700's, Boston had become the premier shipping and trading port in North America, with a volume of trade four times that of New York. As the shipping industry evolved, it was outgrowing Boston's inner harbor. In the 1830s, merchants began to use the waterfronts of South Boston and East Boston for trade and other maritime activities such as shipbuilding and fishing. Boston's trading role not only established the city as one of the major centers of commerce in the U.S., but also brought for many Bostonians substantial wealth which would be used to fund burgeoning industries in Boston and elsewhere.
https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/15ca7a2f-56d1-4770-ba7f-8c1ce73d25b8

1764

"Native people were first to be enslaved in Boston. In the 1620s, English colonists began to enslave Native people in and around Boston. Later, English colonists captured and enslaved Native people during the Pequot War (1636-1638) and King Philip’s War (1675-1676). Enslaved Native people worked in households, farms, and various industries. English colonists also trafficked many captured Native people to places as far away. Prominent townspeople of Boston and the surrounding area enslaved many members of the Pequot Nation. Governor John Winthrop enslaved Wincombone and her children as domestic servants and messengers... By 1700, there were more than 1000 enslaved Africans and Natives living in New England. Over the next six decades, the enslaved population grew dramatically and became overwhelmingly African. Between the 1630s and the 1760s, more than 17,000 enslaved Africans arrived in New England. During Metacomb’s Rebellion (King Philip’s War) of 1675, English settlers captured and enslaved more Native people from the Massachusett, Wampanoag, and Nipmuc nations. Before 1700, most enslaved people in Boston were Native American."

"When the English colonized the place we now call Boston, they enslaved members of local Native nations. The first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in Boston in 1638. In 1641, Massachusetts became the first English colony in North America to make slavery legal. Legalized enslavement in Boston would continue for nearly 150 years. This law established that Native and African people could be enslaved if they were taken as war captives, forcibly sold into slavery before they were purchased and sent to Massachusetts, or sentenced to enslavement by the Courts. By adopting the Body of Liberties, Massachusetts was the first to legalize slavery in the English colonies that became the United States. This became the first step in Massachusetts creating a system of race-based, chattel slavery that was hereditary. Over the next 150 years, Bostonians revisited this law and refined their understanding of slavery until legally abolishing it in the late-1700s."

"The business of slavery also contributed to the rise of industry in Boston. The town’s distilleries used molasses imported from the Caribbean in order to create rum in large quantities. Distilleries in Boston also relied heavily on enslaved labor. Ultimately, the business of slavery also helped to hide the importance of slavery to Boston. Unlike the American South and Caribbean where slavery was visible everywhere and enslaved people could constitute upwards of 90% of the total population, Boston's ties to slavery were commercial and enslaved people comprised a minority of the population.'

"It was common for Bostonians to own slaves, and it was a normal part of everyday life in Boston. One in four Boston households owned enslaved people. A typical household with enslaved people was part of the “middling” classes- artisans, small merchants, and ship captains. Most enslaver households had 1-2 enslaved people."

"By 1720, there were more than 1500 enslaved people living in Boston, or about 12% of the town’s population at the time. Enslaved people would make up between 10-12% of Boston’s population throughout the early and mid 1700s. Boston was the center of New England slavery and more than 30% of the region’s enslaved population lived in the town. As such, enslaved people were always readily available for purchase or sale. Beyond those buying and selling enslaved people, many Bostonians supported the slave trade including printers, who facilitated slave sales through advertisements in local newspapers. Enslaved labor was crucial for Boston’s economy. Enslaved people worked in nearly every major industry in and around Boston, including farming, shipbuilding, distilling, and construction. Without slave labor many of these industries would have collapsed. Working in these industries meant enslaved people were skilled workers."

"To control enslaved people, town and colonial officials passed restrictive laws targeting people of color, regardless of whether or not they were enslaved. In Boston, enslaved and free people of color had a 9pm curfew, could not possess firearms or liquor, were prohibited from gathering in groups, were prohibited from marrying white people, and were not allowed to join civic associations such as militias. Punishments for breaking these laws ranged from public whipping to exile to hanging.

Throughout the 1760s Black people in Boston called out the hypocrisy of white colonists demanding their freedom from British “slavery” in the lead up to the American Revolution. Enslaved and free Black Bostonians began agitating for an end to slavery. They used many methods such as purchasing their freedom, advocating for manumission (the act of an enslaver freeing an enslaved person), joining the military, running away, or suing for their freedom in what was called a freedom suit. Enslaved people engaged in a constant battle to resist slavery and find freedom. By the early-1760s, many enslaved people had achieved freedom, creating a free Black community in Boston. Although this population remained relatively small—just a few hundred people in the 1760s and 1770s—free Black Bostonians were important champions of abolition and civil rights during the Revolutionary Era."

"Despite the success that Black Bostonians had during the Revolutionary Era, enslavement, often by other names and means, lingered on. Judicial authorities had little ability to enforce the 1783 Commonwealth v. Jennison decision that had declared slavery incompatible with the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.... The Middle Passage Marker was erected in 2020 at the end of Long Wharf to mark the place where ships carrying enslaved individuals landed. One side looks out to sea, while the other looks down State Street toward a location where people were bought and sold as property."

