It’s hard to imagine, but in the early 19th century there were 14 wharfs along the Charlestown waterfront extending along the shoreline of Charles River Bay just below Town Hill, all the way to the Navy Yard. There were an…
Author: Nancy Hayford Kueny
Historic Houses of the Month Charlestown High School
The first Charlestown High School was built on the north corner of Monument Square in 1847/8, one year after the Hubbell and Warren Townhouses at 6-7, Monument Square were built. Those were the first homes built on the newly formed Monument Square. The…
Historic Houses of the Month: Lynde’s Point and the Charlestown Wharf Company
The Lynde family immigrated from Dunstable, Bedfordshire England, to Charlestown during the Great Migration. Thomas Lynde (1615-1693), a maltster by trade, was known to be in Charlestown by 1634. Following his death the inventory of Deacon Thomas Lynde’s estate listed two…
Historic Houses of the Month The Temple Front Greek Revivals
During the reconstruction following the Battle of Bunker Hill, two house styles dominated Charlestown, the late Georgian and the Federal. Both of these styles were derivative of English architecture, but the newly independent United States, particularly following the War of…
Historic Houses of the Month: Charlestown State Prison
In 1800 the Massachusetts State Legislature appointed a committee to select a site to build a state prison. A parcel of land of approximately 5 acres was chosen at Lynde’s Point beside Charles River Bay in Charlestown, currently the site…