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KING'S HANDBOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 BOSTON HARBOR 
 
 M. F. SWEETSER 
 
 I 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE ARTIST-BIOGRAPHIES," OSGOOD'S "NEW ENGLAND," "WHITI 
 MOUNTAINS," ETC., AND OF "PICTURESQUE MAINE," ETC. 
 
 <©frer Cfoa f&unfcreti Original Elustrattons 
 
 " I 7^ > 5- J l 'ly 2 4- I went a-frolicking on the water." 
 
 Diary of Col. Samuel Pierce, Dorchester. 
 
 " Every sunrise in New England is more full of wonder than the Pyramids, 
 every sunset more magnificent than the Trajzsfiguration. Why go to see the Bay of 
 Naples when we have not yet seen Boston Harbor ? " 
 
 James Freeman Clarke. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 
 MOSES KING, PUBLISHER 
 
 HARVARD SQUARE 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHESTNUT HTTX MASS 
 
Copyright, 1882, by Moses King. 
 
 Illustrations bg 
 
 CHARLES COPELAND, A. B. SHUTE, EDMUND H. GARRETT, 
 
 FRANK MYRICK, I. F. EATON, 
 
 AND OTHERS. 
 
 Plates bg JFranJtlt'rt Press: 
 
 THE PHOTO-ENGRAVING CO., RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 
 
 67 Park Place, New York. 117 Franklin St., Boston. 
 
Jhtocx to Illustrations* 
 
 JFull=page JHlustrattong. 
 
 Page 
 
 Boston Light 217 
 
 Boston Yacht-Club House, City Point 109 
 
 Illustrated Title-page 
 
 Jerusalem Road, Views on the „ 71 
 
 Map of the Harbor 27 
 
 Nantasket Beach, from Atlantic Hill 59 
 
 Nantasket, Hotel . ' 57 
 
 Navy Yard 251 
 
 Nut Island 191 
 
 Oregon House 30B 
 
 1 Panoramic Views of the Harbor 25 
 
 Pemberton, Hotel 30A 
 
 Quincy, Views in 93 
 
 Winthrop's Fleet, Arrival of Gov Frontispiece 
 
 Winthrop, Views in 127 
 
 Smaller Mustrattons. 
 
 page 
 
 Adams Academy 93 
 
 Adams, Birthplace of President 93 
 
 Ancient Colonial House, Hingham .... 83 
 
 Ancient North Battery 22 
 
 Andrew House, Hingham 83 
 
 Arbor in Melville Garden 73 
 
 At Ease, Snug Harbor 100 
 
 Atlantic Hill, View from 239 
 
 Atlantic Hill, Distant View 245 
 
 Atlantic House 58 
 
 Atlantic House, from the Hills 58 
 
 Bather, The 182 
 
 Bath-houses near Hull Pier 29 
 
 Bathing-car 69 
 
 Battery, Long-Island Head . . . . . . 164 
 
 Battery Wharf 260 
 
 Beach Scene, Nantasket 72 
 
 Bear-pit, Melville Garden 79 
 
 Bell Buoy, Harding's Ledge 250 
 
 Birthplace of the Presidents 93 
 
 Bits from Life-saving Station 48 
 
 Boat-house at Sunnyside 127 
 
 Boston, from Winthrop Head 121 
 
 Boston Light 217 
 
 Boston Light, from Point Allerton .... 52 
 
 page 
 
 Brass Mortar 72 
 
 Bug Light 207, 228 
 
 Calf Island 226 
 
 Cambridge, Steamer 265 
 
 Cannons, Nut Island 191 
 
 Capt. James's Landing, Hull 31 
 
 Carpenter's Shop, Snug Harbor 89 
 
 Casemate Battery, Fort Independence . . . 135 
 
 Castle William 143 
 
 Cliffs on Outer Brewster 227 
 
 Coaling-Station on Nantasket Railroad . . 241 
 Constitzition, United-States Frigate . . . 205 
 
 Convicts at Work 197 
 
 Crescent Beach . 61 
 
 Deane Winthrop House, Winthrop . . . .117 
 
 Deer Island Ferry Horn 200 
 
 Deer Island, Scene at 199 
 
 Eagle 105 
 
 East Boston Illustrated Titlepage 
 
 Empire State 258 
 
 Excursion Steamer of 1818 105 
 
 Ferry at Germantown 94 
 
 Ferry at Point Shirley, Calling 200 
 
 IS 
 
i6 
 
 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fire-Department Steamer 235 
 
 Fisherman's Home, Point Shirley . . . .115 
 Flounders, Spearing, Calf Island .... 225 
 
 Fort Independence, Main Gate 131 
 
 Fort Independence, South Front .... 13s 
 
 Fort Warren, from the Channel 203 
 
 Fort Winthrop, from Governor's Island . . 149 
 
 Foster's Wharf 266 
 
 Frigate's Deck 251 
 
 Germantown 87 
 
 Going out, Lobsterman 171 
 
 Going to the Rescue 49 
 
 Granite-Quarries 93 
 
 Great Head, Winthrop 119 
 
 Gun from the Kadosh 53 
 
 Gun, Old Signal 217 
 
 Gun-Park at Navy Yard 251 
 
 Harbor-Mouth Rocks 256 
 
 Hauling in Lobster-pots . 171 
 
 House of Industry, Deer Island 195 
 
 Hulk of the Passport, Little Hog Island . 51 
 
 Burying-ground and Point Allerton, Hull . 41 
 
 Hull Skipper, A 46 
 
 Hull Yacht-Club House 45 
 
 Hunt House, The Old, Hull 37 
 
 Hut on Stony Beach 53 
 
 Indian Canoe 21 
 
 Inner Harbor Illustrated Title-page 
 
 Inspection by Port-Physician 173 
 
 Jerusalem Road, View from 237 
 
 Katahdin, Steamer 264 
 
 Life-Boat, Stony Beach 49 
 
 Light-House 217, Illustrated Title 
 
 Lincoln's Wharf 263 
 
 Little Hill 50 
 
 Little Hog Island 51 
 
 Lively Sea 198 
 
 Lobster-House, Old, Winthrop 127 
 
 Lobsterman 171, 249 
 
 Lobsterman's Cabin, Point Shirley .... 125 
 Lobsterman's Headquarters, Nut Island . . 191 
 
 Long-Island Head 163 
 
 Long-Island House 156 
 
 Long-Island Light-House 163 
 
 Lovell House, The Old, Hull 35 
 
 Lovell's Island, from Gallop's Island . . . 177 
 
 Magazine, Nut Island 191 
 
 Melville Garden, from Ragged Island ... 75 
 
 M'Glenen, H. A 259 
 
 Middle Brewster 228 
 
 Minot's Light 65 
 
 Moat of French Fort, Hull 39 
 
 Nantasket Beach, from Atlantic Hill ... 59 
 
 Nantasket, Hotel 57 
 
 Nantasket, Scene near 244 
 
 Nantasket, Wreck on 63 
 
 Navy Yard 251 
 
 New Pacjfic Hotel 67 
 
 " 5 =itix i «r>&ate 175 
 
 Nix s Mate in 1700 174 
 
 Norsemen's Galley 54 
 
 Nut Island 191 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ocean Spray 118 
 
 Old Cemetery, Hingham 84 
 
 Old Hulks 251 
 
 Old Sailor at rest 91 
 
 Outer Brewster 219 
 
 Outer Brewster, Rocks on 159 
 
 Pavilion on Ragged Island 80 
 
 Peace and War, Nut Island 189 
 
 Peddock's Island 187 
 
 Peddock's Island, Pilot's House 185 
 
 Peddock's Island, View from 243 
 
 Penobscot, Steamer 262 
 
 Pews in Hingham Church 81 
 
 Phillips, Capt. J. M 257 
 
 Phillips, Mr. E. Burt 259 
 
 Photographer's Car 69 
 
 Point Allerton, Little Hill 50 
 
 Point Allerton, View from 52 
 
 Point Shirley House, Taft's 126 
 
 Point Shirley, Old Mansion 123 
 
 Point Shirley, View from 247 
 
 Police-Boat 234 
 
 Port Physician Boarding a Ship 173 
 
 Port Physician going out 178 
 
 Portuguese Village, Long Island 167 
 
 Profile, Squantum 96 
 
 Pulpit, Hingham Church 81 
 
 Quarries, Granite, Quincy 93 
 
 Quincy Bay, from Long Island 167 
 
 Ragged Island, Melville Garden .... 74, 77 
 
 Rainsford Island 181 
 
 Rockland Cafe, Nantasket Beach .... 57 
 Rope-reel, Humane Society 168 
 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor, Germantown .... 87 
 
 Sally Jones's House, Hull 33 
 
 Scene on Ragged Island 77 
 
 Schwartz, Sergeant 152 
 
 Sentinel 214 
 
 Signal Station, Hull 39 
 
 Skipper Wm. James, Hull 32 
 
 Smith, Capt. John no 
 
 South Face of Fort Independence .... 135 
 
 Squantum, The Profile 96 
 
 Standish, Capt. Miles 98 
 
 Statue of Gov. Andrew, Hingham .... 82 
 
 Stony Beach, Hull 53 
 
 Storm at Minot's Ledge 65 
 
 Sunnyside 127 
 
 Sunshade 28 
 
 Taft, Portrait of 126 
 
 Telegraph Hill, Hull 39 
 
 Tewksbury House, Point Shirley .... 231 
 Thompson's Island, from South Boston . . 155 
 
 Unitarian Church, Hingham 81 
 
 U. S. Revenue Cutter 209 
 
 Whistling Buoy, at the Graves 221 
 
 White Star Steamship 268 
 
 Winthrop Beach and Fort Winthrop . . . 127 
 
 Winthrop, Gov. John 233 
 
 Winthrop Great Head, View from .... 121 
 
 Winthrop's Fleet, Gov Frontispiece 
 
 Wreck of the Grace Lothrop 157 
 
 Wreck on the Beach 24 
 
Intiex to Erxt. 
 
 Acadians, 141, 236. 
 
 Accord Pond, 7S. 
 
 Adams, C. I'\, 92, 95, 99, 202. 
 
 Adams, John, 91, 165. 
 
 Adams, John Q., 92. 
 
 Adams, Mrs., 237. 
 
 Alabama, 204, 207. 
 
 Albemarle, 241. 
 
 Allerton, Point, 47, 50. 
 
 Allston, W., 247. 
 
 Almshouse, 182. 
 
 " America," 36; America, 171. 
 
 Amherst, Sir J., 236. 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co., 203, 211. 
 
 Andrew,*Gov., 76, 145, 203. 
 
 Andros, Sir E., 138, 164, 185, 195. 
 
 Antwerp, 26S. 
 
 Apple Island, 159. 
 
 Arabella, 238. 
 
 Atlantic House, 60. 
 
 Atlantic Hill, 61. 
 
 Attack on Fort Warren, 210. 
 
 Auks, 1S4. 
 
 Austin, Gen., 222. 
 
 Back Way, 163. 
 
 Bainbridge, 166. 
 
 Baltimoreans, 205. 
 
 Baptists, in. 
 
 Barre, Col., 218. 
 
 Barron, Admiral, 207. 
 
 Bartlett, C. L. it Co., 116, 267. 
 
 Bartlett, Gen. W. F., 116. 
 
 Bathing, 68. 
 
 Batteries, French, 210. 
 
 Beachy Point, 172. 
 
 Beacon Island, 216. 
 
 Bears, 158. 
 
 Beecher, H. W., 131, 231. 
 
 Bellamy, Capt., 175. 
 
 Bell-Buoy, 225. 
 
 Bellomont, Lord, 252. 
 
 Bells, Convent, 135, 177. 
 
 Bennett quoted, 235. 
 
 Bernadotte, 240. 
 
 Berthier, Marshal, 240. 
 
 Best, Lieut. -Col.. 129, 210. 
 
 Bethell, 176. 
 
 Bird Island, 23, 151, 176, 177. 
 
 Black Jack, 160. 
 
 Black Rock, 62. 
 
 Blessing of the Bay, 174, 232. 
 
 Blockade-running, 238, 253. 
 
 Blue Hills, 94, 106. 
 
 Boarding-house Runners, 219. 
 
 Boston and Bangor Steamship Company, 261. 
 
 Boston Marine Society, 178. 
 
 Bougainville, 45. 
 
 Bourbonnais Regiment, 240. 
 
 Bradley Fertilizer Company, 81. 
 
 Brain tree, 202. 
 
 Breed's Island, 114. 
 
 Brewsters, 215. 
 
 Britannia, 244. 
 
 British Regiments, 141. 
 
 Broad Sound, 27, 170. 
 
 Brown, George L., 247. 
 
 Brown, James, 179. 
 
 Bubbles, 190. 
 
 Buckner, Gen., 206. 
 
 Bug Light, 216. 
 
 Bumpkin Island, 192. 
 
 Bunker Hill, 229. 
 
 Buoys, 170. 
 
 Burning ships, 160. 
 
 Burroughs, Stephen, 143. 
 
 Cabot, Major S., 208, 210. 
 
 Calf Island, 225. 
 
 Canoes, 232. 
 
 Canton Packet, 244. 
 
 Casemate dungeons, 206. 
 
 Castle Island, 129. 
 
 Castle William, 138. 
 
 Cattle, 254. 
 
 Centre Hill, 61. 
 
 Cesar, 39, 202. 
 
 Champlain, 230. 
 
 Chapel, Musquantum, 99. 
 
 Charles I., 194. 
 
 Chesapeake, 46, 255. 
 
 Chevalier quoted, 186. 
 
 Cheviot Hills, 94, 106. 
 
 Chickataubut, 97. 
 
 Children at Deer Island, 198. 
 
 Christian Indians, 195. 
 
 City Point, 23, 108. 
 
 Clams, 70, 75, 187, 232. 
 
 Clap, Roger, 136. 
 
 Cleverly, 183. 
 
 Clinton, Sir H., 202. 
 
 Coddington, Wm., 90. 
 
 Cohasset, 230. 
 
 Cole, Foxcroft, 186. 
 
 Columbia, 252. 
 
 Commercial Point, 102. 
 
 Commerce, 249. 
 
 Conant, Roger, 42, 147. 
 
 Concentrated United States, 212. 
 
 Confederates, 205. 
 
 Constitution, 125, 166, 242. 
 
 Continentals, 218. 
 
 Copley, 247. 
 
 Cottage Park, 118. 
 
 Cottages, 68. 
 
 Cotton, 254. 
 
 Cow Pond, 193. 
 
 Crane, Thomas, 202. 
 
 Crescent Beach, 62. 
 
 Cromwell, Capt., 177. 
 
 Cromwell's Slaves, 233. 
 
 Crow Point, 73. 
 
 Crystal Bay, 122. 
 
 Cumberland, 250. 
 
 Cunard Line, 254. 
 
 Cushing house, Hull, 34. 
 
 Cushing House, Hingham, 76. 
 
 Dana, R. H., 249. 
 
 Davenport, Capt., 133, 136. 
 
 David, Sagamore, 195. 
 
 Dean, Hon. B., 216. 
 
 Dean, Thomas, 221. 
 
 Deer, 193. 
 
 Deer Island, 193. 
 
INDEX TO TEXT. 
 
 Defence, 238. 
 
 Demi-lune, 206. 
 
 Demons, 149. 
 
 Derby Academy, 76. 
 
 De Ruyter, 136. 
 
 D'Estaing, Count, 39, 45, 202. 
 
 Deux-Ponts, Comte de, 240. 
 
 Devens, Gen., 167. 
 
 Dimick, Col. Justin, 204, 208, 209. 
 
 Docks, 22, 114. 
 
 Dominie Brown, 125, 159, 169, 180, 196, 213. 
 
 Dorchester, 43, 101. 
 
 Dorchester Heights, 107. 
 
 Downer Landing, 73. 
 
 Draft-riots, 208. 
 
 Duels, 113, 144, 158. 
 
 Dummer, 232. 
 
 Eagle, 79, 246. 
 
 East Boston, 22, hi. 
 
 Eastern Head, 161. 
 
 East India Trade, 252. 
 
 Eastward Neck, 81. 
 
 Egg Rocks, 222. 
 
 Eliot, Apostle, 97, 195. 
 
 Elizabeth, 176. 
 
 Emerson, G. B., 116. 
 
 Emerson, R. W., 256. 
 
 Empire State, 246, 257. 
 
 Enterprise, 224. 
 
 Escape from Fort Warren, 208. 
 
 Everett quoted, 94, 96, 101, 136, 178. 
 
 Excursions, Ancient, 66, 245. 
 
 Exports, 254. 
 
 Fame's Revenge, 176. 
 
 Farm School, 155. 
 
 Fields, James T., cited, 40. 
 
 Fiftieth Mass., etc., 173, 245. 
 
 Fishing-trip, 260. 
 
 Fly, Wm., 176. 
 
 Fort Hill, 78, 130. 
 
 Fort Independence, 31, 129. 
 
 Fort Point Channel, 22. 
 
 Fort Warren, 39, 145, 201. 
 
 Fort William and Mary, 137. 
 
 Fort Winthrop, 147. 
 
 Fourth Battalion, 145. 
 
 Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, 167. 
 
 Fox Haven, 230. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 218. 
 
 Freeman, Capt., 176. 
 
 Freight-rates, Ancient, 252. 
 
 French Cemetery, 40. 
 
 French Fleet, 39, 180, 202, 238. 
 
 French Forts, 37, 186, 202. 
 
 French Hospitals, 113. 
 
 French, Massacre of, 183. 
 
 French Prisoners, 143, 236. 
 
 Frolic, 250. 
 
 Gage's Soliloquy, 112. 
 
 Galatea, 220. 
 
 Galleys, 165. 
 
 Gallop, Capt. John, 172. 
 
 Gallop's Island, 172. 
 
 Gardiner, Sir C, 98, 154. 
 
 Garibaldi, 116. 
 
 Garrison of Fort Warren, 212. 
 
 George, Capt. John, 201. 
 
 George's Island, 201. 
 
 Germantown, 85. 
 
 Ghosts, 208. 
 
 Gibson, Major A. A., 210. 
 
 Gilman, Harry, 210. 
 
 Glad Tidings Plain, 78. 
 
 Glass-making, 86. 
 
 Godiva, Lady, 194. 
 
 Golden-rod, 188. 
 
 Gookin quoted, 196. 
 
 Gorges, Capt. Robert, 83. 
 
 Governor's Island, 147. 
 
 Granite-quarries, 95. 
 
 Grape Island, 186. 
 
 Graves, The, 224. 
 
 Graves, Thomas, 224. 
 
 Great Brewster, 216, 218. 
 
 Great Head, 121. 
 
 Great Hill, 87. 
 
 Greaton, Major, 196. 
 
 Great Republic, 113. 
 
 Green Hill, 62, 121. 
 
 Green Island, 226. 
 
 Gridley, Gen. R., 149. 
 
 Griffin, ijz. 
 
 Graver's Cliff, 117. 
 
 Guerriere, 242. 
 
 Halfmoon Island, 192. 
 
 Hall, Basil, quoted, 219. 
 
 Halsall, W. F., 216, 220, 247. 
 
 Hamilton's Battery, 210. 
 
 Hancock, 236. 
 
 Hancock, Gen. W. S., 145, 210. 
 
 Hancock, Gov., 92, 123. 
 
 Hancock, Mrs., 123, 238. 
 
 Hangman's Island, 192. 
 
 Hardings, The, 225. 
 
 Hardy, Lady, 23. 
 
 Harrison Square, 103. 
 
 Hartford, 250. 
 
 Harvard, 243. 
 
 Haswell, Wm., 35. 
 
 Hawkins, T., 104, 175. 
 
 Hawthorne, 69, 90, 156, 249. 
 
 Hayman's Island, 192. 
 
 Hendrickson, Gen., 172. 
 
 Herbert, George, 232. 
 
 Hersey, 179. 
 
 Highlanders, 166. 
 
 Highland Light, 259. 
 
 Hingham, 64, 75, 77, 78. 
 
 Hingham Bay, 31. 
 
 History, Bits of, 229. 
 
 Holmes quoted, 34, 193, 248. 
 
 Hope, Henry, 92. 
 
 Hough's Neck, 87, 190. 
 
 Hough's Tombs, 189. 
 
 House Beach, 222. 
 
 Hovey's " Causerie," 213. 
 
 Howe, Earl, 107, 202. 
 
 Howells, W. D., 22, 66, 213, 249. 
 
 Hull, 27, 29, 218. 
 
 Hull Cemetery, 41. 
 
 Hull Yacht-Club, 31. 
 
 Hullonians, 33. 
 
 Hunt House, 35. 
 
 Hutchinson, Ann, 90, 131. 
 
 Hypocrite Passage, 226. 
 
 Ice, 244, 254. 
 
 Ice Pond, 193. 
 
 Immigrants, 254. 
 
 Independence, 166, 250. 
 
 Independence, Fort, 129. 
 
 Indiamen, 253. 
 
 Iron-clads, 114, 250. 
 
 Isles of Shoals, 259. 
 
 James, Henry, 249. 
 
 James, Samuel, 224. 
 
 Jerusalem Road, 62. 
 
 John and George, 238. 
 
 " John Brown's Body," 204. 
 
INDEX TO TEXT. 
 
 19 
 
 Jones's Hill, 103. 
 Kadosh, 52. 
 
 Kidd, Capl., 177. 
 
 Kin- Oak Hill, 83, 84. 
 
 King Philip's War, 84. 
 
 Kingslcy, Charles, 215. 
 
 Krossaness, 53. 
 
 Lady Arietta, 231. 
 
 Lafayelte, 38, 77, 80, 104, 142. 
 
 Lansil, 247. 
 
 Larcom, Lucy, 41, 225, 228. 
 
 La Tour, 50, in, 119, 132, 148. 
 
 Lee, 236. 
 
 Leverett, Gov., 215. 
 
 Liberty Plain, 7S. 
 
 Life-saving Station, 47. 
 
 Light-House, 216. 
 
 Light-House Board, 169. 
 
 Light, Long-Island, 161. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 80. 
 
 Lincoln", Benjamin, 38, 56, 76, 80. 
 
 Lincoln House, 76. 
 
 Little Brewster, 216. 
 
 Little Calf Island, 226. 
 
 Little Hog Island, 47. 
 
 Lobsters, 34. 
 
 Longfellow, 83, 99, 140, 248. 
 
 Long, Gov., 77. 
 
 Long Island, 161. 
 
 Loring, Dr., 249. 
 
 Lorings, the, 44. 
 
 Lost-Town, 231. 
 
 Louisburg, 140. 
 
 Louisiana, 207. 
 
 Lovell's Grove, 80. 
 
 Lovell's Island, 36, 169, 209. 
 
 Lowell, J. R., 176, 248. 
 
 Lowlands, 133. 
 
 Ludlow, Roger, 104, 131. 
 
 Lyford, John, 42. 
 
 Madagascar slaves, 234. 
 
 Magicicnue, 240. 
 
 Magnificent trip, The, 257, 258. 
 
 Magnifique, 171. 
 
 Maritana, 223. 
 
 Marshfield, 249. 
 
 Martineau, Miss, 246. 
 
 Mary, 175. 
 
 Mary and John, 43. 
 
 Maryland legislators, 205. 
 
 Mason and Slidell, ao6. 
 
 Mason, Capt. John, 104. 
 
 Massachusetts, 86. 
 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, 150. 
 
 Massachusetts Indians, 91, 96, 101. 
 
 Massacre, 185. 
 
 Massasoit, 52. 
 
 Massie's Monument, 144. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 231, 233. 
 