Boston Slavery Exhibit, City of Boston Archaeology, https://www.boston.gov/departments/archaeology/boston-slavery-exhibit

Slavery and Law in 17th Century Massachusetts, Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/slavery-and-law-in-early-ma.htm

"Boston’s wealthy white elite were at the center of the lucrative enslavement-based economy, directly enslaving Black people and profiting from Boston’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Boston traders, investors, and businesspeople were responsible for at least 307 separate trafficking voyages. Boston served both as the origin port for outbound ships en route to the coast of Africa to capture and kidnap woman, men, and children and as a final trafficking destination for the sale of enslaved Africans."

"The city’s involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade peaked between 1760 and 1775—the same period when Bostonians were staging dramatic protests and escalating their demands for “freedom” and “independence”—when at least 95 voyages departed from or disembarked in Boston, many traveling to or leaving directly from Africa. Even after gradual abolition in Massachusetts outlawed the enslavement of Black people, Boston shipbuilders, traders, and businessmen continued to grow wealthy from human trafficking. Boston traders illegally trafficked African women, men, and children for decades after Congress abolished the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 1807. As late as 1858, traffickers aboard the Crimea departed from Boston to Africa, where they kidnapped 600 people from the mouth of the Congo River and sold them in Guanimar, Cuba."

Wealth created by involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its related industries—rum, timber, shipbuilding, fisheries, and agriculture—formed the bedrock of Boston’s economy. In addition to the profits from the trafficking of humans, merchants and businessmen made fortunes from trading raw goods produced by enslaved people. Even after slavery was abolished in Massachusetts, Boston traders flourished by exporting fish, timber, and other supplies that plantations in the Caribbean needed to operate and expand. The Boston area became a major producer of rum, which required a steady supply of molasses harvested and refined by enslaved people in the West Indies under conditions infamous for their brutality."

"Slavery was abolished earlier in Boston than in much of the U.S., but white Bostonians subjected free Black people to virulent racism, racially discriminatory laws, and strictly enforced racial segregation. Even those who advocated for nationwide abolition intended to maintain the racial hierarchy. Renowned Boston abolitionist Theodore Parker celebrated white superiority, saying in a 1857 speech that “the Anglo-Saxon people…is the best specimen of mankind which has ever attained great power in the world.”

"After abolition, Black people in Boston faced more than a century of court-enforced discrimination in housing and education. Restrictive racial covenants and intimidation prevented Black families from renting and buying homes. In 1935, 100 Black families were evicted from present-day Cambridge to make way for an all-white neighborhood, and after World War II, Boston built 25 public housing projects that were segregated by race. Racial segregation permeated the city’s schools as well. Between 1933 and 1943, only six Black students graduated from Boston College, and in the 1950s, more than 80% of Boston’s Black elementary school students attended majority-Black schools. Calls to implement busing to desegregate Boston’s school system in the 1970s were met with massive, violent protests by white parents, who pulled 30,000 children out of the public school system. Today, only about 14% of public school students are white in a city that is about 45% white. Racial hierarchy and economic inequality between Black and white Bostonians have deep roots in the Transatlantic Slave Trade that persist in the city to this day."

EJI, The Transatlantic Slave Trade, https://eji.org/report/transatlantic-slave-trade/boston/

1772 map overlaid on 1880 map

1743

1749; A new survey of the harbour

1756, Baye et port de Boston

1763, Carta rappresentante il porto di Boston

1764, Carte de la Baye de Baston

Boston Massacre: On March 5, 1770, seven British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonians, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony. The event, known as the Boston Massacre, did not happen in an isolated vacuum, but it occurred as a result of growing tensions between Boston colonists and English Parliament.

At the conclusion of the Seven Years War (1763), England had accumulated a massive military bill – doubling their national debt – and needed to increase national income. The English Parliament settled on taxing their North American colonies and justified the taxes as providing national security. James Otis Jr., Samuel Adams, and others argued that Parliament imposed taxes infringed upon their natural rights as Englishmen. In essence, these Boston leaders wanted to control duties on imports to the town without Parliament interference. The fight over taxes and representation led to violent outbreaks in the streets between Bostonians and royal customs officials. To quell the violence, British soldiers occupied Boston starting in 1768.

The military occupation did little to subdue the rising anger between Boston colonists and British power. Instead of controlling the population, British military presence only exacerbated the issue. An editorial, The Journal of the Times, recorded daily interactions between soldiers and colonists and painted a picture of deteriorating relationships between empire and people. In one account, on October 29, 1768, British soldiers persuaded "some Negro servants to ill-treat and abuse their masters, assuring them that the soldiers were come to procure their freedoms." To those in Boston, an attack on slavery was an attempt to undermine the local social hierarchy, incite racialized violence against Boston whites, and reaffirm Bostonian fears of becoming enslaved by the British Crown. Other conflicts escalated into physical altercations between the colonists and soldiers.

