“One if by land, and two if by sea: And I on the opposite shore shall be.” The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. First published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1861 . “We returned from Cambridge by way of Charlestown. Crossing that ferry to Boston…” Dr. Alexander Hamilton, Entry Wednesday, August 15, 1744… (read more)
Most of my rambles around Boston have been in the ‘neighborhoods’, the areas added to the original town on the Shawmut peninsula over the course of the century after the creation of the United States of America. This is not in any way a rejection of ‘ye olde towne’; in fact, the profound historical complexity… (read more)
A reproduction, dating to 1835, of the 1722 Map of Boston by John Bonner. This is one of my favorite maps. The detail is incredible, including all the churches, all the buildings, the fortifications at Boston Gate, and even the one mile stone and the “gallows.” Click on the map- a larger map will pop up that you can enlarge even more to take a closer look and appreciate the detail. I have this map framed on the wall in my office. One of the earliest versions of the map can be found here. Thanks to Carl Zimba for alerting me to the various ‘versions’ of the original map.
Citation:
Bonner, John, ca. 1643-1726, Dewing, Francis, fl. 1716-1722, Smith, George Girdler, Price, William, fl. 1725-1769, and Fuller, Stephen P.. “The town of Boston in New England.” Map. 1835. Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:3f4631769 (accessed July 21, 2019).