 Maverick, S., 83, 111. 
 
 Maypole revels, 89. 
 
 M'GIenen, H. A., 259. 
 
 McKay, Donald, 113. 
 
 Meeting-House Hill, 103. 
 
 Melville Garden, 74. 
 
 Merrimac, 250. 
 
 Merrimac River, 259. 
 
 Merry Mount, 88, 90, 249. 
 
 Miantonomoli, 252. 
 
 Michelet, 68, 121. 
 
 Middle Brewster, 220. 
 
 Milford, 237. 
 
 Minot House, 102. 
 
 Mitchell, Professor, 254. 
 
 Montague, Admiral, 249. 
 
 Montague, Lady, 247. 
 
 Moon Island, 100, 106. 
 
 Moonlight trips, 260. 
 
 Moose, 194. 
 
 Morton, Thomas, 34, 42, 70, 82, 88, 89, 90, 94,97, 
 
 98, 154, 183, 190, 194. 
 Motley, J. L., 90, 98, 101, 104, 194, 249. 
 Mount .1 iagon, 89. 
 Mount Desert, 265. 
 Mount Wollaston, 87. 
 Mugford's fight, 124. 
 Nancy, 236. 
 Nantasket Beach, 55, 96. 
 Nantasket Beach Railroad, 28. 
 Nantasket, Hotel, 58. 
 Nantasket House, 36. 
 Nantasket Lake, 61. 
 Nantasket Land Company, 63. 
 Nantasket Roads, 27. 
 Naples, Bay of, 229. 
 National Sailors' Home, 92. 
 Navy Club, 243. 
 Navy Yard, 21. 
 Negro slaves, 234. 
 Nelson, John, 163. 
 Nelson, Lord, 241. 
 Neponset, 101. 
 Newbern, 245. 
 New Boston, 22. 
 Newcomb, Peter, 172. 
 News-Letter, 123, 175, 176. 
 Ninth Regiment, 166. 
 Nix's Mate, 173. 
 Noddle's Island, in, 230, 249. 
 Norsemen, 53. 
 
 North Atlantic squadron, 259. 
 North Brewster, 225. 
 North Carolinians, 206. 
 Nursery, 198. 
 Nut Island, 87, 189. 
 Ocean of Sunrise, 197. 
 Ocean Spray, 120. 
 Ocean Thermopylae, 211. 
 Ocean trips, 257. 
 Old-Colony House, 78. 
 Old-Colony Railroad, 72. 
 Oldham, John, 42, 172. 
 Old-Harbor Point, 106. 
 Old Mansion House, 180. 
 Old Ship, 76. 
 Old Spain, 82. 
 Orchards, Primeval, 147. 
 Ordnance, 189. 
 Oregon House, 31. 
 O'Reilly, John Boyle, 36. 
 Otis Hill, 77. 
 Outer Brewster, 221. 
 Palmer, Gen., 86. 
 Parker, Col. F. J., 208. 
 Pauper Colony, 182. 
 Pecksuot, 83, 184. 
 Peddock's Island, 183. 
 Pegram, Gen., 207. 
 Peggy, 236. 
 
 Pemberton, Hotel, 27, 30, 183. 
 Pemberton, James, 44, 201. 
 Penobscot expedition, 238. 
 Pepperell, Sir William, 140. 
 Peregrine, Peter, 66, 229. 
 Perry, Nora, 24, 74. 
 Peruvian, 52. 
 Peters, Rev. Hugh, 233. 
 Petition of Hull, 44. 
 
20 
 
 INDEX TO TEXT. 
 
 Phillips Bros., 258. 
 
 Phipps, Sir William, 44, 233. 
 
 Pierce, Col., 165, 176. 
 
 Pierce's Hill, 102. 
 
 Pilgrim Feasts, 99. 
 
 Pilot-boats, 219. 
 
 Pine-tree Shilling, 194. 
 
 Pirates, 152, 174. 
 
 Plains of Nantasket, 63. 
 
 Pochaska, Charles, 224. 
 
 Poictiers, 37. 
 
 Point Allerton, 47. 
 
 Point Shirley, 122. 
 
 Portuguese Village, 162. 
 
 Pound, Tom, 174. 
 
 Prairie Flower, 170. 
 
 Preble, Admiral, 204. 
 
 President Adams, 92. 
 
 President Roads, 23. 
 
 Pretty Sally, 238. 
 
 Prince, John, 43. 
 
 Privateers, American, 236, 242. 
 
 Privateers, Rebel, 208. 
 
 Provincetown, 259. 
 
 Pulling Point, 121, 122. 
 
 Pumpkin Island, 192. 
 
 Quarantine, 173, 179. 
 
 Queen Anne Corner, 78. 
 
 Quelch, John, 175. 
 
 Quincy, 72, 85, 94. 
 
 Quincy, Josiah, 92. 
 
 Raccoon Island, 192. 
 
 Rainsford Island, 179. 
 
 Read, T. B., 32, 220. 
 
 Rebel Prisoners, 205. 
 
 Red-Star Line, 268. 
 
 Ringbolt Rock, 78. 
 
 Riverside, 78. 
 
 Rockland House, 56. 
 
 Romer, Col., 138. 
 
 Rose btandish House, 74. 
 
 Route of Steamboats, 21. 
 
 Rowson, Susannah, 36. 
 
 Russ's Villa, Mr., 220. 
 
 Sagamore Hill, 62. 
 
 Sagittaire, 240. 
 
 Sail down the Harbor, 21. 
 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor, 85. 
 
 St. George's Cross, 131, 134. 
 
 Saints of the Bay, 229. 
 
 Savin Hill, 103. 
 
 Schwartz, Sergeant, 151, 152. 
 
 Sculpins, 34. 
 
 Sea-captains, Old, 176. 
 
 Sea-Fencibles, no, 150. 
 
 Sea-Foam House, 64. 
 
 Seals, 34. 
 
 Seashore Home for Children, 121. 
 
 Sewall, 114, 117, 131, 137. x 39> 20I > 2 45- 
 
 Sewer, 96, 106. 
 
 Shag Rocks, 222. 
 
 Sheep Island, 192. 
 
 Shipbuilding, 86, 113. 
 
 Shirley Gut, 124, 193. 
 
 Signal-station, Hull, 38. 
 
 Skull Head, 63. 
 
 Slate Island, 188. 
 
 Slaveholding, in, 119, 234. 
 
 Small-pox Hospital, 124, 141, 179, 181. 
 
 Smith, Capt. John, 35, 42, 94, 104, 186, 230. 
 
 Smith, Rev. S. F., 36. 
 
 Soldiers, Hull, 37. 
 
 South Boston, 22, 23, 107, 142. 
 
 Southey, Robert, 256. 
 
 Spectacle Island, 156. 
 Squantum, 96. 
 
 Standish, Miles, 83, 89, 97, 153. 
 Stark, Gen., 112. 
 State of Maine, 205. 
 Steamboats, Old-time, 80. 
 Stedman, E. C, 215. 
 Stephens, A. H., 210. 
 Stoddard, R. H., 79. 
 Stone Temple, 92. 
 Stony Beach, 47. 
 Stoughton quoted, 232. 
 Strait's Pond, 61. 
 Strawberry Hill, 62. 
 Summer comfort, 21. 
 Sunnyside, 118. 
 
 Sweet Singer of the Harbor, 125, 159, 169. 
 Taft's Hotel, 126. 
 Talleyrand-Perigord, 241. 
 Telegraph Hill, Hull, 37, 44. 
 Temple, 1.63, 194. 
 Tennesseeans, 206. 
 Thayer, Gen. S., 202. 
 Third Massachusetts Regiment, 167. 
 Thirty-second Massachusetts Regiment, 206, 5.08. 
 Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Regiment, 172. 
 Thompson's Island, 153. 
 Thoreau, 41, 47, 48, 56, 213. 
 Thorn-apples, 41. 
 Thorwald's Death, 53. 
 Tilghman, Gen., 206. 
 Tisquanto, 96, 97. 
 Train's Packets, 254. 
 Trecothick, Barlow, 164. 
 Trumbull, Col., 142. 
 Tudor, 46, 112. 
 Tupper, Major, 218. 
 Turks, 133, 233. 
 Vane, Harry, 90, 132, 194. 
 Veazie, Samuel, 35. 
 Veteran Officers, 144. 
 Wabash, 252. 
 IVacluisett, 250. 
 Walker, Sir H., 201, 235. 
 Ward & Co., N., 158. 
 Ward's Island, 192. 
 Warner, Charles Dudley, 213, 215. 
 Warren, Fort, 39, 145. 
 Warren Line, 254. 
 Webster, Daniel, 56, 65, 77, 249. 
 Webster Regiment, 203. 
 Weir River, 67, 69, 78. 
 Western Way, 163, 179. 
 Weston's Colony, 83. 
 Weymouth, 80. ^ 
 
 Weymouth River, 82. 
 Whaling, 86, 102. 
 W hid ah, 175. 
 Whistling Buoy, 224. 
 White-Star Line, 268. 
 Whittier, John G., 116, 195, 248. 
 Wiard, Norman, 190. 
 Winter at Nantasket, 70. 
 Winthrop, 115. 
 Winthrop, Deane, 117. 
 Winthrop, Fort, 147. 
 
 Winthrop, Gov ; , 43, 97, 130, 147, 177, 179, 231. 
 Winthrop, R. C, 194. 
 Wollaston Heights, 94. 
 Wollaston's Colony, 87. 
 Wood quoted, 122, 232. 
 World's End, 77. 
 Worrick's, 56. 
 1 Worthylake, George, 218. 
 
€ty Sail ©oton tfje f&arfoor. 
 
 HE perfection of physical comfort is enjoyed, when, on 
 a warm day of summer, one leaves the hot and crowded 
 streets and many cares of the city, and passes down 
 Boston Harbor on one of its luxurious excursion-steam- 
 boats. Here, without the distressing motion of the deep- 
 sea swells, or the blank monotony of a level horizon, the bracing and 
 invigorating air of the ocean is enjoyed to the fullest: while on either 
 side are scores of picturesque and historic localities to attract the attention 
 and give high zest to the journey. And if this delicious iodated atmos- 
 phere, smelling of sea-weed and surf-beaten rocks, arouses a formidable 
 hunger, there is every variety of means for gratifying that also, from the 
 improvident pop-corn which is sold on the deck, and the frugal but appe- 
 tizing chowders of the beach-restaurants, to the rich and varied menus of 
 the great hotels at Hull and Nantasket. It is safe enough to say, that 
 no other Atlantic city excels Boston in summer comfort. Its clean, well- 
 swept, and sprinkled streets are frequently visited by delightful sea-breezes, 
 whose refreshing coolness and salty savor are perceptible for a full league 
 inland. And on a day of unusual heat and sunshine, all roads lead to the 
 harbor ; and the horse-cars for Atlantic Avenue are crowded with people 
 eager to inhale the bracing air of the ocean. The fares on the steamboats 
 are so small that even the poorest can go : the accommodations are so luxu- 
 rious that the veriest Sybarite of the Back Bay need suffer no discomfort. 
 
 The steamboat has hardly left its pier when the interest of the voyage 
 begins, — the vast and varied panorama commences to unroll. On the 
 right the narrow water-lane of Fort-Point Channel runs off to the South 
 Bay; on the left is the broad mouth of the combined Charles and Mystic 
 rivers, with the picturesque antiquities of the American navy at the head 
 
22 
 
 K/A r G'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 of its vista. The long line of docks and piers, steamships and elevators, 
 on the north, is the water-front of East Boston, the Birkenhead of the 
 Puritan city. (If you wish to know more about this point, or others in 
 the harbor, turn to the Alphabetical Index, at the beginning of the book.) 
 On the right are the great piers and docks of New Boston (often so-called), 
 covered with railway tracks, freight-houses, and elevators, and usually con- 
 taining several British freight-steamships. This broad and busy plain, 
 dedicated to commerce, has been constructed within a few years, on the 
 melancholy mud-flats, by building high and substan- at: © gravel. The 
 tial sea-walls, and ^^^^^^^- -,^^fe~Kr^xw7*LlSh<.. veteran mas- 
 ter of the 
 British steam- 
 ship Sorrento 
 recently said : 
 " During all 
 my experience 
 as an officer 
 and command- 
 er of steam- 
 ships in the 
 Atlantic trade, 
 have never be- 
 fore loaded at such 
 magnificent docks, 
 he great depth of 
 at low tides, and 
 pacious sheds and 
 evator. render the most 
 "ete facilities for the 
 d discharging" of large 
 
 nile from the State House, 
 ually passes through a fleet 
 -beaten coasters, and dainty 
 yachts, anchored off Fort-Point Channel. Mr. Howells has given us this 
 beautiful picture of the inner harbor of Boston: "A light breeze ruffled the 
 surface of the bay, and the innumerable little sail-boats that dotted it took 
 the sun and wind upon their wings, which they dipped almost into the 
 sparkle of the water, and flew lightly hither and thither like gulls that loved 
 the brine too well to rise wholly from it. Larger ships, farther or nearer, 
 puffed or shrank their sails as they came or went on the errands of com- 
 merce, but always moved as if bent upon some dreamy affair of pleasure ; 
 
 teamboat 
 
STING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 23 
 
 the steamboats that shot vehemently across their tranquil courses seemed 
 only gayer and vivider visions, but not more substantial. Yonder a black 
 sea-going steamer passed out between the far-off islands, and at last left 
 in the sky above those reveries of fortification, a whiff of sombre smoke, 
 dark and unreal as a memory of battle. . . . There is always a shabbiness 
 about the wharves of sea-ports ; but I must own that as soon as you get a 
 reasonable distance from them in Boston, they turn wholly beautiful. They 
 no longer present that imposing array of mighty ships which they could 
 show in the days of Consul Plancus, when the commerce of the world 
 sought chiefly our port, yet the docks are still filled with the modester kinds 
 of shipping; and, if there is not that wilderness of spars and rigging which 
 you see at New York, let us believe that there is an aspect of selection 
 and refinement to the scene, so that one should describe it, not as a forest, 
 but, less conventionally, as a gentleman's park of masts. The steamships 
 of many coast-lines gloom, with their black, capacious hulks, among the 
 lighter sailing-craft, and among the white, green-shuttered passenger-boats ; 
 and behind them those desperate and grimy sheds assume a picturesque- 
 ness, their sagging roofs and crooked gables harmonizing agreeably with 
 the shipping; and then, growing up from all rises the mellow-tinted, brick- 
 built city, roof, and spire, and dome, — a fair and noble sight, indeed, 
 and one not surpassed for a certain quiet and cleanly beauty by any that 
 I know." 
 
 As the course crosses the line of two miles from the State House, 
 the high hills of South Boston bound the view on the right, crowned by 
 the great building which was erected in 1834 for a summer-resort, under 
 the name of the Mount-Washington House, and has been occupied for 
 more than forty years by the Perkins School for the Blind. In the nearer 
 waters several gray old hulks are moored, containing reserve stocks of 
 powder and other explosives. Farther on, City Point appears, on the right, 
 with its esplanade and fleet of yachts, beyond which towers the large 
 asylum on Thompson's Island, across Dorchester Bay. On the left, observe 
 the spindle, or beacon, rising from the gravelly shoals which mark the 
 site of the ill-omened Bird Island, long since washed away by the tides. 
 
 At three miles, in a direct line from the State House, the steamboat 
 passes between the two innermost guardians of the harbor, — Governor's 
 Island (on the left), with its lofty mounds and citadel and low-lying water- 
 batteries, and Castle Island (on the right), almost covered by a handsome 
 stone fort. The view now widens rapidly ; and the course is laid for more 
 than two miles across President Roads, which were anciently known as the 
 King's Roads. Here you are tempted to smile at the famous Maryland 
 author who called our maze of pretty islets "a bay like a sterile archipelago 
 of cold gray islands ; " and to sympathize with Lady Duffus Hardy, prais- 
 
24 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HA R BOB. 
 
 ing "the glorious sail down Boston Harbor." On the right the long asylum 
 on Thompson's Island appears again, and the high barn crowning the bluff 
 of Spectacle Island is nearer at hand. On the left rise the graceful elms of 
 Apple Island, with the diversified shores and villages of Winthrop close 
 beyond. However sultry, dusty, grimy, may be the streets just left behind, 
 here all is cool and invigorating. If the sea gives forth no breath, the for- 
 ward motion of the boat is enough to make the atmosphere vibrate. If 
 the air will not blow against you, you are blown against the air ; and the 
 result is not dissimilar. You may now fairly say, with the old Puritan of 
 two centuries ago, "A sup of New England's air is better than a whole 
 draught of Old England's ale." The sense of refreshment is delicious. 
 On every side the green islands rest, fair emeralds on a sapphire plain, full 
 
 (USB 
 
 of poetic charm and 
 artistic diversity, and ahead is the great 
 sea, vague, vast, and dreamy. The con- 
 templation of fellow-pilgrims, too, even if they 
 be of " the doughnut democracy," as Nora Perry calls a large part of our 
 harbor-excursionists, adds not a little to the interest of the trip. All types 
 are here, from the wide-eyed rustic, enjoying every minute of the unwonted 
 excursion, to the blase Somerset-Club young man, for whom no harbor this 
 side of the Mersey can possibly have any charms ; mothers, with noisy 
 broods of happy children ; young couples, whom earth, air, and sea have 
 no power to attract away from each other's eyes ; sedate spinsters ; rakish 
 Commercial travellers ; prim clergymen, in conventional black ; merry young 
 girls, dressed like incarnate rainbows ; care-worn men of business ; the old, 
 the young, the grave, the gay, the citizen, the countryman, the hoodlum, 
 the snob, the gentleman, — all enjoying the superlative comfort and cool- 
 ness which here replace the torridity of the town. 
 
 And so we pass between the diversified shores of Long Island, on the 
 
V 
 
 "h 
 
 Wi 
 
 ITb 
 
 : iv 
 
 5 I 
 
 1 
 
 Ur 
 
 } :.i 
 
26 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 right, with the hotel near its centre, and Deer Island on the left, where 
 rise the great brick buildings of the city charitable and correctional institu- 
 tions. At the sixth mile, in a straight line from the State House, the boat 
 is running south-east, with Broad Sound and the open sea on one side, 
 and on the other the bold bluff of Long-Island Head, crowned by a light- 
 house and the green mounds of a battery. She then passes the grim 
 black pyramid of Nix's Mate, and enters the narrow ship-channel, having 
 Lovell's Island, sacred to buoys, on the left, and Gallop's Island, with its 
 hospitals and high bluffs, on the right. If the tide favors, however, the 
 boat leaves the ship-channel just before reaching Nix's Mate, and steers 
 straight for Hull. Beyond the immense and frowning bulwarks of Fort 
 Warren she runs across Nantasket Roads, with the buildings on Rainsford 
 Island conspicuous on the right, and the rocky archipelago about the light- 
 house and the open sea on the left. Here the " glimmer-glass " of the 
 inner harbor gives place to a suggestion of the ocean-swell, — only a/ trifle, 
 not enough to disturb the most delicate, but still a fair suggestion, with 
 brisk little white-caps corrugating the blue ripples. In front are the lonely 
 cliffs of Peddock's Island and the snug village of Hull, with the many- 
 gabled Hotel Pemberton proudly prominent. After traversing a swift and 
 narrow strait, the steamer rounds in at the pier of Hull, where passengers 
 may take the railway to Nantasket. 
 
 If you are not inclined to land here, the boat will carry you on across 
 a broad and beautiful bay, with the inner lines of Nantasket Beach on 
 the left, and Peddock's Island and the Ouincy and Weymouth shores on the 
 right: past the round green mamelon of Bumpkin Island, and through 
 the narrow pass between White Head and the pasture-hills of World's 
 End: and then up the picturesque winding reaches of Weir River, to the 
 Xantasket-Beach pier, hard by the Hotel Nantasket and the Rockland 
 House, and but a few minutes' walk from the ocean-surf. Other steam- 
 boats, after leaving Hull.* run south-east across the inner bay for about two 
 miles, leaving Bumpkin Island on the right, and reach the pier at Straw- 
 berry Hill, near the Sea-Foam House, and a short distance from the sea. 
 
 The boats which touch at the old pier at Hull (the easterly one, near 
 the hill) do not go to the beach, but run across the bay just spoken of 
 to Downer Landing, with its pretty cottages and aristocratic Rose Stand- 
 ish House, and then wind up the crooked harbor to the ancient town of 
 Hingham. 
 
 The routes of the steamers to Nahant, Ocean Pier, and Point of Pines, 
 coincide with the course of the Nantasket boats as far as Long-Island 
 Head. Off that point they bear away to the north-east, through Broad 
 Sound, and shape their courses for their various destinations. Another 
 excursion-route runs a new steamboat (of small size) from Johnson's Wharf, 
 

 
 
 "■ s ° 
 
 -=; 
 
 ^ 
 
 £? 
 
 
 
28 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 at City Point, South Boston, to Long Island, Winthrop, and other points 
 in the upper harbor. The time-tables of all the harbor-lines change from 
 month to month, and should be consulted in the Boston newspapers. 
 
 The Nantasket-Beach Railroad. — The Nantasket-Beach Railroad is a 
 new enterprise, which is highly appreciated by the people around the har- 
 bor, both in Boston and along the beaches. It starts from the steamboat- 
 pier at Hull, and runs around the shore, on the channel side of Cushing's 
 Hill, along the crest of Stony Beach, over the west (or harborward) slope 
 of Point Allerton, and then along the Nantasket plains to the great beach, 
 which is traversed through almost its entire length. There are numerous 
 stations, near the chief points of interest and attraction, at Point Allerton, 
 Strawberry Hill, and beyond. After passing the Rockland House the rail- 
 way turns inland, among strange rocky hillocks, and meets the Old Colony 
 line in the town of Hingham. On foggy and stormy days, this route is 
 availed of by the people who must go to Boston. The length of the line 
 is nine miles; and the fare is ten cents, over the entire route or any part 
 of it. It is one of the most charming rides imaginable; close beside the 
 cool and salty sea, with the waves breaking so near as to throw spray, at 
 high wind and tide, over the rails, — so near, that, in the winter of 1882, a 
 section of the track was destroyed by a wrecked vessel that was thrown 
 upon it. There is great variety of scenery, too, — the stately procession 
 of vessels in the light-house channel; the Brewster Islands, "green and 
 brown, like cairngorms set in blue enamel;" the lake-like expanses of the 
 inner harbor; and the wide blue ocean, with its surges whitening up the 
 strand beneath the car-windows. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 2 9 
 
 Efje Ancient Eoton of Hfull. 
 
 THE HOTEL PEMRERTON. — HINGHAM BAY. — HULL YACHT-CLUB.— 
 TELEGRAPH HILL. — BITS OF HISTORY. 
 
 STRONG and steadfast arm, which, bent on guard, protects 
 Boston Harbor from the easterly gales, is the long peninsula 
 of Hull. The shoulder is Atlantic Hill; the biceps, White 
 Head; the sharp elbow, Point Allerton ; the tip of the hand. 
 Windmill Point. From end to end it is not far from seven 
 miles long ; but its width will not average a half-mile, and for 
 long stretches a stone can be thrown across it from the harbor to the sea. 
 Hillard complimented the Lido of Venice by likening it to this great natural 
 breakwater of Nantasket. There are summer villages all along the beach ; 
 but the only place where those to the manor born dwell, the year round, is a 
 quaint old hamlet on the extreme point, partly hemmed in and sheltered by 
 three high hills. There are 
 about two hundred and ten 
 inhabitants here, with thirty- 
 six on the adjacent islands, and 
 about one hundred and fifty 
 on Nantasket Beach. The 
 
 Bath-houses, near Hull Pier 
 
 village is nine miles from Boston by water ; and frequent steamers ply 
 back and forth in half an hour, during the summer days. It is twenty- 
 two miles distant by land, with a continuous railway the entire distance. 
 