On January 24, 1769, the editors of The Times described a fight between several officers and town watchmen after the officers had "beat and wounded…very cruelly" an inhabitant of Boston. The violence extended beyond engagements between colonists and soldiers. In other instances, open conflict erupted between colonial supporters (who became Patriots) and British supporters (Loyalists). The most notable episode of this conflict cropped up over non-importation – the belief that colonies could dictate English policy by reducing goods purchased from England. Boston merchants and consumers who did not adhere to non-importation became political targets and risked open hostilities against themselves and their property.

......

NPS: Boston Massacre, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/boston-massacre.htm

1769

1770's-1785

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)
Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773)
The Boston Port / Trade Act (1774) (closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea and the king was satisfied that order had been restored)
Massachusetts Government Act of 1774 (abrogated the 1691 charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and gave its royally-appointed governor wide-ranging powers)
Administration of Justice Act 1774
First Continental Congress, Philadelphia (Sept. 5–Oct. 26 1774).
Revere and Dawes Ride (April 18 1774)
George Washington assumes command of the Army outside Boston (July 3 1774)
The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) & Battle of Bunker Hill (Jun 17, 1775)
Siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776)
Evacuation Day (March 17, 1776)
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Articles of Confederation (1781)
US and Britain sign the Treaty of Paris (Sept. 3 1783)

.....

In February 1770, a group of young boys attacked the shop of Theophilus Lillie. Ebenezer Richardson, a patron of Lillie's shop, attempted to clear the street but only provoked the crowd more. As Richardson retreated home, the group called Richardson an "Informer" and berated him with verbal assaults. At Richardson's home the crowd grew. Richardson attempted to disperse the crowd by threatening to fire upon them with his rifle. The crowd did not retreat, and Richardson fired birdshot into the crowd, hitting Samuel Gore and Christopher Seider. Seider, an eleven-year-old boy, died from his wounds.

March 5, 1770, Tempers cooled, temporarily, following Seider's death and life in Boston continued. The evening of March 5, 1770, began normal enough. It was a cold frigid night. A light snow covered the streets and walkways. Many residents escaped the cold indoors and British soldiers took to their barracks. Private Hugh White, scheduled for sentry duty, took his position outside the Custom House on King Street just beyond the Town House. The quiet of the night soon turned as colonists, almost as if signaled, took to the streets looking to agitate British soldiers into some sort of irreversible action. In multiple places throughout Boston, groups of colonists came into conflict with British soldiers – near the Liberty Tree, down Boylston's Alley, near Murray's Barracks, and at Dock Square – but the greatest conflict occurred on King Street. Colonists surrounded Private White, hurling insults and objects at the sentry who called out for reinforcements. Hearing this plea, Captain Thomas Preston led a small cadre of soldiers to rescue Private White. By this time, a large number of colonists had encircled the soldiers and they could not leave their place outside the Custom House. Insults and objects continually fell upon the soldiers until one shot rang out in the night. An eerie silence followed.

The silence was broken by a volley from the British Regulars tearing into the colonists. Panic ensued and the people fled. The soldiers – Hugh Montgomery, James Hartigan, William McCauley, Hugh White, William Wemms, Jon Carroll, Matthew Kilroy, William Warren, and Captain Preston – remained rooted and gazed upon this "massacre." After a few cautious moments, Preston marched the eight soldiers back to the Main Guard. They took up position outside the State House and were again surrounded by Bostonians who returned and demanded action against Preston and the soldiers. Governor Thomas Hutchinson soon adhered to their demands and ordered Preston and the soldiers arrested.

With British soldiers in jail, the Boston Massacre took upon a new struggle. Over the next nine months Boston colonists and British soldiers argued over March 5. They debated the events of the night and its larger significance to not only shape eighteenth-century public perception but define the Boston Massacre for future generations. Print from a newspaper depicting coffins for the first four Massacre victims. A cutout printed in the Boston Gazette on March 12, 1770 features coffins with the initials of the first four victims of the Boston Massacre: Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks.
Engraved by Paul Revere. Library of Congress.

The battle for public perception began on March 8. Samuel Adams, a member of the Sons of Liberty, led a funeral procession for the victims of the Boston Massacre. Witnesses suggest 10,000 people (approximately 67% of Boston's population) attended the funeral of Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks, the first four victims of the massacre.[4] In this political move, Adams consciously guided the procession through Boston using pageantry to vilify British oppression – festering since the early 1760s – and promote colonial unity over British usurpation of rights. The procession ended at the Granary Burying Ground where Gray, Maverick, Caldwell, and Attucks were laid to rest in the same burial plot. Seven days later, a fifth victim of the massacre, Patrick Carr, was also interred in the plot. With the victims laid to rest, attention now turned to the soldiers in prison. Bostonians wanted Captain Thomas Preston and the seven soldiers tried and convicted quickly, but Governor Thomas Hutchinson delayed. Finally, in October, Captain Preston took the stand.

