Cultural Landscape Report for Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston

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CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT FOR CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD of the Harris tract at a point near the landing site of British reinforcements in 1775 (now in the vicinity of Building 5). Meeting (Henley) Street cut diagonally southeastward, terminating at the same point. The “Lane to Brick Yards” led from the Training Field to the brick yards, running along the southern boundary of Aaron Putnam’s residential parcel and roughly in line with Ebenezer Breed’s dam, before turning northward and exiting the property near the dam. Finally, Proprietor’s Way, an extension of the lane to the brick yards, ran through pastureland at the eastern end of Moultons Point, ending in the vicinity of Breed’s “Point Pasture.” The town conveyed these four roads to the United States for exclusive use and authorized the selectmen to alter “the road leading from the Training field to the brick yards, by an exchange of land” with the Navy. This forty-foot-wide alternative road later became the Salem Turnpike and then Chelsea Street. 7 Three years later Congress authorized the Navy to convey title to the proprietors of the Salem Turnpike and Chelsea Bridge Corporation a triangular tract at the western corner of the Charlestown Navy Yard that the corporation agreed to maintain as public highway. In June 1801, Captain Samuel Nicholson became superintendent of the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Navy directed Nicholson to remove and preserve materials from the “old navy yard” [Hartt’s] in Boston to the Charlestown Navy Yard and to review and certify repairs needed to United States ships in port. 8 An 1801 map shows the initial configuration of building yards and dry docks envisioned for the yard (Figure 2.1). In late 1801, Congress requested a plan of each navy yard in the nation. The required plan for Charlestown, completed by Carleton Osgood in 1802, divided the grounds into three tracts, which were defined as a waterfront area, a residential and workshop area in the upper yard, and a pasture area in the lower yard (Figure 2.2). The waterfront area, comprised of the 9¾-acre basin of marshland bounded on the south by a wharf, stored most timber received at the yard. The upper yard, a nine-acre area north and west of the “bason,” contained storage structures, housing, and shops. Construction and repair materials, as well as cannon, shot, iron, and ballast were stored in this area. Oxen purchased for the yard were also pastured here. The lower yard, the land north and east of the basin, served as pasturage for public oxen. 9 The layout of these areas was irregular and likely based on the natural topography of the land and access to the water channel without extensive filling or dredging. The division of functions was indicative of an organization that remained consistent for the next 170 years. 7 Bearss, 26. 8 During the two years of site selection and land acquisition at Charlestown Navy Yard, a change in naval policy, prompted by the ratification of the Paris Convention and the subsequent end of hostilities with France, temporarily staid development at the nation’s navy yards. On the day before he left office in March 1801, Adams signed an order calling for the reduction of the naval establishment. The administration of President Thomas Jefferson, however, re-focused attention on the Navy and authorized construction of vessels of war in response to continued pirate raids to the American merchant fleet in the Mediterranean. 9 Bearss, 41-43. page 20
SITE HISTORY 2. 1800-1828 Figure 2.1: Digitally enhanced map of the yard by Peter Tufts in 1801 showing proposed building yards, dry docks, and timber wharves. Current park boundary is outlined (BOSTS-13494 from the National Archives). page 21
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5. REVIVAL OF THE YARD AND WORLD WA
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SITE HISTORY 5. 1898-1934 The railr
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Figure 5.4: Brick paving of First A
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Figure 5.8: Dry Dock Engine House (
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Figure 5.12: In 1918, surface impro
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Figure 5.13: Dry Dock 2 under const
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Figure 5.17: North and east sides o
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SITE HISTORY 5. 1898-1934 Figure 5.
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Figure 5.23: The Commandant’s Hou
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Figure 5.27: Marine Barracks (Quart
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Figure 5.30: Digitally enhanced pla
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WATERFRONT SITE HISTORY 5. 1898-193
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SITE HISTORY 5. 1898-1934 In 1929,
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Figure 5.37: The former Chapel (Bui
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Figure 5.42: The Stable (Building 2
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Figure 5.47: The south facade of th
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SITE HISTORY 5. 1898-1934 Dock 2. T
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6. WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION AN
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SITE HISTORY 6. 1934-1945 side entr
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Figure 6.1: WPA repairs and improve
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Figure 6.5: A locomotive crane in 1
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Figure 6.9: The Commandant’s Hous
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Figure 6.13: WPA crews improving th
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Figure 6.16: Looking west down Henl
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SITE HISTORY 6. 1934-1945 page 119
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CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT FOR CHARL
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OLMSTED CENTER FOR LANDSCAPE PRESER
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Cultural Landscape Report for Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston

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