30 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The Hotel Pemberton looms up alongside Nantasket Roads like some 
 tall castle, over the low beaches of Windmill Point. It is in that quaint 
 and somewhat outre form of architecture for which good Queen Anne has 
 been held responsible, with towers, gables, balconies, piazzas, and other 
 picturesque adjuncts, and a coloring of olive and old gold which would 
 delight even William Morris. There are upwards of a hundred rooms, with 
 wide and airy halls and parlors, rich furniture and carpets, elevators, wine- 
 vaults, gas works and lights, vast kitchens, billiard-tables, and a bar of gen- 
 erous proportions. The first and second stories are carpeted with Brussels, 
 and furnished in black walnut ; the third and fourth stories have ash furni- 
 ture and ingrain carpets. There are broad piazzas around the three lower 
 stories. In front of the house is a band-stand, where the best military 
 music is given ; and the scene is very brilliant at evening, when a score of 
 electric lights are flashing through the darkness, and crowds of people 
 promenade in the vicinity. The steamboat-pier and railway-station are in 
 front of the house ; and here thousands of visitors debark on every pleasant 
 summer day, in search of the cool breezes and beautiful views for which 
 this locality is famous. The main fronts of the hotel face the south-west, 
 across the broad Ouincy Bay to the Blue Hills ; and north-east, across Nan- 
 tasket Roads to the Brewster islands and the open sea. Almost due north, 
 only a mile away, are the massive walls of Fort Warren, whose morning 
 and evening guns and bugle-calls are plainly audible, and whose flag is seen 
 to drop with the setting sun. To the westward extends a broad, open reach 
 of the harbor, with the high and lonely bluffs of Peddock's Island closing in 
 very near at hand, just across the racing waters of Hull Gut. Such are the 
 very satisfactory natural features. An added charm appears in the exu- 
 berant life which all summer long throbs about this sea-palace. The little 
 cove close by the hotel is the headquarters of a notable fleet of gallant 
 yachts, of all conceivable models, from the catamaran to the costly schooner- 
 yacht, from the arrowy little pleasure-steamboat to the unwieldy galliot 
 which takes out family parties on safe (but not exciting) nautical excursions. 
 On every side their white sails gleam, as they fly away towards German- 
 town and Weymouth, or swoop daringly among the light-house islands, or 
 stand outward until they are hull-down on the level horizon of the sea. 
 Among these spoiled pets of the waves and winds the white harbor-steam- 
 boats rush in and out, on their half-hourly trips between the half-roasted 
 city and its breezy marine environs. The fishing-vessels are seen skim- 
 ming out by the Light, or beating down Broad Sound; and the immense 
 British steamships move up the ship-channel with an air of conscious 
 power and importance. All this, and much more, passes within close view 
 of the Pemberton, which is as devoid as Eddystone Light-house of a land- 
 ward side. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 XO A 
 
30 B KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 31 
 
 The Oregon House, not far from the Pemberton, was built in 1848, from 
 the materials of the Castle-barracks. When Col. Wright's Massachusetts 
 regiment was coming home from the Mexican war, Major Thayer, then in 
 command of Fort Independence, disposed of the barracks there so that the 
 volunteers (whom he greatly disliked) could not be quartered in them. The 
 material was bought by Rev. Robert Gould, and carried to Hull, where 
 the Oregon House was built. It has received considerable additions during 
 the last five years, and still retains its old habitues, who have come hither 
 almost every summer for a quarter of a century. It is a favorite resort 
 for those who seek smelt- ing, in the fall; and no place on the coast 
 
 can show such good 
 of Hull. Of the other 
 are the St. Cloud, 
 fronting: on the 
 
 fishing-grounds as the waters in the vicinity 
 boarding-houses in the village, the chief 
 near the Oregon ; the Hayes House, 
 pond ; and the Nantasket, near the 
 bay which extends toward Straw- 
 berry Hill. The bold hill on the 
 
 Capt. James's Landing, Hull. 
 
 south of the peninsula is covered with summer cottages and villas, some of 
 which have much architectural beauty. On the old steamboat-wharf, near 
 the Oregon House (where the boats of the Hingham line stop) is the com- 
 modious house of the Hull Yacht-Club, built in 1882, and devoted to the 
 heartiest good-fellowship. This organization, though but two or three years 
 old, has nearly five hundred members, and is the largest yacht-club (with 
 one exception) in the United States. The handsome sheet of water which 
 is nearly enclosed by Nantasket, Hull, Peddock's Island, Hough's Neck 
 and the mainland, although officially recognized as a part of Boston Harbor, 
 is often called Hingham Bay, and covers an area of nearly ten square miles. 
 Of late years this has become a favorite locality for yachtsmen, who can 
 now exercise their white-winged steeds Of the sea with but little anxiety. 
 Here many novices are initiated into the noble art, and taught the meaning 
 of the mysterious phrases of nautical science, to the music of " Nancy Lee " 
 and " Yeo ho ! lads, ho ! " In this regard, the house of the Yacht-Club 
 becomes a college of naval science, with nearly four hundred proficient 
 
32 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 students, whose boats, with all sail set, are continually skimming over 
 this fair little sea. It is a sight of rare beauty, when, on a bright summer 
 day, the accomplishments of the yachtsmen and the virtues of their boats 
 are tested in the regatta, and the bay is whitened by a long procession 
 of sails, stretching away to some distant goal, and rounding to for the 
 swift homeward voyage. The confirmed landsman, 
 who does not know the difference between a fore- 
 castle and a flying-jib, finds a more tranquil joy 
 >ut in the local pleasure-boats, with 
 strong hand of Capt. James, or Sam 
 Sawyer, or Pope, or Galliano, on the 
 tiller, and their practised eyes watch- 
 ing the course. One of these 
 veterans, with a boat as clean 
 as the boudoir of Lady Clara 
 Vere de Vere, may be hired for 
 two or three dollars, for a long 
 afternoon, to sail whithersoever 
 the wind allows. Free from care 
 of course or current, one may sail on for hours through a deepening peace, 
 dreaming over the legends of the islands, or enjoying such sweet repose as 
 Buchanan Read sang of, in his " Drifting: " — 
 
 Skipper William James, Hull 
 
 " My soul to-day 
 
 Is far away 
 Sailing the [fair New-England] Bay ; 
 
 My winged boat, 
 
 A bird afloat, 
 Sails round the purple peaks remote. 
 
 " Under the walls 
 Where swells and falls 
 
 The Bay's deep breast at interval? 
 At peace I lie, 
 Blown softly by, 
 
 A cloud upon this liquid sky. 
 
 " Round purple peaks 
 It sails, and seeks 
 
 Blue inlets and their crystal creeks, 
 Where high rocks throw, 
 Through deeps below, 
 
 A duplicated golden glow. 
 
 " The day, so mild, 
 Is Heaven's own child, 
 
 With Earth and Ocean reconciled ; 
 The airs I feel 
 Around me steal 
 
 Are murmuring to the murmuring keel. 
 
 " I heed not if 
 
 My rippling skiff 
 Float swift or slow from cliff to cliff, • 
 
 With dreamful eyes 
 
 My spirit lies 
 Under the walls of Paradise. 
 
 ' ' Over the rail 
 My hand I trail 
 
 Within the shadow of the sail, 
 A joy intense, 
 The cooling sense 
 
 Glides down my drowsy indolence/' 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 33 
 
 In the snug little cove, alongside the Pcmberton, there are commodious 
 landing-stages, and off-shore scores of yachts have their moorings. Hither 
 they return as the purple haze of evening rises from the eastern sea, folding 
 their wings like weary birds, as they round the point, and glide into the tran- 
 quil inner waters. There is a Venetian element in the scene after dusk, 
 when their colored lights shine over the little lagoon, and the sounds of 
 music and mirth float in, mellowed by distance and partly muffled by the 
 manifold and mysterious voices of the sea. It is well to remember, while 
 looking upon this stately Pemberton, that in 1721 the people of Hull voted 
 that there' should never be a public house in the town. 
 
 The ancient village church stood by the pond, but was destroyed many 
 years ago ; and the feeble flock of resident Hullonians worshipped in the 
 little town-hall (also beside the pond) until 1881, when an another churchlet 
 was erected. The piquancy of youth, and something of its rawness, is ob- 
 servable in the summer-houses on the hill; but in the ancient homes which 
 closely line the winding street below are fascinating suggestions of venera- 
 ble traditions of the last century, of French garrisons, of piratical wreckers, 
 of strange adventures on distant seas. What stories could the old Hunt 
 house tell ; or Loring's dignified mansion, with its weather-beaten walls half 
 screened by friendly foliage ; or the Cushing place, which since 1720 has 
 guarded the inner end of Love Lane ; or the legend-haunted old colonial 
 house at the village end of Love Lane, rising from an immense thicket 
 of neglected rose- 
 bushes. Here a Haw- 
 thorne or a Whittier 
 might find embarras- 
 sing riches of mate- 
 rial. The residents 
 are ethnological cu- 
 riosities. Several of 
 them (or their par- 
 ents) came from Cat- 
 taro, and other har- 
 bors of the Adriatic ; 
 others from Germa- 
 ny, from Ragusa, 
 from Portugal, from Capri. The person who called himself Mitchell was 
 a Dalmatian, who, after long naval service in the French fleets of Napo- 
 leon's time, drifted ashore at Hull, and founded a family, whose present 
 representatives are worthy citizens of the little village. 
 
 Hull has suffered the fate of most isolated communities in being 
 maligned by many visitors ; and startling tales of false lights, merciless 
 
 VJ! ' 
 
 Sally Jones's House, Hull. 
 
34 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 wreckers, and pirates, have attached themselves to this salty little hamlet. 
 But the venerable old town is neither an Alsatia nor a Barrataria; and who- 
 ever ventures out in the sailboats of the peninsular youth will find good 
 attention, rude courtesy, and shrewd intelligence in their pilots, who dearly 
 love their little town, and, as Dr. Holmes says, are fond of the modest 
 paraphrase, "All are but parts of one stupendous Hull." 
 
 Beneath the shadow of the hill stands the Cushing house, built as a par- 
 sonage for the Rev, Ezra Carpenter, who ministered at Hull from 1725 to 
 1756. It is well preserved (his study still being shown), and wears its years 
 with dignity. More than a century ago, when Capt. Souther (formerly of 
 the Royal Navy) lived there, it was frequently the summer resting-place 
 of James Otis, the famous orator and Revolutionary patriot. 
 
 From the wharf many small fish are caught, to the great glee of that 
 portion of urban Young America which summers at Hull. Frequently, too, 
 the beguiling hooks bring up atrociously hideous sculpins, which, however, 
 are not without use as lobster-bait. Nay, they have even served a high 
 homiletical purpose also, as when Mr. Beecher bade his startled flock con- 
 sider, " How many men there are that are like those fish we catch in Boston 
 Harbor, — four-fifths of them are mouth, and the rest is tail." 
 
 One or two of the Hullonians devote themselves to hunting seals in the 
 harbor. These strange amphibious animals abound near certain of the 
 islands, and are often seen sunning themselves upon the rocks. They 
 weigh from seventy-five to two hundred pounds each, and produce about 
 two gallons of oil. Several seal-cubs have been captured and tamed, mak- 
 ing very amusing pets, and having a bark not unlike that of a dog. 
 
 The lobsters of Hull have long been famous. Two hundred and sixty 
 years ago Morton recorded the deeds of their worst persecutors : " The 
 Beare is a tyrant at a lobster, and at low water will down to the Rocks, and 
 groape after them with great diligence." There are thirty or more fishermen 
 at Hull, whose baited lobster-pots are sunk at many points near the islands, 
 and marked by little floating bits of wood. This is the chief port for lob- 
 ster-fishing in Massachusetts, within whose waters upwards of a million of 
 the delicious crustaceans are captured yearly. The supply is fast decreas- 
 ing ; so that it may not be long with us as when the reverend author of " New- 
 England's Plantation" (a?i7io 1630) veritably wrote, "We take abundance of 
 Lobsters, that the least Boy in the Plantation may both catch and eat what 
 he will of them. For my owne part I was soone cloyed with them, they 
 were so great, and fat, and lussious." Visitors at some of the minor sum- 
 mer resorts hereabouts have been heard plaintively expressing the same 
 idea. 
 
 In 1700 the town opened the road to "The Point;" and many small 
 wharves, warehouses, and shops were built to accommodate the fishing- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK, OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 35 
 
 trade. There was a goodly fleet of snug little schooners finding here theii 
 In mic port. Thereby were made good the words of Capt. John Smith, 
 written about this coast two and a half centuries ago : "Therefore, honor- 
 able and worthy countrymen, let not the meannesse of the -wordjts/ie distaste 
 you ; for it will afford as good gold as the mines of Guiana or Polossie, with 
 lesse hazard and charge, and more certainty and facility.'' 
 
 The Vandal axes which have destroyed the beauty of this region were 
 set in motion in 1644, when the Legislature ordered one hundred and fifty 
 tons of timber to be cut at Nantasket, " to bee ymployed uppon ye ffortifica- 
 tions att Castle Hand." Five years later the planters here petitioned the 
 Legislature "for the encouraging Mr. Mathewes to goe to them and preach 
 
 The Old Lovell House, Hull. 
 
 amongst them." But 
 the Boston authorities denied 
 them this saving help, and 
 Matthews went without it. 
 It is probable that the old Hunt 
 estate house was built for his par- 
 sonage. It certainly was occupied in 1670 by Zechariah Whitman, a Har- 
 vard graduate, who preached here from 1670 to 1726; and Samuel Veazie, 
 pastor from 1753 to 1767, made a painting in the kitchen which is still pre- 
 served. Since the Revolution, religious services have been held irregularly 
 in this smallest of Yankee parishes, and no pastor settled here between 
 1772 and 1881. The church was blown down in the great gale of 1815. 
 In 1657 there were twenty families in Hull, contributing forty pounds to 
 the revenue of Massachusetts, and claiming a notable share in the govern- 
 ment of the Bay Province. 
 
 After Veazie's demise the old parsonage was the home of one of the 
 most notable local families, — that of William Haswell, a British naval 
 
7,6 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 officer, who was wrecked on Lovell's Island in 1767, and settled at Hull, 
 where he lived until the revolt of America. His daughter, who passed her 
 early years here, was the famous Susanna Rowson, some time a sprightly 
 and graceful actress in many cities, and later the foremost teacher in Bos- 
 ton, and a very popular author. Of her novel entitled " Charlotte Temple," 
 twenty-five thousand copies were sold in a few years. She was also the 
 author of the very popular song, " When Rising from Ocean," which was 
 sung to the tune of " Anacreon in Heaven," afterwards applied to " The 
 Star-spangled Banner." Mrs. Rowson thus described Hull one hundred 
 and twenty years ago, in her novel of " Rebecca: " — 
 
 " On the left hand of the entrance of Boston Harbor is a beautiful little 
 
 peninsula, called H : it consists of two gradually rising hills, beautifully 
 
 diversified with orchards, cornfields, and pasture-land. In the valley is built 
 a little village, consisting of about fifty houses, the inhabitants of which just 
 make shift to decently support a minister, who on a Sunday ascends the 
 pulpit, in a rustic temple, situated by the side of a piece of water, nearly 
 in the middle of the village, and teaches, to the utmost of his ability, the true 
 principles of Christianity. The neck of land which joins this peninsula to 
 the mainland is very narrow, and, indeed, is sometimes overflowed by the 
 tide. On one side it forms a charmingly picturesque harbor, in which are a 
 number of small, but delightful fertile islands ; and on the other it is washed 
 by the ocean, to which it lays open." 
 
 Two or three years ago the venerable house of Matthews, Veazie, and 
 Haswell was purchased by John Boyle O'Reilly, the Irish-American poet, 
 and editor of "The Pilot" (the chief Roman-Catholic paper of America), 
 who has since made it his summer home. In its yard is the grave of a 
 British soldier, the son of an Old-Country parish curate, who was mortally 
 wounded during the attack on the light-house in 1775, and brought ashore 
 by the victorious Americans. He received tender care from the Haswell 
 family, and was buried in their yard, Susannah herself reading the funeral 
 service. 
 
 The Nantasket House, alongside this ancient mansion, was (in part) 
 built in 1675, by Col. Robert Gould; and the quaint old post-office was the 
 birthplace of Col. Amos Binney, for many years naval agent at Boston. 
 
 One of the best-known of the summer cottagers, during the last ten years, 
 is Samuel F. Smith, D.D., the venerable scholar, whose poem "My Coun- 
 try, 'tis of thee," has become the national song, and is familial' from Sitka 
 to St. Augustine. Among the blue hills which crowd along the north- 
 western horizon, he wrote " America," while a student at the Andover 
 school of the prophets, in 1832. Among the other summer residents are 
 (or have been) Col. R. M. Pulsifer, of " The Boston Herald ; " the Hon. 
 Moody Merrill, President of the Highland Railway Company ; George P. 
 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. ^ 
 
 Lathrop, the novelist and poet, and his wife, the daughter of Nathaniel 
 Hawthorne. 
 
 One of the most delightful bits in old Hull was the rude platform around 
 the flagstaff, surrounded with picturesque fragments and names of vessels 
 which had been wrecked on the adjacent strand. Beneath stood a quaint 
 little iron cannon, which might have been brought over on Gov. Winthrop's 
 fleet. This charming group of naval and historic bric-a-brac was removed 
 only four or five years ago. Among the ancient trophies of Hull was the 
 great anchor of the British ship-of-the-line Poictiers, seventy-four guns, which 
 ran into the Roads during a terrible storm, in 1812, and at early morning 
 cut her cable and fled to sea again. Perhaps she was frightened by that 
 grassy little fort on Telegraph Hill. 
 
 During the last war, Hull contributed more than her 
 quota, sending twenty-four men to the army and navy, out 
 of a population of two hundred and eighty-five. In 1759, when tlie militia- 
 was enrolled, she reported eight able-bodied men, "and no more; " although 
 even then her people boasted that " Hull had thirty-three houses when Bos- 
 ton had but one." The pulse-beat of the republic was felt nowhere more 
 quickly than in this secluded nook; and in May, 1861, the men raised here 
 a flagstaff one hundred and eight feet high, from which floated an immense 
 new American flag, made by the women of Hull. Two years after the war 
 closed, one of the State militia brigades was encamped here. 
 
 The highest of the three hills which diversify the little peninsula is 
 Telegraph Hill, whose summit is occupied by the old French fort, whose 
 
$8 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTOA? HARBOR. 
 
 walls, bastions, embrasures, and moats are still well preserved. Here also 
 is a well, ninety feet deep, from which the valiant militiamen hoped to get 
 water, should they be invested on all sides. Many a cannon-shot has been 
 fired from this height at the British frigates that sailed up the harbor in 
 Revolutionary times, and many a sailor of his Majesty's service has thereby 
 received his eternal discharge. Inside the fort is a quaint little house, aged 
 and storm-worn, with a two-story wooden tower. Many years ago this 
 station was established for the purpose of signalling to Boston the approach 
 of vessels on the outer sea. A tower stood on Central Wharf, Boston, 
 whence the signals (as repeated from an intervening island) were observed, 
 and repeated to the Old State House. At first the names and characters of 
 incoming ships were indicated by wooden arms, at varying angles, on a tall 
 staff; and later, a set of one hundred and twelve different flags, one for each 
 shipping merchant of Boston, was in use. Vessels entering the Bay bore 
 their owner's colors, and their identity was thus easily made out, and sig- 
 nalled to Boston. Since the invention of the telegraph, this cumbrous 
 system has been abandoned, and marine news passes up by a wire twenty- 
 five miles long, leading around the South Shore. A message is sent every 
 half-hour, and recorded in a great book at the Boston Merchants' Exchange, 
 together with the reports from Highland Light, so that the merchants can 
 tell at any time what is going on in the Bay. The custom-house officers and 
 other harbor-guards are warned in like manner. When large ocean-steam- 
 ships are coming in at night, they are recognized by their rockets and blue 
 lights. The operator reports the approach of all steamers, West-Indiamen, 
 and square-rigged vessels, but ignores fishing-craft and small coasters. 
 The hull of a vessel can be seen eighteen miles out, and her spars at 
 twenty miles out. In the winter season the little building is rocked and 
 penetrated by the howling storms ; and in summer the wires on this lofty 
 point sometimes draw in white shafts of lightning; but the old salts remain 
 here unconcernedly, spinning their unending yarns, and occasionally sweep- 
 ing the outer Bay with a telescope, as if they were perched on the main-top 
 of a cruiser, on look-out duty. 
 
 The surrounding intrenchments are full of interest to antiquarians, being 
 of ancient and somewhat uncertain origin. In 1778 Massachusetts called 
 out three thousand of her militia to finish and garrison the harbor forts ; and 
 Washington sent the Chevalier Du Portail, then chief engineer of the United- 
 States army, to superintend the construction of the new works. This offi- 
 cer planned the defences of West Point, and was afterwards Minister of 
 War in France. The fort on Telegraph Hill was armed with several heavy 
 guns, and garrisoned by militia from Hingham and adjacent towns. It was 
 for a long time under the direction of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, and some 
 say that Lafayette himself made the working-plans from which it was built. 
 
KING'S HAX/WOOK OF HOSTON IIAKJiOR. 
 
 39 
 
 Military engineers find the little fort very interesting, as an example of old 
 French fortress-architecture. 
 
 Some part of this work was probably erected in 1778, when the for- 
 midable French frigates Char, Provence, Fatitasqnc, Zele, Sagittairc, 
 Tonnant, Hector, Vaillant, and others, lay in Nantasket Roads, and the 
 line-of-battle ships Languedoc and Marseillais, which had been so roughly 
 used by the British vessels Renown and Isis, off Rhode Island, were 
 being repaired at Boston. Not satisfied with fortifying all the adjacent 
 islands, the 
 Count D'Es- 
 taing landed all 
 his mar ines 
 and large de- 
 tachments of 
 sailors, at Hull. 
 and erected 
 here a formida- 
 ble thirty -gun 
 batterv. When 
 
 Old Fort and Signal Station, Telegraph Hill, 
 Hull. 
 
 the British fleet was seen in the 
 Bay, apparently making ready to 
 force its way into the Roads, D'Es- 
 taing left the Languedoc, his flag- 
 ship, and transferred the headquar- 
 ters to the Cesar, where he awaited the expected attack, having his fleet 
 cleared for action, and his batteries shotted, ready for a close and desperate 
 engagement. 
 
 On the 17th of July, 1776, the battery on this site, and that on Long- 
 Island Head, fired a salute of thirteen guns, in honor of the promulgation 
 of the Declaration of Independence, which had just reached Boston. In 
 case of war, it would become necessary to fortify and garrison this position 
 strongly ; since it looks down almost into the parade-ground of Fort War- 
 ren, and a hostlie battery here could break " the key of the harbor" in short 
 order. The artillery officers at the fort have recognized the strategic im- 
 
40 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 portance of this position, and doubtless have prepared their plans to make 
 of Telegraph Hill a miniature Gibraltar. 
 