NPS: Boston Massacre, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/boston-massacre.htm

Fort Independence, formerly known as Castle William, sits on top of Castle Island. Due to its strategic location on Boston Harbor, this site has served as the home to military fortifications for hundreds of years. It is considered the "oldest fortified military site in British North America." The first known fort at this site dates back to the 1630s, when Governor John Winthrop ordered the construction of a fort on Castle Island. The fort expanded in the 1640s and in the 1690s due to the constant fear of attacks by French naval forces. In 1701, the fort became officially known as Castle William, named after William II of England. Castle William's role shifted from protecting against potential attacks from European powers to providing a refuge for British soldiers facing colonial upheaval in Boston. After the Boston Massacre in 1770, Bostonians called for British troops stationed in the city to be removed to Castle William.4 British forces maintained their presence at Castle William for the next six years. In the beginning of March 1776, the Continental Army fortified nearby Dorchester Heights in the dead of night. British forces from Castle William witnessed this fortification and organized an attack. General William Howe, with 11,000 soldiers at his command, ordered an attack on Dorchester Heights.5 However, due to poor weather, British forces had to return to the safety of the fort.

With George Washington's Continental Army surrounding Boston, General Howe and his troops prepared to leave the city. In one final act of aggression against the enemy, British forces fired upon the Continental Army as they constructed new fortifications on Dorchester Point. This attack proved unsuccessful, injuring British soldiers due to a misfired cannon. Documenting the events of the day in his diary, British Lieutenant General Archibald Robertson wrote, 20th [March]… Between one and two found the Rebels had begun a new Work on Dorchester Point opposite Castle William. We fired at them from the Castle and by a Gun bursting had 7 men wounded. Hours later, British forces evacuated Boston and set Castle Island, including the fort, on fire. Robertson noted the General's order to load mines at the Castle and the following destruction: Accordingly at 8 o'clock 6 Companies Embark’d and the Boats lay off untill the mines were fired, which was done 1/2 an hour Afterwards and they had a very good Effect. The Barracks and other houses were then set on fire and at 9 ... we got all safe on board the Transports.

After the smoke cleared, Continental forces quickly rebuilt the fortifications at Castle William into a star-shaped fort. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere led the troops stationed here. When the war ended, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts used the fort as a state prison. In the late 1790s, the federal government took command of the fort, repairing and expanding it. In 1799, President John Adams renamed Castle William to Fort Independence. When the country faced times of war, the US Military prepared Fort Independence for battle. During the War of 1812, and later from 1834 to 1851, the fort was repaired and expanded.

NPS: Fort Independence, https://www.nps.gov/places/fort-independence-castle-william.htm

Lamb's Dam, a dike for keeping out the tide, was the site of the principal battery on the Roxbury lines commanding Boston Neck.
Richard Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, 6th edn., p. 242, Boston, 1903.

"Lamb’s Dam was at the edge of the salt flats between the Roxbury lines and Dorchester Neck. The dam had been constructed some years earlier to prevent the tide from overflowing the flats."
“George Washington to Major General Charles Lee, 26 February 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0272. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 366–368.]

"To Conceal our design, and divert the Enemys Attention, a very Heavy Service of Cannon, and Mortars, began to play upon the Town between ten, and Eleven, Saturday night, from our Three Fortified Batteries at Cobble Hill, Letchmere Point, and Lambs Dam; this was continued all that night, and the two Succeeding; The Enemy returned The Fire constantly, but allways ceased as we did in the Mornings. Our Shot must have made Great Havock amongst the Houses, as I am confident they Swept the Town."
“Horatio Gates to John Adams, 8 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0018. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 47–49.]

View of South Bay in 1775 (to the left) | A view of Boston from Dorchester Neck, J.F.W. Des Barres

View of British fortifications on the Neck in 1775 | A front view of the lines taken from the advanced post near Browns house, J.F.W. Des Barres

FORT POINT HARBOR | The Boston Tea Party.--Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor, December 16, 1773, from the magazine Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, July 16, 1856, Vol. 11, Iss. 4, pp. 56-57

1775

"[Plan of the Neck and environs]." Map. [1775?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vj42x

Aitken, Robert. "Exact plan of General Gage's lines on Boston Neck in America." Map. Philadelphia: R. Aitken, [1775?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:cj82m1988

"Situations plan der Englischen Armée vor und um Boston nebst der stellung der Americaner." Map. S.l: s.n., [ca. 1775]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:8336h244p

"Plan of Boston & vicinity." Map. [1775?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vj461

Franquelin, Jean Baptiste Louis. "Carte de la ville, baye et environs de Baston." Map. 1879. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:cj82m119m

Lamb, George. "Plan of Boston showing existing ways and owners on December 25, 1635." Map. S.l: s.n., 1903. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f463715t

1775	"Hafen von Boston." Map. Germany: s.n., 1780. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462x42p

Beaurain, Jean de, Frentzel, Georg Friedrich Jonas, and J. C. (Johann Carl) Müller. "Carte von dem Hafen und der Stadt Boston : mit den umliegenden Gegenden und der Lägern sowohl der Americaner als auch des Engländer." Map. Leipzig: In der Johann Carl Müllerischen Buch und Kunsthandlung zu haben, [1776?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462w36b

1780, Carte Particuliere Du Havre De Boston

Conder, Thomas, and Thomas Conder. "Boston with its environs." Map. London: Printed for the author, [1788]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:q524n418c

1776

1776, Carte du port et havre de Boston cropped

Williams, Richard, Lodge, John, and Andrew Dury. "A plan of Boston, and its environs : shewing the true situation of His Majesty's army, and also those of the rebels." Map. London: Andrew Dury, 1776. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462w352

Pelham, Henry, and Francis Jukes. "A plan of Boston in New England with its environs : including Milton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Brooklin, Cambridge, Medford, Charlestown, parts of Malden and Chelsea with the military works constructed in those places in the years 1775 and 1776." Map. London: H. Pelham, 1777. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:q524mv09k

Des Barres, Joseph F. W. (Joseph Frederick Wallet), and George Callendar. "A chart of the harbour of Boston." Map. London: J.F.W. Des Barres, 1775. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462w042

Pelham, Henry, and Francis. Jukes. "A plan of Boston in New England with its environs : including Milton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Brooklin, Cambridge, Medford, Charlestown, parts of Malden and Chelsea with the military works constructed in those places in the years 1775 and 1776." Map. London: H. Pelham, 1777. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462w83q

Beaurain, Jean de, and P. Croisey. "Carte du port et havre de Boston avec les côtes adjacentes, dans laquel on a tracée les camps et les retranchemens occupé, tant par les Anglois que par les Américains." Map. Paris: Chez le Chevalier de Beaurain, 1776. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:t722hs83w

Page, Thomas Hyde, Sir. "Boston, its environs and harbour : with the rebels works raised against that town in 1775." Map. [1775?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vj614

Page, Thomas Hyde, Sir. "Boston et ses environs." Map. 1780. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462x43z

Page, Thomas Hyde, Sir, Montrésor, John, and William Faden. "Boston, its environs and harbour, with the rebels works raised against that town in 1775." Map. London: Wm. Faden, 1778. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462x23g

Beaurain, Jean de. "Carte du port et havre de Boston avec les côtes adjacentes, dans laquel on a tracée les camps et les retranchemens occupé, tant par les Anglois que par les Américains." Map. Paris: Chez le Chevalier de Beaurain, 1776. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:x633fb26h

A plan of the town of Boston and its environs, with the lines, batteries, and incampments of the British and American armies. (1776)

Carte du port et havre de Boston avec lescôtes adjacentes, dans laquel on a tracée lescamps et les retranchemens occupé, tant parles Anglois que par les Américains. (1776)

[Page, Thomas Hyde, Sir]. "A plan of the town of Boston and its environs, with the lines, batteries, and incampments of the British and American armies." Map. [1776]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vj67s

A plan of Boston, and its environs (1776)

1776

Hills, John. "[Boston Harbour, with the surroundings, &c]." Map. [1770?–1779?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:t722hs68s

1779 | Boston, New England

Wheeler, Thomas, Grant, James, surveyor and draughtsman, and Samuel Holland. "A plan of the bay and harbor of Boston : surveyed agreeably to the orders and instructions of the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, to Samuel Holland, Esqr., His Majesty's Surveyor General of Lands for the Northern District of North America." Map. [1775?]. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vj72n

Des Barres, Joseph F. W. (Joseph Frederick Wallet). "A chart of Boston Bay and vicinity." Map. London: J.F.W. Des Barres, 1776. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f462w11g

1780, Carte particuliere du havre de Boston crop

1783

The Neck & The American Revolution

1785-1790's

TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

Shay's Rebellion (1786-1878, Worcester & Springfield)
Massachusetts ratification of the United States Constitution (February 6, 1788)

A canal fifty feet in width, extending from the wharf at Lamb's Dam Creek nearly to Eustis Street, just east of the burying-ground, was built about the year 1795. Its enterprising projectors, among whom were Ralph Smith, Dr. Thomas Wilhams, and Aaron and Charles Davis, proposed by this means to save two and a half miles of land carriage from the centre of Boston, in their supplies of fuel, lumber, bark for tanning, flour, salt, etc., and in conveying to the shipping in the harbor and stores on the wharves, as well as exporting abroad, the salted provisions and country produce which constituted a large proportion of the trade and commerce of the town at that time. The line between Roxbury and Boston passed through the centre of this canal. Gen. Heath's manuscript journal, under date of March 9, 1796, notes the fact that a large topsail schooner that day came up into the basin of the new canal in "Lamb's Meadow."
The Town of Roxbury, Francis S. Drake, 1878