 The view from this point is magnificent ; and on summer days, especially 
 towards sunset, it is enjoyed by many visitors, grouped on the venerable 
 grassy ramparts. It includes all the white summer resorts on the North 
 and South Shores, from Manchester and Magnolia around to Cohasset 
 and Hingham ; the long and graceful curve of Nantasket Beach, with 
 its crowded hotels ana cottages ; the island-studded harbor, bounded by 
 the rolling Blue Hills and the masses of buildings which culminate in the 
 gilded dome of the State House ; and, far away in the interior, the azure 
 crest of Wachusett. On a clear day you may see, beyond the black and 
 rocky Brewsters around which the waves whiten ceaselessly, the dim line 
 of Cape Ann and the twin light-houses on Thacher's Island. At night the 
 scene is still beautiful, and includes the warning lights, fixed and revolving, 
 on a wide range of coast ; the twinkling house-lamps in scores of villages ; 
 the colored lanterns of vessels bound in and out ; and the multiform fire- 
 works and electric illuminations with which the summer hotels diversify the 
 night. 
 
 Telegraph Hill is owned by an elderly maiden lady of Hingham, who 
 tenaciously refuses to sell or lease it. Were it not so, this glorious height, 
 sacred now to pure beauty and grandeur, would be quickly occupied by dull 
 little bourgeois cottages ; and the peaceful cattle, browsing the salty grass 
 through which the path leads upward, would be banished to the lonely 
 shores of Peddock's. No more hence could we look out where, — 
 
 "At dawn the fleet stretched miles away, 
 
 On ocean plains asleep, — 
 Trim vessels waiting for the day 
 
 To move across the deep. 
 So still the sails, they seemed to be 
 White lilies growing in the sea. 
 
 "When evening touched the cape's low rim, 
 
 And dark fell on the waves, 
 We only saw processions dim 
 
 Of clouds from shadowy caves : 
 These were the ghosts of buried ships, 
 Gone down in one brief hour's eclipse." 
 
 Near the foot of the hill, on the side towards the open sea, stood the ceme- 
 tery of the French army which was quartered in and about the deserted 
 village during the Revolutionary War. Here, if the local traditions are not 
 at fault, several hundred of our gallant allies were buried, after the fatal 
 prevalence of an epidemic. Poor boys ! the flower of the youth of France, 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON 1/ ARBOR. 
 
 41 
 
 they passed into rest here, lulled to their long slumbers by the moan of 
 the northern sea, and nevermore should see the flowery banks of Seine 
 or Loire, the pleasant hills of Auvergne. Even History herself has for- 
 gotten them : but a few wrinkled crones in the neighboring village tell (as it 
 was told to them) how they died ; and every springtime kindly Nature adorns 
 their graves with hardy flowers, chief among which is their own royal 
 emblem, the fleur-dc-lys. 
 
 " By rocky coast, in salty bight, 
 Their banners glitter in the light." 
 
 The ancient road from Hull to the mainland runs up from the pond over 
 the low col north of Telegraph Hill, and down to the shore of Light-house 
 Channel. It is a delightful grass-grown 
 track, so lonely and still that imagi- 
 native visitors have called it the 
 Appian Way; flanked on either 
 side by ruined fortifications 
 built by Latin armies (for so 
 we may designate our French 
 allies), and bordered at one 
 point by a diminutive grove of 
 gnarled and wind - wrenched 
 thorn-apple trees {Datura stra- 
 monium), whose seeds were 
 brought from France. Thoreau 
 noted these very trees, and rejoiced : 
 "At sight of this cosmopolite, — this 
 
 Capt. Cook among plants, — Carried in bal- Hull Burying-Ground and Point Allerton. 
 
 last all over the world, I felt as if I were 
 
 on the highway of nations. Say, rather, this Viking, king of the bays, for 
 it is not an innocent plant : it suggests, not merely commerce, but its attend- 
 ant vices, as if its fibres were the stuff of which pirates spin their yarns." 
 Where the road reaches its highest point, a noble sea-view opens out, 
 with the neighboring rocky islets off-shore, and beyond a weltering blue 
 expanse, which stretches eastward, without a break, to the remote Iberian 
 coasts of Pontevedra and Cape Finisterre, 
 
 "A glimpse of blue immensity, 
 A little strip of sea." 
 
 On the south-east slope of Telegraph Hill is the old graveyard of the 
 village, recognizable from miles away by its luxuriant trees. The oldest 
 monument bears the date of 1708. Here are the graves of many Cushings 
 
42 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and Lorings, and memorial slabs to men who were buried at sea or in dis- 
 tant ports. There were many very ancient monuments here ; but the local 
 tradition says that they were carried down to the waterside during the time 
 the French army laid at Hull, and utilized as wash-boards. The soldiers 
 probably used them as the riverside blanchisseuses of Paris still do the sides 
 of their barges and quays, by beating the wet clothes against them. 
 
 In this locality, where so many of the actors in the long history of Hull 
 have gone to rest, let us contemplate a few episodes in the history of the 
 hamlet. 
 
 We have a fair glimpse of the coasts between Cape Ann and Cohasset, 
 before the pestilence nearly annihilated the aborigines, in Capt. John 
 Smith's rather optimistic description of his voyage in 1614: "And then 
 the country of the Massachusits which is the paradise of all those parts : 
 for here are many lies all planted with corne ; groves, mulberries, salvage 
 gardens, and good harbors: the coast is for the most part, high clayie 
 sandie cliffs. The Sea Coast as you passe, shewes you all along large 
 corne fields, and great troupes of well proportioned people : but the French 
 having remained heere neere sixe weekes, left nothing for us to take occa- 
 sion to examine the inhabitants relations, viz. if there be neere three thou- 
 sand people upon these lies; and that the river doth pearce many daies 
 journieis the intralles of that countrey.'' 
 
 It is said that three wandering Englishmen, Thomas and John Gray, 
 and Walter Knights, bought this Hull peninsula from its Indian lords, as 
 early as the year 1622, and settled there. Not long afterward they were 
 joined by John Oldham, John Lyford, and Roger Conant, from Plymouth. 
 The Pilgrims had already built a trading-station here; and these three 
 worthies appointed themselves respectively as chief of traffic with the 
 Indians, Episcopal chaplain, and chief of fisheries. Morton thus narrates 
 the expulsion of John Oldham from Plymouth : " A lane of Musketiers was 
 made, and he compelled in scorne to passe along betweene, & to receave a 
 bob by every musketier, and then a board a shallop, and so convayed to 
 Wessagusus shoare, & staid at Massachussets, to whom John Layford and 
 some few more did resort, where Master Layford freely executed his office 
 and preached every Lords day, and yet maintained his wife and children 
 foure or five, upon his industry there, with the blessing of God, and the 
 plenty of the Land, without the helpe of his auditory, in an honest and 
 laudable manner, till hee was wearied and made to leave the Country." 
 
 In time Oldham and Lyford went away; and Conant sailed to the north- 
 ward, where he founded Gloucester and Salem. When the Winthrop 
 colony arrived, and settled Boston, they spoke of the plantation at the 
 mouth of the harbor as "an uncoth place," which, however, contributed to 
 the costs of the expedition against Merrymount. The little Episcopal flock 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 43 
 
 which followed Lyford from Plymouth had not chosen to go with him to 
 Virginia. Probably the chief settlement was near Straits Pond and Weir 
 River. In 1629 there were four clergymen at Salem, of whom at least two 
 found themselves superfluous ; and the Rev. Mr. Smith and his family 
 thereupon "goes to some straggling people at Natasco." The name of 
 Hull first appears in 1644, and was derived from the stout old Yorkshire 
 seaport of Kingston-upon-Hull, just then famous for its sieges in the Civil 
 Wars. (Some say, however, that it was named from Joseph Hull of Hing- 
 ham.) 
 
 It was in the pleasant springtime of 1630 that the Mary and John, 
 a great ship of four hundred tons, left English Plymouth, and crossed the 
 seas to the western wilderness, bearing many "godly families of Devon- 
 shire and Dorsetshire," and their goods. "They came by the good hand of 
 the Lord, through the deeps comfortably," says the record of the voyage. 
 But Capt. Squeb was a careful mariner, and durst not sail his heavily laden 
 ship into an unknown and intricate harbor. So he plumped them and theirs 
 ashore on Nantasket, which the hundred and forty saints stigmatized as 
 " a forlorn place in this wilderness." Here they abode for some days, while 
 reconnoitring parties were sent out (under Southcot, a veteran of the Low- 
 Country Wars), — one which ascended to Watertown, and encamped three 
 days, amicably exchanging English biscuit for Indian bass with the natives ; 
 and another which examined the South-Boston peninsula, and secured the 
 removal of the colony thither. The Mary and John laid off Nantasket 
 for some time ; for Gov. Winthrop called on Capt. Squeb, and was received 
 with a salute of five guns. 
 
 After this invasion by the Puritans, the planters at Hull enjoyed peace 
 for two years. In 1632 the Bostonians, "in regard the French. were like to 
 prove ill neighbors, being Papists," resolved to build a fort here, "partly to 
 be some block in an enemy's way (though it could not bar his entrance)." So 
 Gov. Winthrop and his four assistants, with three ministers and eighteen 
 citizens, sailed down to Hull, to choose the best strategic point. A stiff 
 north-wester kept them there two winter days and nights, during which time 
 they lived on shell-fish, and slept on the ground, but yet contrived to be 
 •' very merry," as the record avers. The natural conclusion of the matter 
 was, that " It was agreed by all that to build a fort there would be of too 
 great charge and of little use ; whereupon the planting of that place was 
 deferred." 
 
 Some of the founders of New England made their homes here, in those 
 remote days. John Prince, one of the first settlers of Hull, was the son of 
 the rector of East Shefford, in English Berkshire, and received his educa- 
 tion at Oxford. He fled to New England when Archbishop Laud's perse- 
 cutions began, and settled on the sea-girt peninsula. From him descended 
 
44 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the Rev. John Prince, the famous author of the New-England Chronology. 
 Another of the ancient worthies was James Pemberton (from whom the 
 hotel is named), a wandering and adventurous fellow, of Winthrop's colony, 
 who finally founded the town of Maiden (in 1661-62), where he died. Israel 
 Loring was born at Hull in 1682, and became one of the church fathers of 
 New England, occupying the pastorate of Sudbury for sixty-six years. He 
 published over one thousand pages of printed matter, and left behind him 
 MS. records and journals filling thirty volumes of two hundred and twenty- 
 four pages each. From this venerable pastor the Ohio Lorings and other 
 widely scattered branches descended. 
 
 In 1673, when Massachusetts was beleaguered by enemies, Hull set up a 
 beacon and watch-house on her highest point, and prepared fire-balls of 
 pitch and oakum with which to send an alarm up the Bay. Telegraph Hill 
 was then covered with cornfields. Two years later, in the thick of King 
 Philip's War, the villagers sent up to the " Honorable Council at Boston" this 
 pathetic appeal: "The Petition off your poore petitioners humbly sheweth, 
 that Whereas the Lord by his prouidence hath cast vs to haue our abode as 
 inhabitants in this towneof Hull, in this iuncture of time, where in both this 
 place as well as the Whole Country is exposed to the wasting ffury off the 
 most barbarous heathen, which wee are sensible off, and therfore ffreely 
 willinge to spend our care, our strength, yea, wee hope our very lives, in and 
 for the defence off this place, and the Country, yet, beinge persons whose sole 
 employment is fnshinge, and soe att sea, hauinge no lands, nor Cattle to 
 mayntayne ourselves, or familyes, but what wee must haue hitherto done by 
 the blessinge of God on our Labours produced ffrom the sea: beinge there- 
 fore now comanded by our Cheife officer, not to goe forth on our imploy, 
 desired then to know, how Wee and ours shall be mayntayned, they hauinge 
 a year's prouision aforehand, Wee none : they hauinge Cattle to giue milke 
 to theire familyes in summer, Wee none ; they hauinge Cattle and swine to 
 kill for meats, Wee none ; soe that Wee are like to bee put to Extremity, 
 both Wee and ours ; ffor they will not support us." 
 
 The Nantasket beacon was erected in 1696, and the standing orders to 
 the watchers were to fire it "on the sight of two great ships." In August, 
 1690, Sir William Phipps and his colonial officers landed here, and had a 
 farewell feast. At evening the fleet of thirty-two sail moved out to sea, 
 and entered upon the mournful and disastrous expedition against Quebec. 
 A few months earlier Phipps had sailed from Nantasket Roads with three 
 war-vessels and seven hundred men, and captured Port Royal with its 
 well-armed fortress. Many other naval expeditions were sent hence 
 against Port Royal during the next half-century, the chief of which was 
 composed of the frigates Dragon, Chester, Falmouth, Lcostaffe, etc., with 
 twenty transports and five New-England regiments. In 1704 Col. Benja- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 45 
 
 niin Church gathered an army of live hundred and fifty Ncw-Englanders 
 and Indians, and kept them in camp at Hull for several weeks; after which 
 they sailed away to the eastward, convoyed by three frigates, and made a 
 destructive foray on the French settlements of Maine and Acadie. 
 
 Perhaps the soldiers and sailors of all these royal fleets did despite to 
 the Hullonian hen-roosts and orchards, for this was one of the first locali- 
 ties to pronounce against the king's government. As early as 1774 the 
 town had protested against British aggression, by an unanimous vote; and, 
 when the Revolution began, the young Dills volunteered in the American 
 army, and received from their admiring townsmen twenty-seven hundred 
 pounds (unfortunately in Old Tenor). At a later date the village was 
 deserted except by a single family, and made a comfortable cantonment for 
 the army of the Count de Rochambeau, which encamped here in quarantine 
 before its embarkation for the Southern battle-fields. 
 
 When D'Estaing's fleet lay off in the Roads, in 1778, many of the first 
 gentlemen of France and their Jacobite Scottish comrades met here the 
 magnates of Massachusetts. In October, 1778, Gen. Heath visited Nan- 
 tasket in company with the Count D'Estaing, and inspected the forts, which 
 had recently been strengthened under Gen. Du Portail's directions, and 
 were under the command of Bougainville, the celebrated circumnavigator 
 of the globe (1766-69). Heath also reviewed the battalion of French 
 marines in garrison, which was commanded by Major M'Donald, a Scottish 
 refugee and lover of the fallen Stuart dynasty. When Lord Howe's fleet 
 
46 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 reconnoitred the harbor, the town was alarmed by the signal-guns ; and 
 Hancock hastened to the fleet, and all the militia of the adjacent towns 
 was ordered to the shores and islands of the harbor. The sturdy minute- 
 men of Norfolk and Middlesex fraternized with the veterans of France, 
 encamping on the grassy slopes of these hills of Hull. 
 
 At the end of the war the Hullonians reclaimed the fragments of their 
 homes, and once more became toilers of the sea. Within a single genera- 
 tion, however, the roar of hostile cannon once more shook their windows. 
 It was annoying to the housewives of Hull that the battle between the 
 Chesapeake and Shannon began at the time it did, for they had just got 
 supper on their tables ; but at the first broadside all the men ran from 
 their homes, and clambered up to the hill-tops, to see the mighty naval 
 duel. This fact has been repeated by one of these venerable women, within 
 five years; although, more feminina, she stated that the battle was between 
 the Constihition and Essex, and that the latter was sunk off Point Allerton ! 
 
 Mrs. Lobdell's public house was opened in 1775; and it has had many 
 successors, until the perfect development of the Pemberton is attained. 
 The point which projects toward Hull Gut was leased by the Tudor family, 
 in 1826, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, at fifty dollars a year; and 
 extensive salt-works, artificial ponds, dikes, etc., were established there at 
 great expense. But these failed of success, and about forty years ago the 
 Tudors erected the Mansion House from their materials. On a snowy 
 night of 1871 this pioneer summer-hotel was burned; and its successor, the 
 Tudor House, met the same fate in 1875, making way for the Pemberton. 
 And so, within a quarter of a millennium, this obscure Massachusetts penin- 
 sula has successively been a desolation, a feeble Episcopal plantation, a 
 Puritan fishing-port, a Continental fortress, a French camp, a wreckers' 
 colony, a semi-Dalmatian maritime hamlet, a Yankee village, and an opulent 
 American summer-resort. 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR 47 
 
 Point OTerton. 
 
 STONY BEACH. — POINT ALLERTON. — THE " KADOSH." — NOBLE VIEWS. — THE 
 
 SEA-KING'S FATE. 
 
 XTENDING from the foot of Telegraph Hill and 
 Vining's pretty cottage, to Point Allerton, is the 
 narrow isthmus of Stony Beach, more than half a 
 mile long, making several graceful curves between 
 i the harbor and Nantasket Roads, and giving scant 
 room for the railway and highway between the two 
 strands. Its title is perfectly descriptive ; and the 
 weedy rocks on the outer shore exhale the pungent 
 and fascinating odors of the sea, with which they have been for so many 
 centuries saturated. All along these beaches the men of Cohasset make 
 their patrols, after stormy weather, in search of sea-moss. The virtues of 
 kelp were once much extolled hereabouts, and the old hut where Jack Hayden 
 brewed medicines from it is still pointed out. Thoreau says that he found 
 the people of Hull also making potash, by burning the stems of kelp, and 
 boiling the ashes. On the harbor-side is a large wharf, where the United- 
 States engineers landed granite, which was carried thence on a railway, for 
 the construction of the Point-Allerton sea-wall. The wooden house of the 
 Massachusetts Humane Society, on the crest of the beach, contains the large 
 life-boat, the mortar, life-car, and other means to save the crews of vessels 
 which may be wrecked on the adjacent dangerous shores. There are plenty 
 of brave and expert surfmen in the neighboring village, who do not esteem 
 their lives too precious to imperil when vessels are in distress within their 
 reach. The coast of the Bay State is now lined with these life-saving stations, 
 by whose means many lives have been saved from the all-devouring sea. 
 
 Little Hog Island, covering about ten acres, and favored by masculine 
 summer-campers, lies just to the south of Hull, — a long, low shape, without 
 even a single tree to mark its low bluffs and winding points. Thoreau said, 
 " As I looked over the water, I saw the isles rapidly wasting away, the sea 
 nibbling voraciously at the continent. . . . On the other hand, these wrecks 
 of isles were being fancifully arranged into new shores, as at Hog Island, 
 inside of Hull, where every thing seemed to be gently lapsing into futurity. 
 This isle had got the very form of a ripple." There is on it little of inter- 
 est, save the hulls of two old vessels, lying upon their sides on the beach, 
 
4 8 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and fast decaying, inhabited by myriads of spiders, large and small, who 
 have carefully woven their silken webs across every corner, and seem so 
 alert that one hesitates to intrude upon their domain, and turns instead to 
 the other side of the island, where pass the steamboats to Hingham 
 and Downer, and the little fleet of sailboats just out from Hull. Peace to 
 the worn old timbers of the Passport and Virginia / They have cruised 
 in many seas, and find here their ultima thtile. 
 
 At the east end of Stony Beach is the peninsula of Point Allerton, about 
 half a mile long, and joined to Hull and to Nantasket Beach by isthmuses. 
 To the north it looks on the Light-house Channel ; to the east, on the sea. 
 
 
 its from trie Life- Saving Station. 
 
 It is a high and picturesque promontory, which once extended far out, to 
 the locality now marked by a singular pyramidal beacon, rising from the 
 waves. A part of the second hill, which then swept over to the beacon, 
 still stands, and shows what Thoreau called the " springing arch of a hill 
 suddenly interrupted, as at Point Allerton, — what botanists might call 
 premorse, — showing, by its curve against the sky, how much space it must 
 have occupied, where now was water only." The United States has marked 
 bounds to Neptune's voracious nibbling, by building a long and massive 
 sea-wall around what remains of the Point. Near the verge is a little white 
 farm-house, sheltered on two sides by the hills, and whose narrow fields lie 
 full open to the breath of the sea, so that one would think that the vegeta- 
 bles grown there would need no salting. 
 
 The upper part of the great rounding hill is a flowery pasture of several 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 49 
 
 .11 res, peopled by birds and butterflies, and terminating toward the sea in 
 a sharp and amazing cliff, far below which the waves beat against impass- 
 able barriers. Here is a grand view-point, — solitary, far-secluded from the 
 dapper summer-cottages, — where the contemplative man is able 
 " To musen in his philosophic, 
 Sole withouten companie." 
 
 It is an enchanted scene, where the narrow-laned harbor opens to the west- 
 ward, diversified by islands great and small, gray forts, white light-houses, 
 and b 1 u'ff s 
 gnawed away 
 by the waves ; 
 or where the 
 silvery curve 
 of Nantasket 
 Beach sweeps 
 away to the 
 south, fringed 
 by a snowy 
 line of surf ; 
 or where, to 
 the eastward, 
 
 the vast open sea stretches into 
 dim blue leagues, holding here and 
 there in its immensity the slow- 
 moving vessels bound on many dis- 
 tant errands, and flecked with shad- 
 From the edge of the cliff one may comprehend 
 
 " The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls." 
 
 " Like the promontory of Palinurus, Point Allerton is respectfully regarded 
 as the memorial of an ancient worthy ; and the appellation, perpetuating 
 the memory of a man of the greatest commercial enterprise in those early 
 times, is most fitly applied. Gaudet cognomine terras Thus spake one 
 of the famous orators of New England; and he said well, for Isaac Aller- 
 
 ows of passing clouds. 
 Tennyson's phrase, — 
 
50 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Little Hill. Point Allerton. 
 
 ton was one of the leaders in the ancient Plymouth colony. When but 
 twenty-five years old, he went to Leyden, and thence sailed in the May- 
 flower twelve years later for America. He went out with Standish's 
 party, exploring Boston Bay, in 162 1 ; and the name of Point Allerton was 
 probably bestowed at that time. In later years he cruised adventurously 
 along the coasts of Maine and Acadie, in his ship White Angel. Once 
 he sailed into Port Royal, and ordered La Tour to show his commission ; 
 to which the haughty Frenchman made answer, " My sword is sufficient 
 commission;" and the Plymouth sailor could not impeach the validity of 
 such a document. In subsequent years Allerton fell out with the Pilgrims, 
 
 and sailed 
 away to New 
 Amsterdam, 
 where he be- 
 came a magis- 
 trate among 
 the Dutch- 
 men. No 
 small part of 
 the trouble at 
 Plymouth 
 arose from his earnest friendship for the merry rascal Morton, whom he 
 brought back from England after the saints had banished him. There is 
 a pretty tradition in the Old Colony, that the fair young May Chilton's 
 foot was the first to press the snow-clad Plymouth Rock ; and her friend 
 May Allerton, daughter of our hero, was the latest survivor of the Pilgrim 
 band, having lived until twelve out of the thirteen American colonies had 
 been founded. 
 
 This locality is designated as Allerton Poynt on Wood's map, made in 
 1634. Some of the ancient charts and deeds speak of it as bounded by the 
 " mayne sea." The history of the Point has been uneventful. It was the 
 site of encampments in 1776, as a remote outer vidette of the insurgent 
 Province. About the year 1880 the locality was discovered by the sum- 
 mer ramblers ; and already many pretty cottages have been built on its 
 lower slopes, and many scores of building-lots are for sale, since the pas- 
 sage of the railway along the side of the great hill makes the locality so 
 readily accessible. 
 
 While this comely summer luxury adorns the inner side of the penin- 
 sular Point, the outer side presents a far different scene to the storm- 
 drenched sailor, whose vessel runs into the harbor on a snowy winter night, 
 steering fearfully between rock and shoal. Many a good ship has left her 
 bones here, to be gnawed away by time and tide. It seems as if the great 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON I /ARBOR. 
 