"In 1789 a group of prominent local citizens formed a company to build the Roxbury Canal. They purchased large tracts of the land in the Neck. Development was proposed and begun in 1801 and by 1811 between forty and fifty acres had been developed. The development company straightened and dredged to form a canal, built wharves and warehouses along with a Canal House and retail stores. A bridge to the newly christened South Boston was opened in 1805 from the Neck at the Gate (present E Berkeley Street). The development therefore, established improved transportation for commerce by land to Boston and by water to the Boston Harbor and places beyond facilitating the industrial development and commercialization of the surrounding area between 1820 and 1830. Although development of the streets had occurred rapidly, houses did not appear as quickly. Even in the 1820s only a few houses had been constructed. The Canal followed an old streambed along what is now Harrison Avenue, to the east of the Burying Ground. Mr. Doggett, who owned the Tavern and bowling alley nearby, built a wharf on the canal approximately 170 feet north of the Tavern. Evidence uncovered during 1978 and 1988 archeological excavations suggest that a branch of the Roxbury Canal did pass immediately north of the Doggett House site."
Historic Boston, 28 Apr 2015 Roxbury: Back to the future of Economic Re-development – Part 2

“A narrow strip of land, a mile in length, originally connected the peninsula of Boston with the mainland, and was the only avenue of communication between town and country for more than a century and a half.
The Neck, as it has always been called, was once covered with trees, as various entries in the old records show. In the season of fall tides portions of the Neck were covered with water, rendering it almost impassable in the spring, especially before its centre was paved, and when from necessity this was ultimately done, the stones were so large that the pavement was shunned by vehicles as long as the outer margin of the road was practicable. For its protection a dike was built on the exposed eastern side, following in its general direction the extension of Harrison Avenue, and a sea wall was at the same time built on the west side, from Dover nearly to Waltham Street. The appearance of this avenue sixty years ago was desolate and forbidding enough. It is not easy for those who now traverse this broad, well-paved thoroughfare, with its handsome parks, its elegant and substantial buildings, its street cars, omnibuses, private equipages, and thronged sidewalks, to realize that travellers frequently lost their way over the narrow pass and adjacent marshes, and that it was the scene of frequent robberies. So dangerous had it become that. in 1723, it was fenced in by order of the General Court."
From the site of the old fortification at Dover Street, its narrowest point, it gradually expanded, until at the line of Roxbury it attained a width of about half a mile. Laid out as a street in 1794, the Neck from Dover Street to the line measured one mile and thirty-nine yards. The name. Washington Street, given it after the President's visit in 1789, and applied only to that part of the highway."

Francis S. Drake, The Town of Roxbury, Boston, 1878.

1795. Chapter 65. [January Session, ch. 41.] AN ACT FOR INCORPORATING CERTAIN PERSONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPENING A CANAL FROM THE HARBOR OF BOSTON TO ROXBURY.
Whereas the opening a communication by water upon the Easterly side of the Town of Boston, to extend into Roxbury will be of great public Utility ; and John Lowell Esq. and others have petitioned this Court for an Act of incorporation to enable them to carry the same into effect and many persons under the expectation of such an Act have subscribed to a fund for that purpose, and have purchased a considerable real Estate thro' which they have already opened a Canal. Be it therefore Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That John Lowell Esq. Increase Proprietors incorporated. Sumner Esq. Thomas Williams Physician, John Read Esq. and Mr. Thomas Williams junr. so long as they shall continue to be Proprietors in the said fund and propriety, together with all those who are or shall hereafter become Proprietors to the said fund and propriety, shall be a Body Politic, by the name of the Proprietors of the Roxbury Canal, and by that name may sue and prosecute, and be sued and prosecuted to final Judgment and Execution ; and do and suffer all matters and things which bodies Politic may, or ought, to do, and to suffer ; and that the said Corporation shall and may have full power and authority to have, make and use a Common Seal, and the same to break and alter at pleasure. And be it farther Enacted, That the said John Lowell Esqr. Increase Sumner Esqr. Thomas Williams Physician, meetings. John Reed Esq. and Mr. Thomas Williams junior or any three of them, may by advertisement in any public News paper, printed in Boston...."

1798, Clough's Atlas, lower Shawmut peninsula

The NE portion of the Neck in 1798, Clough

1798, Clough

tORIES

"Dudley was the most prominent family in Roxbury, and, among others, we find the names of Heath, Warren, Curtis, Pierpont, Williams, Bowles, Gore, Alcock (Alcott), Hewes, Grosvenor, Guild and Eliot. Dr. Joseph Warren, Major-General William Heath, the author of the Memoirs, and Brigadier-General John Greaton, — all of Revolutionary fame,- — were natives of the town. Eleven governors of the Province or Commonwealth were natives or residents; and among others may be mentioned General Henry Dearborn,
veteran of the Revolution and Commander of the American Army during the War of 1812; his son, General Henry A. Dearborn; Major-General W. H. Sumner, of the Civil War; Rear- Admiral John A. Winslow, of Kearsarge- Alabama fame; Gilbert Stuart, the artist, and Epes Sargent, the litterateur.

In the agitations preceding the Revolution, Dr. Warren, William Heath, and Col. Joseph Williams were in constant communication with Samuel Adams and the other leaders in Boston. When the investment of Boston took place the American right under Artemas Ward occupied Dorchester, Roxbury, and Brookline, and several fortifications were thrown up, the principal one being on Meeting-house Hill. As a measure of military necessity, Washington ordered the demolition of several houses on the Post Road ; and the town generally bore the brunt of the siege, as it was so close to the British lines.