 5' 
 
 saints in whose honor the Bay was originally named withdrew their protec- 
 tion when the present heathen title was affixed to it; for many serious 
 disasters took place herein the early colonial days. One of the first relief- 
 ships of the Boston colony, the Charity of Dartmouth, a vessel of one 
 hundred and twenty tons, well laden with provisions, was driven ashore on 
 Point Allerton; and in 1636 the barque Warwick, ten guns, was wrecked 
 here, where her remains were seen as late as 1804. The Warwick sailed 
 to New England before Gov. Winthrop's time, having been sent out by 
 Gorges and Mason to make discoveries ; and afterwards came within a 
 
 Hulk of the Schooner " Passport," Little Hog Island. 
 
 span of being wrecked on the Brewsters, while on a voyage from Ports- 
 mouth to Boston. During the two and a half centuries which have ensued, 
 the sea has thrown many a costly sacrifice on this altar, sweeping off their 
 rich cargoes and their gallant crews into the deep outer gulfs. There are 
 grim old-time traditions of false lights having been displayed on the Point, 
 with intent to lure vessels to destruction. But the dangers of this rocky 
 elbow, with its long bars projecting like traps, need no human malignity to 
 give them fatal power. From a part of the wrecks of the last decade, the 
 circle of destruction since 1630 may be imagined. 
 
52 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 In 1870 an Italian bark was wrecked on the Point ; and all but one of the 
 crew perished miserably in the waves, finding hereaway no soft Mediterra- 
 nean breezes, but the unrelenting terror of the storm-king of the north. 
 This has also been a fatal shore for East Indiamen, several of which have 
 here found the end of their long voyages. Here the Massasoit was lost, 
 with part of her crew, while just entering the home harbor after the wean- 
 voyage from Calcutta; and her cargo of indigo and hides was strewn along 
 the beach for miles. It was in 1872 that the barque Kadosh, from 
 Manila, came ashore here, in a blinding snowstorm; and her captain and 
 seven sailors were lost. She broke up immediately on the fangs of those 
 terrible rocks; and her cargo of sugar, hemp, and sapan-wood was thrown 
 up along the beaches. It is said that several Cohasset men bought sixteen 
 hundred bales of hemp, floating about in the wreckage. They paid one 
 
 hundred 
 and forty 
 
 dollars for it, and real- 
 ized ten thousand dol- 
 lars, — a very pretty 
 profit, indeed, for the 
 South-Shore syndicate. 
 
 __ c -- 
 
 Boston Light and the Brewsters, 
 from Point Allerton. 
 
 In the same 
 storm the ship Peru- 
 vian and the barque 
 Frauds, both bound in 
 from Singapore, were 
 wrecked on the other 
 side of the Bay. The 
 
 Pertivian had a cargo of East-India goods, valued at one million dollars. 
 A year later the Helen, with pine timber from North Carolina, ran on to 
 the Point in a tremendous sea ; but its crew was saved by a life-boat from 
 the shore, manned by a volunteer party of the bravest of the brave. It is 
 dangerous to approach this coast in a small boat, even on quiet days, so 
 formidable are the rocks and shoals off-shore ; but to make a landing from 
 the reeling and splitting deck of a ship stranded on the bar requires super- 
 human courage, skill, and good luck. 
 
 The splendid sea-wall which defends the bluff against north-eastern waves 
 was built by the United States, at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, and seems calculated to defy the elements for centuries, with its 
 long lines of heavy masonry. Here one may promenade comfortably, and 
 without fear of meeting other passers, save perhaps a sea-gull or a butterfly. 
 
AT JVC'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR 
 
 53 
 
 Old Gun, from the Barque " Kadosh 
 
 On one side is the great bluff, rising overhead with inaccessible steepness ; 
 and on the other are the kelp-covered rocks, amongst which the sea 
 swashes back and forth ceaselessly. Here let us consider the legend of 
 this locality, as it was sung in far Norway eight centuries ago. 
 
 Many famous antiquaries believe (and make great show of argument to 
 prove) that Point Allerton is the 
 locality called "Krossaness" in , I J| /*i| 
 
 the Icelandic sagas, where the 
 Viking Thorwald was slain and 
 buried in the year 1004. He was 
 the son of Eric the Red, who 
 sailed from Norway to Iceland, 
 and thence (in 985) to Greenland, 
 where he founded a colony of 
 warriors and heroes. Thence the 
 leaders, in their little galleys, made 
 frequent excursions along the wild 
 and unknown coasts to the south- 
 ward, seeking some new Drontheim Fiord on which to found a Norway 
 of the West. Thus Thorwald cruised down the present New-England 
 coast, finding there a race of men small in stature and yellow in color, 
 very much like the Esquimaux. The victorious advance of the powerful 
 red men from the mysterious mountains and prairies of the West had not 
 yet begun. That date takes us well back into history ; for it was before 
 the Norman conquest of England, or the First Crusade, or the Guelphs and 
 Ghibellines had been heard of, or Portugal, Bohemia, Switzerland, or Tur- 
 key had become nations. The 
 Roman Empire still survived in 
 the East; and, in the West, 
 King Ethelred was vainly trying 
 to beat off Sweyn's fierce Danes. 
 Centuries were to elapse before 
 Dante wrote, and Giotto painted, 
 and Rienzi spoke, and Richard 
 Coeur de Lion swung his battle- 
 axe. 
 The Icelandic sagas tell how Thorwald sailed from the point he called 
 Kialamess (Cape Cod) toward the mainland, where he came to anchor not 
 far from a hilly promontory overgrown with wood, and was so much pleased 
 with the place that he exclaimed, " Here it is beautiful, and here I should 
 like to fix my abode." He met there nine men of the aborigines, " eight of 
 whom they killed, but the ninth escaped in his canoe." Some time after, 
 
 On Stony Beach, Hull. 
 
54 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 there arrived a countless number of canoes, laden with Skraellings, — as the 
 Scandinavians called the aborigines, as well of Greenland as of Vinland, — 
 and a battle ensued. It was the first bloodshed between Europeans and 
 the indigenous Americans. The Norse battle-shields were arranged along 
 their bulwarks ; but the undaunted Skraellings fired flights of arrows at 
 Thorwald and his men for some time, and then quickly retired. After the 
 battle Thorwald asked his sailors whether any of them had been wounded. 
 Upon their denying this, he said, " I am ! I have an arrow under my arm, 
 and this will be my death-blow. I now advise you to prepare for your 
 departure as soon as possible. But me you must take to that promontory 
 where I thought to have made my abode. I was a prophet. For now 1 
 shall dwell there forever. There you shall bury me, and plant there two 
 crosses, one at my head and one at my feet, and call the place Krossanei 
 [the promontory of the crosses] for ali time coming." Thorwald, upon this, 
 died; and his men did as he had ordered them. 
 
 The place where they buried him, and erected the crosses, must have 
 been one of the headlands not far south of Cape Ann. It is known that it 
 was near the harbor of Boston ; and the only question at issue is, whether it 
 was Point Allerton or the Gurnet (near Plymouth). De Costa, Dr. Kohl, 
 Guillot, and others, favor Allerton. It was surely a worthy burial-place 
 for a Scandinavian viking, — this noble and lonely height, — 
 
 "Islanded in the immeasurable air." 
 
 ^— 
 
 
 
 
 . /;';■', 
 
 gfe .*■ 1 
 
 A 
 
 
 t'i 
 
 :%^\ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 7 i ^>?Bjfe- ""-"" 
 
 V--J-.-HP,- 
 
 The Norsemen's Galley. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 55 
 
 NmttasUet Bead). 
 
 THE ROCKLAND, HOUSE, HOTEL NANTASKET, AND ATLANTIC HOUSE. — 
 STRAWBERRY HILL. — BEACH NOTES. 
 
 ANTASKET BEACH faces the open sea for a length of 
 about four miles, running nearly north-north-west, slightly 
 curved, and diversified by several picturesque hills and nar- 
 row plains. On the north, it ends at the hills which form 
 one side of the main ship-channel into Boston Harbor; on 
 the south, it is joined to the mainland of Plymouth County, 
 the venerable and historic Old Colony. Upon this arm of sand, hardly more 
 than a natural breakwater, with the restless sea on one side, and the quiet 
 waters of the harbor on the other, is the summer park and playground of 
 Boston ; and the constantly plying steamboats daily land thousands of peo- 
 ple at the wharves on the harbor side, within a few hundred feet of the 
 ocean. The downward slope of the beach is so gradual that the waves have 
 a long sweep between the tides ; and the wet gray sand is firm and hard, 
 affording secure footing. At low tide a splendid boulevard, many rods wide, 
 lines the surf-side, and is occupied by carriages of every description, driving 
 along this highway of nature's grading, and by groups of urban promenaders, 
 moving leisurely up and clown by the side of the breaking waves. At other 
 seasons, here is the paradise of bathers, who scurry down from all manner 
 of adjacent bath-houses, clad in motley garments of every cut and hue, and 
 plunge into the cold, clear, green waves. 
 
 On all the long miles from Atlantic Hill to Point Allerton, the beach is 
 unbroken, — a wide and almost level belt of sand, with low tufted banks 
 on one side, and the curling waves on the other. Looking off from this 
 large section of her eastern front, one sees how just was the conception of 
 the ancient Provincial dignitaries, who tried to change the pagan and ineu- 
 phonious title of Massachusetts to Oceana. Close beside is the sea, in all its 
 beauty and mystery. 
 
 " The tide slips up the silver sand, 
 Dark night and rosy day : 
 It brings sea-treasures to the land, 
 Then bears them all away." 
 
 The development of Nantasket as a summer resort has been a work of 
 gradual and rational extension, advancing through many decades of time. 
 
56 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Nearly a century ago the people of the inland towns used to drive down to 
 the sands, and indulge in the mild dissoluteness of family picnics ; where, 
 perchance, they discussed the contemporary policy of President Washington, 
 the campaigns of Austerlitz and Moscow, the dismemberment of Poland, or 
 the daring advance of New-England colonists into the vast Ohio wilderness. 
 Gen. Lincoln, who commanded the harbor-defences during the Revolution, 
 and often rode across from Hingham to the forts at Hull, wrote that " be- 
 tween Nantasket Neck, so-called, and Point Allerton, is a beach of three 
 miles, very hard, and a pleasant ride in summer." In 1826 Mr. Worrick 
 opened a public house near the south end of the beach, and called it " The 
 Sportsman." This old-time inn (now the summer-home of Mr. Damon) 
 was the resort of Daniel Webster, and other distinguished men, during the 
 presidencies of Adams, Jackson, and Tyler. Soon afterward the spacious 
 mansion now owned by Mr. R. H. White became a summer boarding-house. 
 
 The Rockland House was established in 1S54, by Col. Nehemiah Ripley, 
 who conducted it for nearly forty years, while it increased from 40 rooms 
 to nearly 200, and from a plain 60-foot front to an imposing facade of 275 
 feet. In its early years the average number of visitors to the beach during 
 a pleasant week of summer was 200. In those old days Thoreau wrote : 
 " On Nantasket Beach I counted a dozen chaises from the public-house. 
 From time to time the riders turned their horses toward the sea, — standing 
 in the water for the coolness, ■ — and I saw the value of beaches to cities, 
 for the sea-breeze and the bath." The Rockland was successful from the 
 first, although all its guests had to be brought down by stage from Hing- 
 ham. As a result of the remodellings and improvements of so many years, 
 the hotel is now one of the best and most commodious on the coast, with 
 all the modern necessities of aqueduct-water, gas, steam-heat, richly fur- 
 nished parlors, billiard-rooms, music-rooms, etc. So gradual is the upward 
 slope of the wide lawn, from the beach to the house, that it does not seem 
 to be on a height; but when the piazzas are reached, the splendid view 
 downward and outward, across the verdant glacis to the blue and dazzling 
 sea, shows how marked the ascent has been. The Rockland stands close 
 to the southern end of the great beach, and also not far from the steamboat- 
 pier, to which a road leads, following the contour of the hill. The land 
 between the hotel and the sea is divided into building-lots, which will some 
 time be occupied by ornate cottages. 
 
 The Rockland Cafe is situated at a respectful distance from the great 
 hotel, at the head of the main road leading from the steamboat-pier, and 
 close upon the edge of the beach. It exists for the convenience of the 
 great crowds of transients who visit Nantasket ; and is an airy and attrac- 
 tive building of large area, with wide piazzas, dining-halls, parlors, dancing- 
 hall, bowling-alleys, shooting-galleries, swings, and other accessories to 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR, 
 
 57 
 
 t %M 
 
 <sy0 of? o 
 
5 8 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 divert the mind from too-engrossing contemplation of the grandeur of Na- 
 ture. Yet even the dancers and bowlers and diners — in the intervals of 
 their amusements — may look off over the cool sea, into — 
 
 ' The ever-silent spaces of the East, 
 Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of mom." 
 
 ^g^ffi ajlipfej 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 kk^-K^ 
 
 
 The Atlantic, from the Hills. 
 
 The Atlantic — 
 — * from THE. BeflCH '•'•■ -— 
 
 A long arcade, ex- 
 tending parallel with 
 the surf line, roofed, 
 floored, and lined with 
 seats, joins the Rock- 
 land Cafe to the Hotel 
 Nantasket, both being 
 under one manage- 
 ment. The former is devoted mainly to fish-dinners and chowders ; the 
 latter exhausts all the resources of the market to furnish out its luxurious 
 tables with choice game, meats, and other attributes of a metropolitan menu. 
 The Hotel Nantasket is the Aladdin's Palace of this region, — a new 
 and beautiful house, half pavilion and half hotel, rich in towers, gables, and 
 balconies, and fretting the sky with scores of pinnacles. It is charmingly 
 irregular in shape, and unique in architecture, and in many other ways 
 attractive to the casual visitor. Toward the sea is the band-stand, where 
 the famous Cadet Band of Boston renders sweet music, overpowering even 
 
^7" 
 
 .1 ^ \ U\„ \ 
 
 " v. , J \ \ , V 
 
 
 f X 
 
 n^s Mil 
 
 Pi 
 
 ; f / ; -fW I'M'iv'^MAiilhl Will 
 
 ff.//.M' : : mil ' « 111 -> ' 
 
 ) «- 
 
 III Ml" Hi "r "\ ■> 
 
60 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the deep monotone of the neighboring surf. Broad platforms, promenades, 
 and piazzas line the front ; and heroic and costly attempts are made to 
 plant here gardens, English parterres, lines of trees, and beds of geraniums. 
 The hotel is conducted on the European plan, and mainly devoted to the 
 use of transient guests, although a certain number of regular boarders are 
 accommodated in the airy rooms up-stairs, above the great dining-halls. 
 Extensive plans for the beautifying of the adjacent lands have been made 
 by Bowditch, the expert landscape-gardener. The scene in the vicinity, on 
 a fair summer evening, is truly bewildering in its brilliancy and fulness of 
 life. Electric lights banish the darkness, the music of the band floats over 
 the beach and plain, the cool and bracing breath of the sea dispels the 
 parching heats of the day; and thousands of happy visitors regale them- 
 selves with the choicest viands and beverages, merrily chatting, and waited 
 on by a small army of negro servants. Here is the nineteenth century at 
 sport, the modern table of Lucullus, the temple of gastronomy and social 
 mirth. 
 
 As the evening grows old, the rising winds from the Bay overpower the 
 smoke of countless Havanas, the fusillade of corks drops into a desultory 
 skirmish fire, the deep roll of the waves booms through the pianissimi of 
 the band, and the invigorated citizens and citoyennes seek the neighboring 
 railway-station and steamboat-pier, and within a short hour are in Boston. 
 Thus also retire Patrick and Michael, from the roystering saloons toward 
 Sagamore Hill ; and Timon and Zenobia, the lovers of Nature, who have 
 rambled along the beach until their shoes are full of sand. 
 
 It is said that there is a beach near the city of New York, with more 
 than one hotel not unlike this ; but the true Nantasketer accepts this state- 
 ment with much kindly doubting. A tart New-York newspaper remarks, 
 nevertheless, that " Bostonians are justly proud of Nantasket Beach, where 
 one can get cultured clams, intellectual chowder, refined lager, and very 
 scientific pork and beans. ... It is far superior to our monotonous sand- 
 beach, in its picturesqueness of natural beauty, in the American character 
 of the visitors, and in the reasonableness of hotel-charges and the excel- 
 lence of the service." 
 
 The Atlantic House crowns the bold rocky ridge which makes out into 
 the sea, at the southern end of the beach, and is the most conspicuous 
 object in the views from distant points, with its lofty roofs and striking 
 forms of architecture. It is an immense building, with rich parlors, broad 
 piazzas, and attractive surroundings, and has always been well-filled with 
 guests during long summer seasons. The view hence is very grand, includ- 
 ing a long reach of the South Shore, picturesque and island-dotted sections 
 of the harbor, the entire extent of Nantasket Beach, and an illimitable 
 expanse of open sea. It is a prospect so diversified, so replete with ele- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 6 1 
 
 merits of nobility, so alluring, that one never wearies of it. If Peepy 
 Marshmallow in her easy-chair on the piazz.a tires of her embroidery, or of 
 Birdie's gossip about the last ball, she has but to lift her pretty eyes, and 
 the fairest panorama of sea and sky lies spread out before her. From 
 many points in Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester, this stately Palace of 
 Indolence is seen, with its gables cutting sharply against the eastern sky. 
 
 The rocky eminence whereon the hotel stands is known as Atlantic Hill, 
 and is also occupied by several handsome cottages. Around its landward 
 side runs Atlantic Avenue, which was laid out in 1873, an d leads from the 
 beach to Nantasket Lake, and thence connects with the road to Hingham. 
 Just south of Atlantic Hill is Centre Hill, rocky and sea-beaten, with 
 
 Crescent Beach 
 
 several small hotels and cottages. Farther along stands the handsome 
 New Pacific Hotel, a large modern house, on a bold cliff over the sea. 
 Close at hand on the west is Nantasket Lake (until recently known as Straits 
 Pond), a singular lagoon two miles long, on which boat and tub races and 
 other aquatic sports are often conducted. This rather pretty sheet of water 
 has been suspected of malarial influences ; and the contiguous towns spend 
 considerable sums upon it yearly, in the interests of sanitation. In old 
 times it was known as Lake Galilee, and Atlantic Hill bore the name of 
 Mount Zion ; certain reverend pilgrims, returning from the Holy Land, 
 having reported that the hills of this region bore a singular resemblance 
 to those of Palestine. From the craggy peninsula of Gun Rock, whose 
 
62 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 hotel was destroyed by fire not long ago, Crescent Beach extends toward 
 Green Hill, and is largely occupied by the cottages of Bridgewater and 
 Abington manufacturers, and other inland citizens. Many years ago this 
 was a strip of farm-land and pasturage ; but successive storms have reduced 
 it to a pebbly beach, between Nantasket Lake and the sea. Here, also, are 
 three or four small hotels and boarding-houses. Beyond lies Green Hill, 
 a high and graceful promontory, projecting into the blue ocean, towards 
 Black Rock, and occupied by many neat cottages, whose windows and 
 piazzas command exquisite marine views. In one of these secluded houses, 
 haunted by bobolinks and robins, dwells the author who (in her "Boston- 
 Journal " letters) has interpreted more clearly the spirit of Nantasket than 
 any other writer. 
 
 Yonder is the famous old Black-Rock House, from which the Jerusalem 
 Road runs for miles down the coast, toward Cohasset, high on the cliffs, 
 lined with costly marine villas, and rich in inspiring views over leagues of 
 open sea. Nothing this side of the Riviera can compare with this avenue 
 of vistas. You may thus enter the Old Colony, and pass by Daniel Web- 
 ster's farm at Marshfield, and Standish's high tower at Duxbury, and the 
 graves of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and so out into the primeval and deer- 
 haunted forests toward Cape Cod. 
 
 Sagamore Hill rises from the beach between Atlantic Hill and Straw- 
 berry Hill, not far from the Weir-River steamboat-pier; and its far-viewing 
 crest is occupied by several cottages and a picnic-garden, not unknown to 
 Sunday-school excursions, and affluent in swings, pavilions, and other 
 appurtenances of summer-day joys. On this height one of the ancient 
 Indian sachems had his wigwam, and held his savage court; and great 
 councils of the harbor clans were held here. Many remains of their camps 
 and gatherings have been found in the vicinity. Along the seaward foot of 
 the hill straggles a motley group of small hotels, cafes (so-called), and cot- 
 tages, lining the edge of the beach for a considerable distance. Among 
 them is a large hall, sacred to fish-dinners and clam-bakes, where may be 
 seen the original Rhode-Island method of cooking the favorite bivalves, 
 buried amongst hot stones, and covered with sea-weed. To the northward 
 the long promontory of White Head projects into the harbor, with many 
 dreary undulations and abandoned fields. Its chief productions are hay 
 and birds. 
 
 Strawberry Hill is a conspicuous elevation, nearly midway between 
 Sagamore Hill and Point Allerton, rising like a great wall across the beach- 
 plains, and extending from the harbor almost to the line of the breakers. 
 It is said that strawberries once abounded in the vicinity, and gave reason 
 for the name of the hill. The old barn on its summit is a well-known land- 
 mark for pilots off the coast. Here centre the official surveys and triangu- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 63 
 
 lations of the harbor, for the elevation is so considerable and so isolated 
 that it gives a prospect of vast extent and beauty. On this site stood a 
 very large barn, in 1775; and it contained eighty tons of hay, which the 
 Americans burned, to grieve the British garrison of Boston. The harbor 
 was splendidly illuminated by these patriotic flames. The south side of 
 the hill appears very steep ; but the ascent from the north is easy, and leads 
 up from the vicinity of the Sea-Foam House to the airy crest, whence one 
 
 may see, afar, 
 
 " The tides of grass break into foam of flowers, 
 And the wind's feet shine along the sea." 
 
 The plains extending toward Point Allerton have been called " the Bel- 
 gium of the neighboring tribes in savage times ; " and there are traditions 
 of many sanguinary battles having been fought thereon. Probably the 
 
 Wreck on Nantasket. . "'"•'■■ >&,\ •*■ ■ £■>■ 
 
 harbor Indians chose this as a % * - - "■'""'■■ ^a.''- -' " L ; ' ' : ! ; ~ j 
 
 favorable point to attack the Tar- 
 ratines, who used to make pitiless forays hereabouts, in their fleets of swift 
 sea-going canoes. On and near Skull Head, great numbers of human bones 
 have been found, with arrow-heads, tomahawks, and other weapons of war. 
 When the English first came into these parts, the plains were held as com- 
 mons of the people of Hull. Two hundred years later (or about 1840), the 
 county of Plymouth bought this almost worthless territory, and resold it, at 
 a handsome advance, to Litchfield, Ripley, Wheatland, and other speculative 
 gentlemen. After costly litigation, the plains have passed into the hands 
 of the Nantasket Land Company, and are laid out in streets and avenues, 
 along which cottage-lots are offered for sale. There are four well-graded 
 avenues parallel with the beach, crossed by many streets running east and 
 west — designated by letters. Promising clusters of Swiss cottages have 
 already been erected, most of which are leased to summer visitors at from 
 two hundred to four hundred dollars for the season. Several thousand 
 shade-trees have been set out along the avenues ; and it is hoped that this 
 narrow sea-blown plain will sometime become a great cottage city, inhabited 
 
64 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 by families who wish to avoid the vast hosts of transient visitors overflowing 
 other localities on the beach. Although it has many natural advantages, 
 the embryo town does not yet compete with Newport or Oak Bluffs in pros- 
 perity, or with Chautauqua or Old Orchard in tranquil pietistic fervors. As 
 the Independent Corps of Cadets have not been in the habit of encamping 
 here, the climate remains unspoiled ; and it seems only necessary for the 
 Land Company to devise some new and original attraction, say a summer 
 school of poetry, or an Episcopalian camp-meeting ground, to cover these 
 charming lowlands with the desired cottages. 
 