There were constant skirmishes and affrays between the advanced posts of the opposing sides. The inhabitants were not by any means unanimous for the patriot cause, for several of the best and wealthiest class were Tories. Among them were Sir William Pepperell (British Army colonel; acting governor of MA in 1757; "prolific and infamous slave owner"), Isaac Winslow (Plymouth Chief Justice; Colonel; MA Bay Councilman), and Commodore Loring (British Royal Naval Officer; son was Suffolk high-sheriff 1777-1783 & killed thousands of American prisoners before returning to England; his son served in Royal Navy) of the Governor's Council).

The land north of Dudley Square, about as far as the present Dover Street and lying between Stony and Smelt brooks, was called Boston Neck. The Neck was a low, marshy tract, which was a favorite place for sportsmen. In early days, however, travellers over the narrow pass often lost their way at night and came to grief in the adjacent marshes, while robberies were frequent. By 1753, it had become so dangerous that the General Court ordered the Neck to be fenced in; and, in 1757, the same body authorized the raising of £2000 by means of a lottery in order to grade and pave the Neck, while, in 1758, another lottery was authorized to raise money to pave the highway from the Boston line to Meeting-house Hill in Roxbury. In 1800, there were not more than three houses between the site of the Catholic Cathedral at Maiden Street and Roxbury, all the others having been destroyed during the siege and not rebuilt. In 1855, Washington Street was widened from the burying-ground to Warren Street.

During the American investment of Boston in 1775 and 1776, a line of strong entrenchments and redoubts extended across the Neck from brook to brook near Clifton Place, just north of the boundary line between Boston and Roxbury. The advance line was about one hundred yards in front of these, a little south of Northampton Street and near the George Tavern. All of these redoubts and fortifications were planned and built by Rufus Putnam, Henry Knox, and Josiah Waters. The British had an advanced post near the upper end of the Neck about on the line of Franklin and Blackstone parks, a distance of about a mile from Dudley Square. A few rods beyond the advanced fortifications of the Americans stood the George, or St. George, Tavern. It was outside the Boston town gate, and it stood in a field of eighteen acres."

Jenkins, S., The Old Boston Post Road (1913).

During the 18th century, the major landmark in this area was the George Tavern. According to Annie Haven Thwing, "the George Tavern was south of Lenox Street about opposite Thorndike Street." Located on the Boston side of the city's boundary with Roxbury, at a point where it is debatable as to whether it lies within the Neck or the commencement of the main land, this area was adjacent to Roxbury Gate. Evidently this gate could be drawn across Washington Street, preventing access to Boston. Around 1702, Stephen Minot petitioned to keep an inn at his house near Roxbury Gate. Providing a convenient location for travelers to stop for refreshment, Minot's house became known as the famous George Tavern. As early as 1707, the George Tavern was first mentioned by name in the account of a visitor to Boston. Minot and later inn holders hosted a number of important meetings at the George during the Colonial era, including meetings of the General Court in 1721 and 1730. On the eve of the Revolution, the George became known as the
King's Arms Tavern. It was burned by the British, then encamped on the Neck, on July 30, 1775, in retaliation for the attack by the colonists on the house of Enoch Brown on July 8th. By the early 1800s, seven of the Neck's approximately 60 structures were located south of Lenox Street in the vicinity of the Ascension-Caproni area.

"It may not be uninteresting to know, that, in the year 1784, just as the town was beginning to recover from the effects of the war of the Revolution, about four years after the adoption of the constitution of the Commonwealth, and about as many before the ratification of the Federal constitution, the North End contained about six hundred and eighty dwelling-houses and tenements, and six meeting-houses. Though it had formerly been the court end of the town, even at the above-named period it had begun to lose its former prestige, and gave unquestionable evidence of decay and unpopularity. From the Mill Bridge to Winnisimmet Ferryways, it measured about eight hundred and three yards, while its breadth from Charles River Bridge to the water side, near the present Commercial Wharf, was about seven hundred and twenty-six yards.

New Boston, the West End, contained at the same period one meeting-house and about one hundred and seventy dwelling-houses and tenements; and, although the smallest and least populous of the divisions, was regarded then as a very pleasant and healthy part of the town, on account of its westerly situation, where it had plenty of agreeable inland breezes, and was comparatively sheltered from the easterly winds.

The South End was by far the most extensive in point of territory of all the natural divisions of the town, being in length from the fortification on the neck to the Mill Bridge about one mile and seven hundred and sixteen yards, with a breadth of about eleven hundred and fifty yards. It contained all the public buildings, except the Powder House, which at that time was near Cambridge street, ten meeting-houses, and about twelve hundred and fifty dwelling-houses. Being the seat of business, it was the most flourishing part of the town, and contained the principal shops and warehouses. Some of the mansion houses of this part would now be considered magnificent; and the common, though perhaps not so artistically laid out with paths and malls as now, was as delightful as a training ground and public walk as at the present time.