 On the harbor-side is a pier, which is visited many times daily by steam- 
 boats from Boston ; and near by, about fifteen hundred feet from the sea, 
 stands the spacious Sea-Foam House, which was built in 1870, and, after 
 passing through many vicissitudes, now keeps open hall for summer travel- 
 lers. Close to the sea are several smaller hotels and restaurants, once freely 
 patronized by excursionists from Boston and inland, but recently closed (for 
 the most part) by the Land Company, in order to secure a more thorough 
 quiet and decorum for this region. The summer village near Strawberry 
 Hill is locally known as Hoba?'tville, and is quite distinct from the adjacent 
 settlements at the north and south ends of the beach. Steamboats began 
 to run to this point in 1867, during which year the First Brigade of militia 
 held its annual encampment here, and was reviewed by Gen. B. F. Butler. 
 A project has been developed of crowning Strawberry Hill with a hotel of 
 a thousand rooms ; but probably it will not be realized until the twentieth 
 century is well along. The plains near the north part of the beach have 
 been aptly described thus : " It is a desert of sage-brush, as like the alkali 
 wastes of Nevada as any thing so limited can be. The sand around is 
 white as salt; and the stunted gray growth covers it close, except where here 
 and there a hand's breadth of oasis in the shape of a clump of green bushes 
 breaks the sameness. The sea is so far off, and you are on such a dead 
 level, that it shows not much more than a blue line." Arid as these plains 
 are, they have given rise to a great amount of controversy among the old 
 Puritan yeomen. In 1641 Hingham and Nantasket (Hull) contested about 
 a part of the beach lands, and Joseph Peck was the leader of the Hingham 
 agitators. Certain citizens made the following deposition, " That which wee 
 doe testifie Concerninge m r Peck his Speech is this, That wee heard hime 
 Say, That pride and malice were the foundation that sett us a worke about 
 Nantascett, and if that were the foundation it would easily apeare What the 
 buildinge Would be ; alsoe that we did Conspire together about it, and it was 
 like unto those that Conspired together to kill Paul." In 1643 the General 
 Court ordained thus : " The former grant to Nantascot was again voted and 
 confirmed, and Hingham was willed to forbear troubling the Court anymore 
 about Nantascot." This law still remains upon the statute-books of Mas- 
 
KING'S HAND BOO A' OF BOSTON II A R BO R. 
 
 65 
 
 sachusetts, and has been called into service within five years, when Hing- 
 ham had again taken issue with Hull, and the selectmen of die latter town 
 threatened an appeal to the law of 1643. 
 
 Over this silent heath, in the remote days when the only visitors to Nan- 
 tasket were sportsmen, Daniel Webster often rambled, with gun on shoul- 
 der, in search of birds. At night, thoroughly tired, he would seek sweet sleep 
 at the little inn at Hull. His biographer testifies that " he was a keen 
 sportsman. Until past the age of sixty-five he was a capital shot; and the 
 feathered game in his neighborhood was, of course, purely wild. He used 
 to say, after he had been in England, that shooting in ' preserves ' seemed to 
 him very much like going out and murdering the barn-door fowl. His shoot- 
 
 the wild duck, and the 
 frequent the coast of 
 would he unmoor his 
 line and sinker,' for a 
 haddock, without having 
 Pharsalia, in the pocket 
 for the ' still and silent 
 
 ing was of the woodcock, 
 various marsh-birds that 
 New England. . . . Nor 
 dory with his 'bob and 
 haul of cod or hake or 
 Ovid, or Agricola, or 
 of his old gray overcoat, 
 hour' upon the deep." 
 
 When freed from the 
 cares of diplomacy and 
 statecraft, and happily re- 
 moved from the throngs 
 of politicians which even 
 then filled the little city 
 by the Potomac, he 
 seemed to desire seclu- 
 sion in such a place as 
 Jeremiah describes : " A 
 land that no man passed 
 through, and where no 
 
 man dwelt."' Here, in the immense solitude, amid the pure spiritual air, 
 with the solemn roll of the sea beating without cease near by, some of his 
 noblest thoughts were conceived, and prepared for such utterance as would 
 electrify the nation. It is a tradition in Boston, that he thought out his 
 celebrated apostrophe to the veterans of Bunker Hill while fishing in Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, and first delivered it to a gigantic codfish which he just then 
 drew from the waves. In the annals of oratory, Nantasket should hold 
 as honorable a place as that Greek beach whence Demosthenes flung his 
 noble sentences into the senseless storm. 
 
 On this famous strip of coast, from Point Allerton to the Jerusalem Road, 
 there are many objects of interest, for visitors of different temperaments, 
 
 A Storm at Minot's Ledge. 
 
66 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and many scenes in varying moods of sea and sky, which arouse emotions 
 of diverse kinds. Sir Arthur Helps well says " that the traveller will often 
 find an exquisite delight in what the guide-books pass by with indifference ; " 
 and nowhere is the remark so applicable as in a place like this, which is vis- 
 ited for any purpose rather than the pursuit of knowledge. 
 
 As many as three-fourths of the excursionists land at the pier in Weir 
 River, or alight at the adjacent railway-station, and seek their recreation on 
 the southern mile of the beach, between Atlantic Hill and Sagamore Hill; 
 and it is on this stretch that the largest amount of human interest may be 
 found. 
 
 The emotions of Peter Peregrine, forty years ago, were so similar to 
 those of myriads of other visitors, that they may well be reported here : 
 "The Nantasket beach is the most beautiful I ever saw. It sweeps round 
 in a majestic curve, which, if it were continued so as to complete the circle, 
 would of itself embrace a small sea. There was a gentle breeze upon the 
 water, and the sluggish waves rolled inward with a languid movement, and 
 broke, with a low murmur of music, in long lines of foam against the oppos- 
 ing sands. The surface of the sea was, in every direction, thickly dotted with 
 sails, the air was of a delicious temperature, and altogether it was a scene to 
 detain one for hours." 
 
 Forever gone are the days he chronicled, when the Norfolk-County and 
 Old-Colony farmers and villagers drove down the fragrant country roads to 
 the lonely beach, with their old-fashioned families, and made huge kettles of 
 spicy chowder over drift-wood fires, while the delighted children raced bare- 
 foot over the wet sands, and bathed in the gentle waves. All is now changed ; 
 and the beach has a half-dozen crowded hamlets, a score of hotels, a daily 
 newspaper, an aquarium, a score of shops, avenues and parks, sewers and 
 aqueducts, and other appliances of our luxurious, complex, and painful mod- 
 ern civilization. Here now appear the flying horses, goat-wagons, and 
 Punch-and-Judy shows of the city parks ; and innumerable peddlers of can- 
 dies and fruits, peanuts and pop-corn, pink lemonade and foaming beer, 
 whips and fans, small red balloons, and other incomprehensible adjuncts of 
 modern festal days and places. Now there are all manner of excursions en 
 masse, armies of basket-bearers from Worcester and Berkshire, and even 
 from farthest Albany ; lodges and encampments of mystical organizations, 
 yearly dwindling societies of veterans of the Secession War, cohorts of Hi- 
 bernian merry-makers, the banded populations of Weymouths and Bridge- 
 waters and Braintrees without number. Howells also tells us of a loftily 
 philanthropic society in Boston, demonstrating that "ten thousand poor 
 children could be transported to Nantasket Beach, and bathed, clam-baked, 
 and lemonaded three times during the summer, at a cost so small that it 
 was a saving to spend the money." 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 6/ 
 
 At the arrival of the late afternoon boats the long pier is covered with all 
 manner of barges, wagons, and carriages, which presently dash away over 
 the adjacent roads, bearing to their summer homes groups of happy citizens. 
 When .Ripley first suggested that the steamboats should come directly to 
 the beach, by ascending the narrow and crooked channels of Weir River, 
 he was saluted with guffaws of laughter. But he persevered, and in 1868 
 the first steamer crept cautiously up the devious stream, and tied up at the 
 new pier. Now seven boats each way daily are hardly enough for the sum- 
 mer visitors. Their straggling and many-colored columns move from the 
 pier or railway-station to the edge of the beach, and there melt away in 
 
 New Pacific Hotel 
 
 squads ; some drifting down to the edge of the surf; others seeking the kindly 
 shelter of adjacent restaurants, whose broad roofs and open sides insure shade 
 and free air; and others settling on the sands, with the venerable family 
 umbrella and the crammed family lunch-basket to comfort them. The vast 
 beach seems unchanged by their presence ; for it has room for millions, and 
 here are but a few thousands, here and there a few black dots on the glis- 
 tening gray plain. Yet each, in his own way, is drinking in new life, and 
 feeling the joy of an unwonted experience. He will return homeward at 
 evening, reddened by sun and wind, tired in every muscle, perhaps a trifle 
 confused in digestion ; but a sound sleep awaits him, and an awakening to a 
 new day of vigor. 
 
68 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 We are assured by Homer that Hercules delighted in banquets (he wan- 
 dered far on the Mediterranean beaches); and so the Bostonian turns with 
 confidence to the feasts in the adjacent shore-houses, from the humble 
 chowders of the multitude to the epicurean repasts of the great hotels. 
 Other groups, the rustic swains in whose breasts all the storms of the 
 equinox cannot quench the flame of love, seek the rocks at the foot of 
 Atlantic Hill, and there divide into sequestered pairs, and enjoy the sweets 
 of bucolic courtship. Others, disguised in the unmitigable hideousness of 
 bathing-suits, rush down over the sands, and enter the waves, where, with 
 many outcries and a nervous hilarity, they endure the buffets of the mighty 
 Atlantic. There are hundreds who avail themselves of the bath-houses, 
 which line the crest of the beach, toward Sagamore Hill. Here, for a 
 trifling fee, one may secure a small wooden cell, in which to doff the habili- 
 ments of civilization, and don the scantier apparel appropriate for a prome- 
 nade in the surf. The waters of the Massachusetts sea are always cold, 
 and give a sharp shock to the bather; but he who takes a fearless header 
 through the first approaching wall of surf, and then battles sturdily with 
 the successive rollers for a few minutes (not exceeding ten), will come out 
 with a splendid glow of health, a keen appetite, and a sense of renovation. 
 Michelet attributes the revivification of the worn-out English race to the 
 discovery of the medicinal virtues of sea-bathing, which was first com- 
 mended by the learned Dr. Russell, in 1750. "It is necessary," he said, 
 " to drink sea-water, to bathe in sea-water, and to eat sea-weed ; clothe 
 your children as lightly as possible, and let them have plenty of air. 
 The ocean breeze and the ocean water ; there you have the sure cure." 
 This heroic treatment, recommended first for glandular wasting, has since 
 been found efficacious in a hundred other forms of sickness, debility, and 
 decadence. There are many bath-houses at Hull and Downer Landing, 
 also, where the water is much warmer than that off the beach, and produces 
 very little shock to the delicate system. There bathers remain in the quiet 
 (yet salty and iodated) waters for twice or thrice as many minutes as they 
 could in the chilling surf, " that hell of cold, which, in its re-action, gives 
 such a glow of heat." 
 
 The life of the hotels and the drift of excursionists, great as they 
 appear, are rapidly falling into the background, by reason of the increase 
 of the cottagers. The prices at the chief public-houses are rather high for 
 the average citizen to bear throughout a season, and the smaller hotels here 
 are almost uniformly very shabby affairs ; so that Paterfamilias finds it 
 expedient to build or lease a snug little place for his family, and transfer 
 hither the housekeeping essentials from his city home. From one end of 
 the beach to the other new cottages are rising every year, brilliant with 
 fresh paint, and exemplifying every form of architecture. The clatter of 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 6 9 
 
 hammers resounds on every side. " There are big houses and little, houses 
 like the Chinese pagodas in old Canton blue ware, houses like castles with 
 towers and battlements, houses like nests, and houses like barracks ; houses 
 with seven gables, and houses with none at all. It is marvellous what 
 pretty interiors some of these nondescript, plain-boarded, deal-floored, rough- 
 hewn cabins make, and what good effects a few common stage properties 
 create." In such sheds, huts, villas, and mansions do the citizens "loaf, 
 and invite their souls," relapsing a little way toward our original and happier 
 barbarism. There is the sea, and that is the main thing. Even Hawthorne 
 once said, " Oh that Providence would give me the merest little shanty, 
 
 and mark me out a rood or 
 two of garden-ground, near 
 the sea-coast ! " and again, 
 " 1 am going to begin to en- 
 joy the summer now, and to 
 read foolish novels, if I can 
 
 get any, and smoke 
 cigars, and think of 
 nothing at all." With 
 such deep designs 
 thousands of inland 
 people come hither, 
 and in their little cab- 
 ins live a life of dolce 
 far niente for a few 
 
 weeks. On the unoccupied headlands, and along the delightfully pictur- 
 esque rocky shores of Weir River, as far up as Ringbolt Rock and River- 
 side, there are hundreds of people encamped in tents, week after week, 
 with small boats and yachts off shore, and camp-kettles swung gypsy-wise 
 over their drift-wood fires. 
 
 All seasons (except the infrequent days of still heat) have a charm for 
 the true Nantasketers. Hear how one of these optimists extracts comfort 
 from elemental gloom : " There is, besides, a cleanliness in our foggy days, — 
 an absence of sticky mud under foot, a fresher green on the grass, a pearl- 
 ing of dew on the small forests of weeds, that is in itself charming. . . . 
 And such a harmony of grayness, such a symphony of blended shades, from 
 
7<D KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the white of pure light to the black of thunder-cloud, even .Whistler himself 
 never imagined." The blithe spirit which finds such comfort in a damp 
 gray fog must be aroused to ecstasy by the fair early hours, filled with the 
 freshness of morning ; or the breezy afternoon, when easterly winds carry 
 the savor of the sea abroad ; or the sunset, unspeakably brilliant in the 
 west, and filling the east with violet shadows ; or the white moonlight, 
 adorning ocean and shore with mysterious beauty ; or the intermittent starry 
 midnight, when the last reveller has sought his troubled sleep, and the 
 solemn anthem of the breaking surf rolls on through the darkness. 
 
 During the heavy easterly gales of the winter, vast quantities of kelp 
 and sea-weed are thrown upon the shore. This material is valuable for 
 fertilizing farm-lands, and a single gale has piled up here upwards of ten 
 thousand dollars' worth of it. In some places the heaps are five feet high 
 and fifty feet long, and hide the sand for great distances. At the same time 
 myriads of sea-clams and quahaugs are torn from their submarine homes, 
 and landed on the beach, where they are gathered into baskets by the South- 
 Shore men. These worthies inherit the taste of their Indian predecessors, 
 of whom it was said, " The Salvages are much taken with the delight of 
 this fishe [clams] ; and are not cloyed, notwithstanding the plenty." In 
 winter, also, huge piles of snow and drift-ice line the high-water mark, pre- 
 senting an aspect of fierce desolation and grandeur. More grim and repul- 
 sive even than the high-crested sea, or the ruin-heaped strand, are the 
 deserted summer villages, abandoned to the gales, and relieved by no en- 
 tourage of trees, or pleasant suggestion of smoking chimneys. This is the 
 time of peril on the sea ; and many a stately vessel has been driven up on 
 these shores, where her timbers, half buried in the sand, have crumbled 
 away during the slow succeeding years. In the great gales of December, 
 1839, when the islands and beaches hereabouts were strewn with wrecks, 
 and ninety vessels and two hundred lives were lost in Massachusetts Bay, 
 the stately barque Lloyd, bound from Havana to Boston, was driven 
 ashore on Nantasket, the sea making a clean breach over her ; and all on 
 board (except one) were lost. A year later the Hoogly, laden with coffee, 
 drove up on the beach near Strawberry Hill, and went to pieces. Long 
 is the roll of schooners and coasters whose keels have been broken on 
 these shining sands, while their crews scuttled ashore in the convenient 
 'dory, or were taken off by the securer life-boat. One of the most pathetic 
 incidents in the Nantasket annals occurred in 1722, when the Rev. John 
 Robinson of Duxbury thus wrote : " My dear, pious, virtuous, loving wife 
 Hannah, and my dear and lovely daughter Mary, were both of them drowned 
 in the sea near Nantasket Beach." It is only a single sentence, but how 
 full of sadness ! It comforts us to know that both the bodies were found 
 (one of them having floated to Cape Cod). 
 
L.H.Galeucia Dei- 
 
 views ON THE JERUSALEM ROAD. 
 
72 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The land route to Nantasket is over the Old-Colony Railway, and the 
 time from Boston to the beach is about 45 minutes. The line runs through 
 a country rich in picturesque scenery and historical associations, and 
 abounding in ancient and populous villages. After leaving the city, it follows 
 
 the shore for several miles, with 
 
 
 pleasant views of the harbor on 
 the left, with the dark groves of 
 Thompson's Island and the villa- 
 crowned ridge of S quantum. After 
 traversing Savin Hill and Harrison 
 Square, it crosses the Neponset 
 River, leaves the hill-village of 
 Wollaston Heights on the right, 
 and runs through venerable Ouin- 
 cy, the home of the Presidents, 
 with the Adams Academy on the 
 left, close by the track. The train passes thence into the rural region to 
 the southward, and at Braintree leaves the main line, and passes on to the 
 rails of the South-Shore branch, where it follows through the rich villages 
 of Weymouth, and into Hingham. A mile or so beyond is the Old-Colony 
 station (18 miles from Boston), whence the new Nantasket-Beach Railway 
 diverges to the beach, running through a quaintly desolate region of rocky 
 hillocks and level salt-marshes. The South-Shore train continues on to 
 Cohasset, Scituate, Marshfield, and Duxbury, in the very heart of the land 
 of the Pilgrims. 
 
 Brass Mortar, Life-Boat Station. 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 73 
 
 f&injjjjam anti OTrtrmoutl). 
 
 DOWNER LANDING AND MELVILLE GARDEN. — THE OLD SHIP. —WEYMOUTH'S 
 
 STRANGE HISTORY. 
 
 OWNER LANDING is the pretty summer-resort on the 
 headland at the mouth of Hingham Harbor, with the spacious 
 Rose Standish House at the head of the pier, and a score or 
 two of cottages on and about the hill beyond. Fifty years 
 ago this was one of the least-visited localities in the Bay ; 
 and perhaps its former name of Crow Point indicates that it 
 was then chiefly the habitat of the useful but unmusical corvus Ameri- 
 camcs. When the sailing-packets were unable to ascend Hingham Harbor, 
 their passengers often landed here, and reached the village by a foot-path 
 through the woods. The point was purchased in 1854 by Samuel Downer, 
 who intended to remove his great oil-refinery 
 hence, from South Boston. It proved 
 unsuitable for the purpose, beii 
 frequently, during the winter, 
 inaccessible by water; and in 
 1870-71 it was laid out in 
 avenues, as a summer-resort, 
 and a hotel, wharf, pavil- 
 ions, and many cottages 
 were built. Within five 
 years Mr. Downer spent 
 two hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand dollars on his 
 pet summer-resort ; and since 
 1875 he has laid out nearly 
 one hundred and fifty thousand \ 
 dollars more. He was one of the 
 original abolitionists; and in 1877 a 
 re-union of the old anti-slavery lead- 
 ers was celebrated here, with ora- 
 tions by Adams, Hoar, Bird, and others. Mr. Downer was also a man of 
 Puritan piety, and occasionally brightened the quiet summer Sundays at 
 the Landing, by what he called lay sermons, sometimes rich in reminis- 
 cences of Mann, Parker, and others of his old-time friends. 
 
 In Melville Garden. 
 
74 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The Rose Standish House is a spacious and comfortable summer hotel, 
 which has always been the resort of such as are called in the adjacent 
 metropolis " nice people." Mr. Downer was often urged to move this 
 house from its place down by the edge of the water to the crest of the sea- 
 viewing mound close by ; but he always firmly refused. " It will probably 
 be moved very soon after I am dead," he said, "but it never shall be 
 before." From a distance the house looks like some old-time three-decker, 
 drifted ashore under the hill. Really noble views, however, are commanded 
 by the hill-cottages above, where the foot of the amateur casual rarely in- 
 trudes, and the basket of the picnic-party is not seen. Foremost among 
 
 ged Island, Downer Landing. 
 
 these is the Cate boarding-house, which overlooks a hundred square miles 
 of harbor; and farther back, and around the pretty cove to the westward, 
 are other comfortable and substantial little summer homes. Nora Perry 
 thus daintily touches the nerves of the Crow-Point villagers : " Downer 
 Landing is a retreat for the cottagers chiefly ; and, still and high, it looks 
 down upon Nantasket's whirl and bustle with a little of the holier-than-thou- 
 ativeness that comes so natural to the Bostonian. Ask these quiet dwellers 
 enthroned upon their height, if they visit Nantasket frequently for a day's 
 junketing, and see with what a superior air of pity for your ignorance you 
 will be answered. You might as well ask them if they spent Fourth of 
 July on Boston Common." 
 
 Melville Garden, the most famous picnic-resort in the harbor, is reached 
 by a covered walk, four hundred and fifty feet long, leading from the Rose 
 Standish House. On this twenty acres of pleasaunce are all manner of 
 means for summer enjoyment, — groves and shrubberies, hill-top observa- 
 tions, ponds with many boats, a rocky island with mazy paths leading to 
 cosy tete-a-tete pavilions and arbors, bath-houses, boats and yachts, bowling- 
 alleys, shooting-galleries, croquet-lawns, bear-pits, billiard-halls, swings, flying- 
 horses, and other sources of unbounded joy for young and old. The veterans 
 
AY JVC S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 7$ 
 
 of the Grand Army, the rank and file of the various mystic societies, the 
 multitudes of family parties, who wend their way here of summer days, find 
 their chief delight in the three spacious and handsome buildings beyond 
 Lake Walton, — the cafe, with a hall seating six hundred persons; the 
 music-hall, where many feet keep time to the rollicking melodies of the 
 band ; and the clam-bake pavilion, where eight hundred persons can take 
 their places at once, and partake of ship-loads of clams cooked in the 
 genuine and unmodified manner of Rhode Island. The first white men 
 who came to Crow Point found huge mounds of clam-shells, indicating that 
 the Indians had long enjoyed the delicious products of the adjacent shores ; 
 and the traditions of the locality have been so worthily respected, after 
 three centuries, that if Chickataubut and his red sachems 
 could revisit this favored corner of their ancient domain. 
 
 Melville Garden, from Ragged Island. 
 
 they would find at least one comprehensible observance. There is proba- 
 bly more fun to the acre in Melville Garden than in any other piece of 
 Massachusetts ground. 
 
 The delightful old town of Hingham, for many years a favorite resort of 
 summer ramblers, is about three-quarters of an hour from Boston, by steam- 
 boat or railway. It is a quiet, staid, and conservative place, with something 
 of an English air, as if some Kentish or Devonshire hamlet had been trans- 
 ported across the sea by Puritan angels, and dropped among the hills and 
 coves of the South Shore. There is much wealth among the old families, 
 who lead tranquil and somnolent lives in their pretty wooden houses, sur- 
 rounded by trim old-fashioned gardens and orchards, and within sound of 
 many church-bells. Streets shaded with long lines of century-old elms lead 
 
?6 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 almost imperceptibly into fair rural highways, among the comfortable farms 
 of the countryside ; and these, again, give place to narrower roads, hard by 
 the bright waters of the coves, or solemnized by the shadows of the woods. 
 Every thing speaks of peace and plenty, health and salubrity, industry and 
 thrift. The town has about four thousand five hundred inhabitants, distrib- 
 uted in and between half a dozen villages. The chief of these is grouped 
 around the old churches and the railway-station, some ways west of the 
 steamboat-pier; and has a very neat and comfortable hotel, the Cushing 
 House, much resorted to by Bostonians, who find the drives in this vicinity 
 full of varied interest and beauty, while the resident society is of the best. 
 Here stands the quaint old Derby Academy, founded by Madam Derby in 
 the last century, and famous throughout the South-Shore towns. Nearer 
 the harbor is the Lincoln House, a well-known summer-resort, which is 
 much affected by Bostonians. 
 
 Some one has hit upon the happy phrase, " a marine Old Hadley," with 
 which to describe Hingham ; and it possesses colonial houses and ante- 
 colonial trees enough to merit the title. The Old Ship, the venerable 
 meeting-house of the First Church, was built in 1 68 1, at a cost of four hun- 
 dred and thirty pounds, and has been used as a house of worship ever 
 since. The pyramidal roof of this delightful structure, "the oldest church 
 in Yankeedom," is crowned by a quaint little colonial belfry and spire ; 
 and the interior of the building is pervaded by the solemnity and dignity 
 which pertain to its years. The chief ornament of the ancient hill bury- 
 ing-ground, behind the church, is the statue of John A. Andrew, the war- 
 governor, " the civilian Miles Standish of Massachusetts " during the 
 Secession War. It is of Carrara marble, and was executed by Gould, at 
 Florence. As a work of art this statue has received high commendation 
 from capable critics. Andrew was for many years a resident of Hingham, 
 and his grave is near the monument. Elsewhere in this high-terraced ceme- 
 tery are the monuments to the ancient pastors of the village, — Norton, 
 Ware, Gay, Lincoln, and other fathers of the church. An obelisk com- 
 memorates the seventy-six soldiers and sailors of Hingham who died in the 
 Secession War ; and another tall shaft, surrounded by a circular redoubt, is 
 a memorial to the early settlers. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln's grave stands on 
 this beautiful hill. 
 
 There are many rare old colonial houses on the quiet streets and roads 
 of Hingham. The Perez Lincoln place, built of hewn oak before 1640, is 
 still standing, and occupied by direct descendants of Joseph Andrews, its 
 builder. The Thaxter mansion, on South Street, is more than two hundred 
 years old, and contains many curious old painted panels. The great beams 
 overhang the low parlors in antique power. It is but seven years since the 
 Sprague mansion, on Main Street, built in 1654, was demolished. Another 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 77 
 
 of these houses is still pointed out with pride as the stopping-place of 
 Lafayette, and the home, through a long summer, of Phillips Brooks. 
 
 As the steamboat winds up the serpentine channel of the harbor, it 
 passes four islets so small that not even a bit of history or legend has 
 stranded upon their rocky shores. The long peninsula on the left, on which 
 stand Planter's Hill and Pine Hill, and the strange lenticular mound of 
 World's End, projecting high and far into Weir River, pertains to the 
 manorial estate of John R. Brewer, whose mansion is seen on the south 
 side of Hingham harbor. The hills have recently been planted with a great 
 number of shade-trees, and will thus become, years hence, a beautiful fea- 
 
 Scene on Ragged Island 
 
 ture of the lower harbor. There is a fancy among some of the fishermen 
 that the king seal of the harbor has his habitat off World's End. On the 
 west side of the harbor rises the high mound of Otis Hill, with its egg- 
 shaped swell, occupying a long stretch of the shore towards Downer Land- 
 ing. This hill was the object of Daniel Webster's profound admiration, 
 and he made several attempts to buy it. The new carriage-road to Downer 
 runs around the harbor-ward side, and affords charming water-views. On 
 the commanding hill to the right, at the head of the harbor, is the hand- 
 some many-gabled villa of Gov. John D. Long, built in 1870, and occupied 
 every summer by the present official head of Massachusetts. Here, where 
 
7 8 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 his view commands the beauties and strongholds of the metropolitan bay, 
 the Governor enjoys his great library, enriching his mind with the English 
 and Latin classics, and surrounded by charming colonial antiquities. 
 
 The pretty upland hamlet of Hingham Centre, about one and a half 
 miles from Hingham, has several stately old mansions, a venerable ceme- 
 tery, and a fine new public library with reading-room and art-gallery. The 
 broad boulevard of Main Street keeps on to the southward, by the hamlet 
 of Glad Tidings Plain, to Liberty Plain, which received its name in 1774, 
 on the occasion of the raising of a liberty-pole. South Hingham has a 
 famous magnolia-tree in its burying-ground. Still farther southward is 
 Queen Anne Corner, a group of ancient houses, rich in bits of picturesque 
 eighteenth-century work, and on the old highway which leads down through 
 Assinippi and toward Marshfield. Farther south is Accord Pond, a long- 
 drawn blue lakelet, high up along the plateau. From this secluded pond 
 the Hingham water-works supply delicious water to the villages near by, 
 and to most of the hotels and houses at Nantasket Beach. 
 
 Fort Hill, on the Weymouth road, commemorates the little fort which 
 was erected on its summit in 1675, one °f three appointed for the defence of 
 the people against the hostile Indians. Nevertheless, several houses were 
 burnt, and some bloodshed was caused in the town, by marauding parties of 
 King Philip's red warriors. From other heights, such as Turkey Hill and 
 Squirrel Hill, beautiful views are afforded over the " rumpled and uneven " 
 township, the variegated green and blue harbor, and the wide estuaries on 
 either side. 
 
 It is not far from three miles from Hingham to Nantasket Beach, by a 
 broad and pleasant road, over which many carriages and barges pass 
 throughout the summer days and evenings. The Old-Colony House was 
 built in 1832, on the crest of the hill between Hingham and the beach; and 
 the beauty of the view from this point, and the coolness of the air, made 
 it a favorite resort for several decades. Thousands of summer visitors 
 sojourned here before the adjacent resorts were dreamed of. On an Octo- 
 ber afternoon of 1872 this paradise of the ancients was burned, and several 
 unavailing attempts have since been made to raise capital to reconstruct it. 
 
 Descending the long hill beyond the site of the Old-Colony House, the 
 highway traverses a level reach for a long distance, passing the spacious 
 old farmhouse and summer boarding-house of Riverside, secluded on a 
 rocky knoll on the left. Weir River, here narrowed into the dimensions 
 of a brook, curves around the house, and may be followed by boat down to 
 Nantasket, by Ringbolt Rock and a score of summer camps. As the 
 Hingham road approaches the beach, it traverses the little cross-roads 
 hamlet called The Tug, and then sweeps around Atlantic Hill and into close 
 view of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 79 
 
 This quaint little Hingham, with its salty bays and murmuring woods, 
 has given a dozen eminent men to the learned professions, and several 
 gallant officers to the army and navy. Two of her children are known in 
 art, — VV. A. Gay the marine-painter, and Joseph Andrews the engraver. 
 There may be something revolutionary in the air, mingled of pine and 
 
 brine ; for here, when 
 abolitionism was sedi- 
 tion, in 1843, Jairus 
 Lincoln printed a vol- 
 ume of " Anti-Slavery 
 Melodies ; for Friends 
 ; of Freedom," 
 
 wherein the 
 
 ringing liberty songs of Whittier 
 and Pierpont and their brethren 
 were set to appropriate music. 
 It was at Hingham, nearly sixty years 
 ago, that Richard Henry Stoddard, one 
 of our foremost poets, was born. He 
 was a boy of boys about the harbor, 
 enjoying the full flush of youthful life in a 
 seaport town, and idling away many a day 
 about the gray old wharves. In later years 
 his tender memories of this region were 
 fruitful in flowing and melodious verses. 
 
 The little harbor has not always been as 
 dull as it now appears. At one time there were seventy 
 sail of fishing-vessels hailing from this port; and between 
 181 5 and 1826, a hundred and sixty-five thousand barrels of 
 mackerel were landed from their salty decks. For fifty years — from 181 1 to 
 about i860 — the Rapid sailed as a packet between Hingham and Boston, 
 making the trip on one occasion in sixty-seven minutes. In the War of 1812 
 she was carried up Weymouth River, and covered, masts and hull, with green 
 bushes, so that marauding British cruisers might not find her. In 1881 
 
So KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTOA r HARBOR. 
 
 this venerable vessel was refitted, and made ready for another half-century. 
 The earliest steamboats in the bay wormed their way betimes into Hingham 
 Harbor, — as when the puffy little Eagle came hither in 1818. Ten years 
 later the Lafayette ran regularly between Boston and Hingham, twice a 
 day, charging thirty-seven and a half cents each way, and taking two hours 
 for the trip. Once this gloomy little vessel was caught in a harbor-squall, 
 off the Castle, and put back to Hingham in great trepidation. The old salts 
 of the village had a mean opinion of her, and many were the obscure marine 
 jokes of which she was the object. In 1831 a new steamboat-company was 
 organized, which, it was predicted, would, in time, carry thirty thousand 
 
 passengers a year; but this san- 
 guine prophecy fell short of the 
 present result by over a hundred 
 thousand. The first boat of this 
 line was the Gen. Lincoln, which 
 had two engines, — one to back, 
 and the other to go ahead, in the 
 narrow and tortuous channels near 
 On Ragged island. Hingham. The Mayflower was the 
 
 next boat ; and was succeeded in 
 1858 by the Nantasket (now the Emeline) which went into the national 
 service during the Secession War, and ploughed the muddy waters of many 
 an historic Southern river. 
 
 The town received its first settlers in 1633 ; and two years later its name 
 of Bear Cove was changed to Hi7ighai?t, in memory of the English village 
 from which most of the immigrants came. Among the pioneers were the 
 Lincolns, whose local descendants included Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, famous 
 in the Revolutionary campaigns at the South ; Attorney-Gen. Levi Lincoln ; 
 Gov. Levi Lincoln, and other notables. Abraham Lincoln was descended 
 from the same family. Here also dwelt the Nortons, the Wares, the Gays, 
 the Hobarts, and other well-famed Puritan clans of strong and steadfast 
 pioneers, whose successors in the land lead placid and tranquil Unitarian- 
 ized lives, and levy a formidable annual tribute on Boston by leasing their 
 houses to city merchants during the heated term. 
 
 West of Hingham lies the venerable town of Weymouth, on the south 
 shore of the harbor, little visited by summer voyagers, but not without 
 attractive coast and lake scenery, and rich in historical reminiscences. 
 Until within a year or two, a large steamboat plied several times daily be- 
 tween Boston and the picnic-grounds (Lovell's Grove) at North Weymouth ; 
 but her passenger-lists grew smaller and smaller, year by year, until at last 
 it became evident that the Bostonians no longer craved the mild excite- 
 ments of Pine Point; and the quiet waters of Quincy Bay have since 
 remained unvexed by the paddle-wheels of the Stamford. 
 
AVA'U'S HANDBOOK OF 1WSTON HARBOR. 
 
 8l 
 
 Eastward Neck runs far out into the harbor, nearly to Grape Island, 
 and is occupied by the extensive works and wharves of the Bradley Fer- 
 tilizer Company, and the vil- 
 lage in which dwell its ten- 
 score employes. This busi- 
 ness was founded in 1861, and 
 now produces annually sixty 
 thousand tons of fertilizers, 
 which are used throughout 
 the United States. There are 
 odors issuing from this estab- 
 lishment which savor not of 
 
 The Old Ship (Unitarian Church), Hingham. 
 
 Araby the Blest; and, crossing the harbor on the unwilling wings of a south- 
 erly gale, they enwrap the cottages of Hull with a mild malaria. It is well 
 
82 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 to know that this effluvium is not unhealthy, but acts in some cases as a cura- 
 tive agency. On the east of the Neck is the narrow estuary of Weymouth 
 Back River, running up for three miles to East Weymouth, the seat of the 
 iron-works. There are several well-known camping-grounds among the rocky 
 bluffs and wooded banks of this picturesque stream, which affords some of 
 the most charming nooks near the harbor. Farther westward is the more 
 important Weymouth Fore River, on which, beyond Germantown and Ouincy 
 
 Point, is the flourishing commercial village of 
 Weymouth Landing. Between the rivers is 
 North Weymouth ; and several miles inland 
 is the wealthy hamlet of South Weymouth. 
 The manufacture of shoes is the chief indus- 
 try, and occupies fully eighteen hundred per- 
 sons, while the rich farms which fill the spaces 
 between these thronging villages have hardly 
 a hundred and fifty men to care for them. A 
 well-known Southern author recently made 
 a pretty sketch of life in this ancient town : 
 "As the head of each family generally has 
 a house and garden, the industrial class is 
 tolerably well off, and with money in the sav- 
 ings bank. At Weymouth, too, clams may 
 be had for the labor of digging them, and fish 
 for the sport of catching 
 them. Nantasket is in full 
 view, and the fishing-ground 
 within a short sail. When 
 Morton, of Merry Mount, 
 set up his Maypole, to the 
 scandal of his neighbors in 
 Plymouth, he little dreamed 
 what a paradise his wilder- 
 ness would become in two 
 centuries. Intersected by 
 tidal rivers of great depth, 
 and by the Old-Colony Railway, its surface diversified by lofty hills, com- 
 manding enchanting views of sea and land, a high cultivated soil, innumerable 
 orchards, great elms, — the growth of a century, — roads as smooth as an 
 asphalt pavement, and all fanned in summer by the invigorating east winds, 
 the people of Weymouth have no reason to envy the inhabitants of any 
 other town or State." 
 
 The hamlet of Old Spain, three miles from Quincy, and near the foot 
 
 Statue of Gov 
 ernor Andrew, 
 
 Old Governor-Andrew House. 
 
KING'S HAND BOO K OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 83 
 
 of King Oak Hill, was the site of the second settlement in Massachusetts, 
 Plymouth being the first. Here, in May, 1622, landed a party of ten men, 
 '•rude fellows, made choice of at all adventures," and sent out by Thomas 
 Weston, an enterprising commercial adventurer of London, who designed 
 to found here a great trading-post. They came down from the Maine coast 
 in an open boat, and explored Boston Harbor carefully, pitching upon the 
 Weymouth region as the best, and purchasing the land of a local Indian 
 sagamore. They then went to Plymouth, and a few weeks later returned 
 with sixty more "rude fellows," sent out by Weston. During die ensuing 
 winter, this half-starved and improvident canaille begged and stole from the 
 Indians, until the latter, hating and despising their white neighbors, formed 
 a conspiracy to exterminate them. Miles Standish barely saved the colony 
 by marching up from Plymouth, with a band of Pilgrim soldiers, and killing 
 the hostile chiefs Pecksuot and Wituwamat (as narrated in Canto VII. of 
 Longfellow's "The 
 Courtship of Miles 
 Standish "). After this 
 disastrous season, the 
 settlement was broken 
 up. In 1623 a new 
 colony came over under 
 Capt. Robert Gorges, a 
 veteran of the Venetian 
 wars, and son of Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges, 
 the head of the Council 
 for New England ; and 
 under the patronage of King James, the Dukes of Buckingham and Rich- 
 mond, and many other powerful English nobles and gentlemen. There were 
 in this company traders and farmers and mechanics, many of them bringing 
 their families ; with the Rev. William Morrell, an Episcopal divine, as its 
 spiritual head ; Francis West, as Admiral of New England ; and other 
 grandiose officials. Gorges took possession of Weston's abandoned block- 
 house and clearings ; and, with the title of Governor-General, endeavored 
 to found here the capital of a feudal palatinate. Here dwelt Blackstone, 
 afterwards the pioneer at Boston ; Walford (probably), the first settler at 
 Charlestown ; and Maverick, who afterwards ruled at East Boston. But 
 this show of mediaeval rank was rather laughed at by the New-Englanders ; 
 and within a year Gorges returned to England, and was soon followed by 
 the amiable Morrell. Wessagusset was shown to be an impractical point 
 for a trading-post, on account of its long and devious channel ; and most of 
 the settlers soon went away. In 1635 a third settlement was established 
 
 Ancient Colonial House, Hingham. 
 
8 4 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 here, by twenty-one families (one hundred and five persons), who had been 
 induced by the Rev. Joseph Hull, their leader, to emigrate from Dorset- 
 shire. About a month after arriving at Boston, they took ship again, and 
 sailed down the harbor, and through the southern islands, and into Fore 
 River, which they ascended for several miles, and formed a settlement, 
 named Weymouth in memory of the old English village from which they 
 had emigrated. Fragments of the colonies of Weston and Gorges remained 
 in occupation of Wessagusset, tilling their lands, and enlarging each his 
 individual domain. The pleasant heights of Burying Hill and King Oak 
 Hill, overlooking the harbor expanse, were surrounded by their farms ; and 
 on the summit of the former soon arose the village church and watch-house, 
 the Acropolis of the new colony. 
 
 During King Philip's War, Weymouth suffered from several Indian 
 attacks, and many of its outlying houses were burned. A hundred years 
 later there was a flurry of battle on the Weymouth islands ; and peace has 
 since reigned, although the monument to ninety-nine of her citizens, who 
 died as soldiers in the Secession War, attests the patriotism of the town. 
 Among the natives of Weymouth was Joshua Bates, the famous London 
 financier, and benefactor of the Boston Public Library. 
 
 jV^ 
 
 TV V 
 In the Old Cemetery, Hingham, 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 85 
 
 (ShttltCD. 
 
 GERMANTOWN. — HOUGH'S NECK. — THE BLUE HILLS, AND SQUANTUM. — 
 MORION OF MERRY MOUNT. 
 
 ESTWARD for a thousand leagues the star of empire has 
 taken its way, since the locality was so strangely christened ; 
 but the name of Germantown still clings to the little penin- 
 sula which projects into Weymouth River from Ouincy, and 
 looks down the estuary to the north-east, and out across the 
 islands. The Sailors' Snug Harbor was founded here in 1856, in a charming 
 location, among grand old trees, under which the blue waters of the Bay 
 are seen. During the past fifteen years, about two hundred and fifty 
 weather-beaten tars have been received here, ninety of whom died in the 
 Harbor. There are accommodations for about twoscore. The sentiment 
 of the place is well expressed in Lunt's poem, read at its dedication : — 
 
 " Here may the veteran mariner repose, 
 When on his craft the life-storm fiercely blows ; 
 Here let him turn a-port, and, furling sail, 
 Run for a harbor through the driving gale ; 
 Here, rounding to, drop anchor near the shore, 
 And ride in safety till life's voyage is o'er. 
 From cape to cape, search round our noble bay, 
 No lovelier sight than here can eye survey ; 
 From yonder hill, when sunset's blazing sheen 
 Sets in a golden frame the pictured scene, 
 Let the eye wander freely as it will, 
 Landward or seaward, all is beauty still." 
 
 From the lawn near the Home rises a tall flag-staff, with a small cannon 
 at its base. Elsewhere on the drowsy little peninsula, shaded by exquisite 
 elms, are two or three ancient houses and several modern villas. A car- 
 riage-road leads around Town River Bay to Quincy station, by Hough's 
 Neck and Mount Wollaston, in about three miles; and a short ferry crosses 
 to Ouincy Point, whence stages run to Ouincy. 
 
 There are some interesting bits of history connected with this seques- 
 tered locality, beginning away back in 1751, when the peninsula of Shed's 
 Neck was laid out in squares and streets (Bern, Hanover, Hague, Zurich, 
 Mannheim, etc.), and arranged "for a town, to be called Germantown." 
 The property soon passed into other hands, and was colonized by German 
 
86 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and French Protestant families, brought over from the Palatinate by Joseph 
 Crellius. Here were Hardwigs and Brieslers and Stubings and Schron- 
 tenbachs, and many others, who engaged in making glass, being protected 
 by the General Court, as a monopoly. But the enterprise was not remun- 
 erative, and in a few years most of the exiled Teutons went away. Their 
 directors were Gen. Joseph Palmer, from English Devonshire, who had a 
 famous mansion and garden at Germantown, with rich furniture, and a cele- 
 brated picture by Copley. So genial and delightful was the hospitality of 
 this estate, that it came to be known in the adjacent countryside as " Friend- 
 ship Hall." Its master became an American general in the Revolution, 
 and advanced such large sums from his private purse, to help the patriot 
 arms, that financial ruin ensued, and he was driven from his home a bank- 
 rupt. His brother-in-law, fellow-immigrant, and partner was Judge Richard 
 Cranch, ancestor of the poet-artist Christopher P. Cranch. At German- 
 town, under such inspiration, the gallant privateersman, Capt. Tucker, 
 prepared fire-ships to send down into the British fleet in 1776; and many 
 another enterprise was set on foot, in defiance of King George and his 
 Parliament. 
 
 In the tranquil period which succeeded the Revolutionary War, the fish 
 business became an important industry at Ouincy Point. About fifty years 
 ago Germantown was widely famous for this sea-harvesting, and the half 
 amphibious homes of its dozen captains were surrounded with fish-flakes. 
 Among these honest mariners dwelt the eccentric old Lieut. Pennell, who 
 once drove to Boston in a sleigh, on the Fourth of July; and cut up many 
 other queer pranks, to the great edification of his neighbors. 
 
 A few years later Germantown became a notable whaling-port, whence 
 the Creole, Cambrian, Ontario, and other vessels sailed on their long 
 voyages. Ship-building began at Ouincy Point in 1696, when the ketch 
 Unity was launched, and has been an important industry there ever since. 
 Between 1S54 and 1870 Deacon Thomas's celebrated yard at Ouincy Point 
 turned out a score of large ships, some of them of over two thousand tons, 
 besides numerous smaller craft. Here, too, were built the Triumphant, the 
 Modoc, and other famous vessels of the last decade. Mr. Quincy gives 
 the following description of the launching of the Massachusetts, as far back 
 as the year 1789: "The hills around Germantown, and the boats which 
 covered the harbor and river, were filled with spectators from Boston and 
 the neighboring country. Both English and French naval commanders, at 
 that time visiting Boston in national ships, expressed their admiration of 
 the model of this vessel ; and it was afterwards pronounced, by naval com- 
 manders at Batavia and Canton, as perfect as the then state of the art 
 would permit." She was a frigate-built merchantman, of a thousand tons 
 and thirty-six guns, and at Canton was sold to the Portuguese Government. 
 
AVA'G'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR 
 
 87 
 
 To the northward of Germantown, across Rock-Island Cove, is Hough's 
 Neck, which was granted, in 1637, to Atherton Hough, of Boston; and a 
 road was built out on it in 1673. It is a pleasant peninsula, about two miles 
 long, with marshes and uplands, and two or three semi-attached islets. 
 The road from Quincy hither is in a primitive condition of roughness and 
 crookedness, and adds to the isolation of this secluded bay-side park. 
 The outer beaches are lined with cheerful little summer-houses, close to the 
 high-tide line, and commanding a pleasant view over Quincy Bay and its 
 islands, the terraced cottages of Hull, and the inner lines of Nantasket. 
 
 The Great-Hill House is small, 
 but not without many parti- 
 sans among the Norfolk-coun- 
 ty people, who greatly prize 
 their summer visits to 
 " Mears's." The Neck ends 
 at Great Hill, a round and 
 swelling grassy dome, ninety-four feet high, with a very broad and charming 
 view over the harbor and outer sea. Near the Willow House is a long 
 floating pier, where a landing may be made at any tide ; and farther out 
 is the bar which leads to the thunderous shore of Nut Island. 
 