The portion of the South End situated south of Dover street had so few inhabitants before the Revolution that it was seldom taken into account in describing the town. This part of Boston has so increased in population and in business the last decade of years that it has completely thrown the city from its old balance, and has now really become the only true South End of the city. One road, or highway, ran through it from Dover street to the Roxbury line in old times, and it was then generally known as the Neck Field, or the Field towards Roxbury.

Very early after the settlement of the town, a fortification was built at the northerly end of this highway. It was chiefly of brick, with embrasures in front and places for cannon on its flanks, and a deep ditch on its south side. It was erected as a fortification against any sudden attack by the Indians, and had two gates, one for carriages and teams, and another for persons on foot. Regular watches and wards were kept near it, not only in compliance with the orders of the General Court of the Colony, but also as a prudential act of the town; and such was the observance of this duty that the townsmen felt perfectly secure within the town. A little to the south of this had been placed in earlier times a row of palisades. After the disappearance of the hostile Indians, there being no necessity for the protection, the whole fortification fell to decay; and it was not until the year 1710 that another of regular construction was established at the Neck, a few feet south of the present Dover street. This was more substantial than that which had preceded it, as it was thoroughly built of stone and brick, with a breastwork of earth and proper gates. Dams also extended for some distance. each side of the Neck near the fortification, and these were kept in good repair by the town, as is manifest by the votes occasionally to be found in the town records.

About the twenty-ninth of March, 1860, as workmen were engaged in removing the earth in the neighborhood of these old works, for the purpose of laying a drain, the stone foundations of the old fortification were discovered, and to a considerable extent exposed to view. The exact position was ascertained to be precisely in front of the southwest corner of the Williams Market House. For a long distance extending south of Dover street, and on the westerly side- of Washington street, reaching as far as Union Park street, there was also a causeway built of stone; parts of which, in the neighborhood of the gasometer, north of Waltham street, and also farther south, near the Unitarian meeting-house on Union Park street, were to be seen as late as the year 1868.

Old plans, made many years ago, show that, previous to the year 1785, there stood on the westerly side of the highway above mentioned, and extending from the fortification to a point opposite where Malden street now is, a few rods south of Union Park street, a picket fence; which, in the year above alluded to, gave way to the stone causeway, a grant having been made that year by the town to Stephen Gore, John May, and others, of a tract of land and flats bounded by the present Malden street on the south about nine hundred feet, thence running north on a well-remembered causeway· fourteen hundred feet long, to a point within one hundred and twenty-five feet of Dover street, thence west on a line about parallel to Dover street one hundred and thirtytwo feet six inches, till it reached the highway.

A strip of land two hundred feet wide, of the same length (1,400 feet) on the west side of the highway was included in the same grant, the highway being eighty feet in width, the grant embracing all east of the highway to lowwater mark. To this grant a condition was attached, that barriers should be erected for excluding the tide waters. This gave origin to the old causeway which -formerly stood east of Washington and south of Dover streets. This large tract of land was subsequently divided· into fourteen lots, one hundred feet wide, and extending from the eastern to the western boundaries, the highway dividing each of the lots into two by an angular line; but to avoid this bevel towards the street, a bend was made, so that the estates present right angles to the street, and a bend a short distance from it. This bend, which may be noticed, extending from Dover street to Malden street, shows the highwater mark; on the easterly side, the bevelled line running east to low-water mark or the channel of the South Bay, or Roxbury Bay, sometimes also called Gallows Bay in ancient writings. On a portion of this land stood the old stores of the late John D. Williams, Esq., noted landmarks of former days, under the name of the - "Green Stores," on account of the peculiar fancy which the owner had to that color.

It may be interesting to some to know that, on the city lands just south of the above-mentioned ground, and east of the highway, near Malden street, used to stand the gallows in times of execution. It is said that one of the posts of this old landmark formed a boundary mark for Col. May's lot, and that a painted sign upon it gave information to that effect. In later times culprits were hung further south, not far from the rear of the present burial-ground on the Neck; but now this dreadful work is performed with proper privacy in the jail-yard. Further south, on the way to Roxbury, stood the old windmill, which was blown down during the great gale that did so much damage, on the twentythird of October, 1761. In 1784, there were no buildings below the fortification except a few stores. A portion of the land was covered with trees of native growth; and from time to time, after the highway was laid out, trees were set out on the sides of the road. In the year 1758, the towns-people began to pave the street leading to the neck, partly at the expense of the town, and partly by private subscription."

Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, (1871) [Shurtleff was Mayor of City of Boston from 1868 to 1871].

"Port Point was situated near Rowe's Wharf, east of Fort Hall, and took its name from its proximity to the first fort erected on the peninsula. It gave name to the channel passing by it, which led from the bay just east of Dover Street Bridge. This bay has at times been known as Roxbury Harbor, Gallows Bay, and more recently as South Bay; while the channel has been known as Fort Point Channel, although sometimes it has been called erroneously Four Points or Fore Point Channel. After the Sconce was built at this Point it took the name of Sconce (or South Battery) Point."
Topographical & Historical...