 Near the point where Hough's Neck joins the mainland, rises Mount 
 Wollaston, on which stands a mansion of the Adams family. It was in the 
 year 1625 that Capt. Wollaston ("a man of pretie parts," as the Pilgrims 
 called him) landed on this shore, near the hill which still bears his name, 
 bringing thirty or forty indentured servants, and a ship-load of goods for 
 
88 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 trading. But his serfs would not, or could not, work successfully on a 
 domain which in the eternal councils had been pre-empted for freemen ; 
 and so it happened that, a year later, the captain took ship again, and sailed 
 away to Virginia. A few of his men remained, and soon came under the 
 happy despotism of Morton. Of all the dwellers in ancient times by these 
 blue waters, the most singular and picturesque was that merry and rollicking 
 scholar and adventurer, Thomas Morton, of Clifford's Inn, London, who 
 signed himself Gentleman, with a large G. He came over in the year 1622; 
 and when Wollaston's colony broke up, four years later, he induced the 
 motley remnants of that praiseless band to revolt, and depose the worthy 
 captain's deputy, and choose himself as their head. Then began wild 
 saturnalia of lawless revels, May-pole dancings, and the quaint and extrava- 
 gant mummeries of the Middle Ages, of which he, self-styled "mine host 
 of Ma-re-Mount and Abbot of Misrule," was the soul and inspiration. This 
 boisterous and easy-going demagogue soon drew to his forest Arcadia all 
 the loose and dissolute individuals along the coast, and led away many 
 sober laborers from the adjacent colonies, to become companions of his 
 phenomenal society, free from the restraints of the grim little Israels to the 
 north and south. Hither they came, — runaways in stolen shallops, from 
 the outer coasts, deserting sailors, and wondering Indians in their bark 
 canoes, — and joined the ceaseless carnival. The natives took more kindly 
 to Morton, who supplied them freely with guns and ammunition and whis- 
 key, than to his prudent and sedate neighbors, and found more delight in 
 his festive gatherings than in the conventicles cf Plymouth and Cape 
 Ann. He thus narrates, in his New EnglisJi Canaan, the charms of the 
 Alsatia of the West: — 
 
 " And when I had more seriously considered of the beuty of the place, 
 with all her faire indowments, I did not thinke that in all the known world 
 it could be paralel'd. For so many goodly groues of trees ; dainty fine 
 round rising hillucks ; delicate faire large plaines, sweete cristall fountaines, 
 and cleare running streames, that twine in fine meanders through the meads, 
 making so sweete a murmering noise to heare, as would even lull the sences 
 with delight a sleepe, so pleasantly doe they glide upon the pebble stones, 
 jetting most jocundly where they doe meete ; and hand in hand runne 
 downe to Neptune's Court, to pay the yearely tribute, which they owe to 
 him as soveraigne Lord of all the springs. Contained within the volume of 
 the Land, Fowles in abundance, Fish in multitude, and discovered besides ; 
 Millions of Turtle-doves one the greene boughes : which sate pecking, of 
 the full ripe pleasant grapes, that were supported by the lusty trees, whose 
 fruitfull loade did cause the armes to bend, which here and there dispersed 
 (you might see) Lillies and of the Daphnean tree which made the Land to 
 mee seeme paradice, for in mine eie, 'twas Natures Master-peece : Her 
 
ICING'S HAND/WOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 89 
 
 chiefesl Magazine of all where lives her store: if this Land be not rich, 
 then is the whole worlde poore." 
 
 Having found such a paradise, he ordained for it games and pastimes of 
 rare ingenuity, whereof let him at length discourse: "The inhabitants 
 of Pasonagessit (having translated the name of their habitation from that 
 ancient Salvage name to Mar-re Mount; and being resolved to have the 
 new name confirmed for a memorial to after ages) did devise amongst them- 
 selves to have it performed in a solemne manner with Revels, & merriment 
 after the old English custome : prepared to sett up a Maypole upon the 
 festivall day of Philip and Jacob ; & therefore brewed a barrell of excel- 
 lent beare, & provided a case of bottles, to be spent, with other good cheare, 
 for all commers of that day. And because 
 they would have it in a compleat forme, 
 they had prepared a song fitting to the time 
 and present occation. And upon Mayday 
 they brought the Maypole to the place ap- 
 pointed, with drumes, gunnes, pistols, and 
 other fitting instruments, for that purpose ; 
 and there erected it with the help of Salva- 
 ges, that came thether of purpose to see the 
 manner of our Revels. A goodly pine tree 
 of 80 foote longe, was reared up, with a 
 peare of buckshorns nayled one, somewhat 
 neare unto the top of it : where it stood as 
 a faire sea marke for directions ; how to 
 finde out the way to mine Host of Ma-re 
 Mount. . . . There was likewise a merry 
 song made, which (to make their Revels 
 more fashionable) was sung with a Corus, 
 every man bearing his part; which they per- 
 formed in a daunce, hand in hand about the Maypole, whiles one of the 
 Company sung, and filled out the good liquor like ganimedes and Iupiter." 
 
 But Morton's lot, unfortunately for him, was not cast among the happy- 
 go-lucky colonists of Virginia; and his Pilgrim neighbors were keen observers 
 of the profane revels at the Mount. The public sense of New England 
 quickly took offence ; and the opprobrious title of Mount Dagon was given 
 to his habitat, after which it obviously became the duty of the chosen people 
 to exterminate the intruding Philistines. Standish marched from Plymouth 
 (in 1628), with eight Roundhead warriors, and seized the Mount, sending 
 its lord a prisoner to England ; and Endicott also led the Salem train-band 
 hither, and cut down the odious May-pole. To pay the cost of this Pilgrim 
 raid, assessments were levied on Salem, Hull, Portsmouth, and the Isles 
 
 Sailors Snu? Harbor 
 
90 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 of Shoals. A year later Morton returned ; but was speedily sent back to 
 England, and saw the burning of Merry-Mount from the ship in which 
 he was being borne away. In 1643 he came back once more to his paradise 
 by Boston Harbor, broken in fortune, and oppressed by weight of years. 
 The grim Puritans speedily seized him, and vainly ordered a fine of a hun- 
 dred pounds to be collected from him. He fled to Agamenticus (now York), 
 in Maine, where he presently died. This strange episode in New-England 
 history forms the theme of Motley's charming romance of " Merry-Mount," 
 and also one of Hawthorne's " Twice-told Tales." 
 
 As Morton himself ruefully wrote, " The setting up of his Maypole was 
 a lamentable spectacle to the precise separatists : that lived at new Plim- 
 mouth. They termed it an Idoll; yea they called it the Calf of Horeb; and 
 stood at defiance with the place, naming it Mount Dagon ; threatening to 
 make it a woefull mount and not a merry mount." 
 
 But Massachusetts was destined to find Mount Wollaston once more a 
 rankling thorn in her side. In 1634 Ann Hutchinson came hither, from 
 England, and preached the pernicious doctrines of Antinomianism (what- 
 ever that may have been) so ably and subtly that she won over Sir Harry 
 Vane and many other Puritan magnates. At Mount Wollaston her brother- 
 in-law and adherent, John Wheelwright, a classmate and friend of Oliver 
 Cromwell at Cambridge University, preached a famous sermon, for which 
 the orthodox Boston magistrates decreed him guilty of " contempt and se- 
 dition." He was exiled from the colony, and went north into the wilder- 
 ness, where he founded Exeter. Ann Hutchinson also was banished. She 
 sailed down the harbor to Mount Wollaston, and thence removed to the 
 Dutch country, near New Amsterdam, where she was slain by the Indians. 
 Her adherents, Underhill, Oliver, Rainsford, Aspinwall, and many others, 
 were disarmed of " guns, swords, pistols, powder, shot, or match ; " and some 
 of them were exiled from the colony. William Coddington and Sir Harry 
 Vane came to the Mount on Fast Day, 1636, and heard Wheelwright's in- 
 flammatory sermon. Coddington was a crown magistrate, who immigrated 
 with Winthrop, and built the first brick house in Boston. He was a large 
 landholder at Mount Wollaston. Having been banished from Boston for 
 his Antinomianism, he fled southward, and founded Rhode Island, of which 
 he was governor for seven years. 
 
 In itself this harbor-side hill has many charms, of which let the golden 
 pen of John Lothrop Motley speak : " Merry-Mount — for by that cheerful 
 title, most grating to the ears of the Plymouth people, was the place now 
 designated — was as agreeable a place for an exile's residence as could have 
 been found in the bay. In the centre of a half-moon, the two horns of which 
 curved. outward to the sea, forming a broad and sheltered basin, was a sin- 
 gularly shaped, long, elevated mound, rising some fifty feet above the level 
 
AV.VG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 91 
 
 of the tide. It was a natural knoll of gravel, resembling in its uniformity an 
 artificial embankment; and, although fringed about its base and its sides by 
 white pines and red cedars, it was in its centre entirely bare of wood, and 
 presented a bold front to the sea, which was separated from it only by a 
 narrow strip of marsh. Beyond this cliff, upon the right, as you looked 
 from the hill towards the ocean, was the broad mouth of Wessaguscus River ; 
 upon the left, a slender creek wound its tortuous way through a considerable 
 extent of salt-marsh to the sea. Beyond the creek and the marsh was a line 
 of prettily indented coast, with the picturesque promontory of Squantum 
 bending sharply towards the ocean, near which, on the landward side, was a 
 large, wooded, island-like hummock, called Massachusetts or the Arrow 
 Head, the residence, previously to the plague, of Chickatabot, sagamore of 
 the adjacent territory called the Massachusetts 
 Fields. Many gently swelling hills rose, one 
 upon the other, beyond, thickly crowned with 
 white oak, hickory, and ash, whose gigantic but 
 still leafless tracery was clearly defined upon 
 the sombre background of the shadowy pine 
 forests, which closed the view towards Shaw- 
 mut and completely shut out that peninsula. 
 On the inland side, the eye was delighted with 
 a soft and beautiful panorama. As the region 
 had long been inhabited, at previous epochs, by 
 the Indians, there were many open clearings ; 
 and the underbrush and thicket having been, 
 according to their custom, constantly burned, 
 the tall oaks and chestnuts grew everywhere in unencumbered magnifi- 
 cence, and decorated a sylvan scene, of rolling hills, wide expanses, and 
 woody dells, more tranquil and less savage than could have been looked 
 for in the wilderness. Seaward from the Mount the view was enchanting. 
 Round islands, tufted with ancient trees, and looking like broken links 
 from the chain of hills around, seemed to float far out upon the waves, 
 till they were one beyond another lost in the blue distance ; while a low but 
 beautifully broken line of coast fringed the purple expanse of the sur- 
 rounding ocean, and completed the wilderness picture, fresh from the hand 
 of Nature." 
 
 From William Tyng, its second owner, Mount Wollaston passed in due 
 succession to his great-grandson, John Ouincy, who built a house there, in 
 which he lived until his death in 1767. This gentleman was a faithful servant 
 of the people, and the name of the town of Ouincy stands as his memorial. 
 The transient connection of another noble family with this locality was 
 attested by John Adams, who erected a granite monument to the memory of 
 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor. 
 
92 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 his ancestor, bearing these words : " In memory of Henry Adams, who took 
 his flight from the Dragon persecution in Devonshire, in England, and alight- 
 ed with eight sons, near Mount Wollaston." The crest of the Mount is now 
 occupied by the mansion of the present John Ouincy Adams, a leader of the 
 Democratic party in Massachusetts ; and a great number of forest-trees have 
 been planted on the slopes during the past forty years, restoring to this 
 historic hill much of its ancient appearance of wild and sylvan beauty. 
 
 On a high hill in Ouincy stands the villa of Charles Francis Adams, the 
 statesman, with a view described by a Southern visitor as including "out 
 yonder the indented ocean, hungering around naked stone islets, or lapping 
 long stretches of acrid marsh." At the foot of the hill is the stately old 
 mansion (built in 1786) where President John Adams died, and where his 
 descendants live. Nearer the Bay are other villas of the same patrician 
 family. The houses in which the two Presidents, John Adams and John 
 Ouincy Adams, were born, still stand in the south part of the village, and are 
 used as tenements. The remains of these statesmen are buried in the por- 
 tico of the Stone Temple, or Unitarian church, whose gilded cupola is visi- 
 ble from the harbor-hills. Elsewhere in the town is the old house of John 
 Hancock, the famous Revolutionary patriot. Nor were these the only mag- 
 nates of the locality. For many years (about the middle of the last century) 
 there lived here a Boston-born lad named Henry Hope, whose mother was a 
 woman of Ouincy. On attaining manhood he left the shelter of the Blue 
 Hills, and went across the sea to Amsterdam, where he became the head 
 of a banking-house second only to that of the Rothschilds. He lent vast 
 sums to Spain and Holland, and Russia "borrowed $35,000,000 from him. 
 The palace which he built at Haarlem was afterwards the home of Louis 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 Among the other children of Ouincy were Freeman Hunt, the founder of 
 the famous " Merchants' Magazine ; " Whitney, the author; Mrs. Ware, a 
 well-known poet of the first half of this century ; and many a notable Adams 
 and Quincy. 
 
 The large white building near the shore, north of Mount Wollaston, was 
 built in 1865, under the care of A. H. Rice, James L. Little, and others, as 
 a National Sailors' Home, for sailors of the navy, disabled by wounds, 
 sickness, or old age. It possesses all the modern conveniences and many 
 little luxuries, and has been very successful. Near to the Home is the 
 ancestral estate of the Hon. Josiah Ouincy, close to the harbor, and from 
 its venerable colonial windows giving prospects over the out-bound and 
 in-bound fleets. The house was built in 1770, in a domain of five hundred 
 acres of woodland and meadow, purchased from the original Indian pro- 
 prietors by Edmund Ouincy in 1635. Here dwell old-time manners and 
 virtues, and the stately memories of the days of Washington and Lafayette. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR, 
 
 93 
 
 IWTB.e^d-OctV Itonves- — 
 
 
 BIRTHPLACES OF JOHN ADAMS AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS; ADAMS ACADEMY; 
 GRANITE QUARRY, —QUINCY. 
 
94 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Ouincy, the chief of the half-dozen villages among these " fair round 
 hillocks and delicious fair plains," with its handsome Adams Academy, 
 new public library, great brick hotel, and newspaper, is near the centre of 
 the town, on the Old-Colony Railway, and about half an hour's ride from 
 Boston. The quality of its citizens is shown on the soldiers' monument in 
 the adjacent cemetery, which tells of forty-one men who died of battle- 
 wounds, twenty in rebel prisons, and fifty-two of disease contracted in the 
 service, out of a contingent of eight hundred and forty-seven men sent into 
 the national armies by Ouincy. 
 
 A little way back, and very conspicuous from the harbor, is the pretty 
 modern village of Wollaston Heights, on the domain granted in 1636 to 
 Rev. John Wilson, the first minister of Boston, who was a native of royal 
 Windsor, and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. The shapely hill 
 was graced with a single house in 1869; but now it has two churches, a 
 
 large hotel, and several score of pretty 
 little villas, commanding charming sea- 
 views. 
 
 The Blue Hills of Ouincy and Milton 
 lie to the westward of the village, cover- 
 ing perhaps twenty square miles, and cul- 
 minating in a magnificent and far-viewing 
 dome-shaped height, six hundred and 
 thirty-five feet above the sea. Scientific 
 Near Sailors' Snug Harbor. men say that this range is older than the 
 
 Alps or Pyrenees, according to the evi- 
 dences of geology. It does not appear in history, however, until the year 
 1007, when the Norse vikings from Greenland saw the distant woody ridges 
 from their galleys cruising off the coast. When Capt. John Smith, that 
 wonderful combination of crusading knight, fearless sea-king, and romantic 
 explorer, first examined our New-England coasts in 1614, he named the 
 high hills over Boston Harbor the Massachusetts Mount, in reference to 
 the rich and powerful Indian tribe which dwelt at its foot. But Prince 
 Charles afterward ordained that the name Cheviot Hills should be applied 
 thereto, thus initiating the fashion for English names, which was ever 
 afterward filially followed on the shores of the harbor. On these heights 
 often stood the eagle-eyed Indians of whom Morton spoke, saying, " They 
 have tould us of a shipp at Sea, which they have seene, soener by one 
 hower, yea two howers sayle, than any English man that stood by." Accord- 
 ing to Edward Everett this land of mountains and lakes was the hunting- 
 park of the Bay tribe. 
 
 When Lord Harris was serving in Gage's British army he wrote home 
 that " The country is most beautifully tumbled about in hills and valleys, 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 95 
 
 rocks and woods, interspersed with straggling villages, with here and there 
 a spire peeping over the trees, and the country of the most charming green 
 that delighted eye ever gazed on." 
 
 The 'Blue Hills are composed largely of granite, or sienite ; and Ruskin 
 himself praises the intense purity of such a geological region, claiming also 
 that " the inhabitants of granite countries have a force and healthiness of 
 character about them that clearly distinguishes them from the inhabitants 
 of less pure districts." About eighty years ago the granite-quarries were 
 opened, from which tireless toilers have taken the stone for Bunker-hill 
 Monument, the Custom Houses at Boston, New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, 
 Portland, San Francisco, Providence, and many other famous public build- 
 ings, monuments, and fortresses. Here was built (in 1S26) the first railway 
 in America, a line three miles long, on which cars laden with granite were 
 drawn by horses down to the wharf on the Neponset River. 
 
 The Blue Hills are very conspicuous from all parts of the harbor and 
 the sea beyond, their regular outlines giving them the appearance of a 
 group of vast domes of unequal sizes. It would be an exaggeration to say 
 that they sustained such a relation to the harbor as Vesuvius does to the 
 Bay of Naples, yet some such idea endeavors to assert itself. The color of 
 the range has been likened to that of the Blue Ridge in Virginia. There 
 is remarkable beauty in these western watch-towers, still lifting their road- 
 less solitudes and tangled forests high above the thronged towns, and look- 
 ing so wild and untouched that one would hardly be surprised to hear that 
 Massachusee wigwams and tall red hunters were to be found among their 
 inner glens. From the hill-tops of Hull, from the plains of Winthrop, 
 from many of the islands, these gracious summits close the view down the 
 level floor of waters with fine effect. The coloring of the range is richly 
 varied, under changing conditions of sunshine and cloudy sky, from turquoise 
 to sapphire, and then to dappled purple, and then to a formidable sable, 
 when heavy storms lower over them. During his long residence in Europe 
 John Adams once said, " If there is a Bostonian who ever sailed from his 
 own harbor for distant lands, or returned to it from them, without feelings 
 at the sight of the Blue Hills, which he is unable to express, his heart is 
 differently constituted from mine." A few such dry remarks are all that 
 our literature shows about these picturesque little mountains, which, as 
 Charles Francis Adams has justly said, present " lights and shadows mak- 
 ing a picture worthy of the pencil of Rembrandt or Claude." They are 
 ignored alike in the songs of our poets, and on the canvases of our artists. 
 Aldrich lived among them for years, but did not find or feign a local legend ; 
 Norton's studio faced them, and failed to catch their tints. It is reserved 
 for the twentieth century to do for the Blue Hills what Irving and Cole 
 have done for the Catskills, enshrined In literature and art. 
 
g6 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The double-headed peninsula of Squantum projects into the harbor at 
 the mouth of the Neponset, and terminates in a long and bold bluff ninety- 
 nine feet high, overlooking Nantasket Roads and the inner harbor, and 
 occupied by a line of handsome summer-houses. At one end, near Thomp- 
 son's Island, is the once famous Old Squantum House, which is now a 
 private domain, pertaining to the family of Gen. B. F. Butler. There are 
 some beautiful bits of scenery on this plateau, and on the winding road 
 which leads across the western lowlands to Atlantic station. At one time 
 Squantum bade fair to become a popular summer-resort ; but the re- 
 cent construction of the great >Hv Boston sewer across its front has 
 brought armies of laborers / \ here, and makes its present 
 
 condition the reverse of aes- 
 
 The origin of the 
 uncertain. There 
 dition that an In 
 threw herself 
 to the sea, and 
 named the 
 Sq u aw 
 
 Better 
 there are 
 ing it to have 
 in honor of Tis- 
 
 thetic. 
 
 name of this locality is 
 
 an old and puerile tra- 
 
 dian squaw once 
 
 from the cliff in- 
 
 the people 
 
 locality 
 
 Tumble. 
 
 reasons 
 
 for believ- 
 
 been named 
 
 quanto, the In- 
 
 Pilgrims. Its met- 
 
 ages is vividly set 
 
 prose : "The fair 
 
 dian chief who first befriended the -«-2' "^ 
 
 ropolitan importance in long-past The Profile, Squantum 
 
 forth in Edward Everett's classic 
 domain of our namesake tribe extended from the broad, smooth floor of 
 Nantasket, where the whispering ripple, as it runs up the beach, scarcely 
 effaces the footprints of the smart little sandpipers, all round to the 
 cold gray ledges of Nahant, on which the mountain-waves of the Atlantic, 
 broken and tired with their tempestuous, weltering march through sev- 
 enty degrees of longitude, conflicting with all the winds of heaven, sink 
 down upon their adamantine bed like weary Titans after battling with 
 the gods, and, lulled by the moaning dirges of their voiceful caves, roll and 
 rock themselves heavily to sleep. Some 'old men of Massachusetts' 
 affirmed that in the interior they extended as far west as Pocontacook. 
 They hunted small game in the Blue Hills, and on their snow-shoes they 
 followed the deer to Wachusett. They passed in their bark canoes 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 97 
 
 through Mother Brook into Charles River; the falls of Nonantum and the 
 head-waters of the Mystic were favorite resorts ; they ranged even to the 
 Nashua. Their war-parties met the Tarratines on the Shawshine and 
 Merrimac. " But they loved especially the fair headland of Squantum: the 
 centre of their power was Neponset Falls." 
 
 Chickataubut was the sachem of the Massachusetts tribes, which held 
 the country from the Charles River to Weymouth, and once could put 3,000 
 warriors into the field. Most of these were swept off by the great pestilence 
 of 1613; and the chieftain retired to these seashore fields with the feeble 
 remnant of his clan. He received Winthrop and the Boston colonists with 
 stately courtesy, and gave them many valuable presents. He sought them 
 out, at the shabby little village on Shawmut, coming up in some state, with 
 his chiefs and women, and sitting at Winthrop's own table. There is a 
 tradition that, in 1669, he gathered an army of 700 warriors, and marched 
 westward across the colony to the Hudson River, and besieged the great 
 tribal fortress of his hereditary enemies, the Mohawks. The attack was 
 unsuccessful, and the Massachusees retreated rapidly towards Stockbridge. 
 But the fierce Mohawks snared them in an ambush among the Berkshire 
 Hills, and destroyed nearly the entire command, after a long and pitiless 
 battle. Chickataubut and 58 of his sagamores were slain on the field ; and 
 the green plains of Squantum saw them no more. Their broad corn-fields 
 were occupied by the immigrating Puritans. The feeble remnant of the 
 tribe came under the government of Chickataubut's brother, Cutshamequin, 
 who led it up the Neponset valley, from whence the Apostle Eliot induced 
 them to go to Ponkapog, on the western slope of the Blue Hills. Here 
 they slowly faded away, and the last pure-blooded Massachusee Indian 
 died in the present century. 
 
 In the fall of 1621 the Plymouth Pilgrims became curious about the 
 Massachusees, and ordered Miles Standish "togoe amongst them; partly 
 to see the countrey, partly to make peace with them, and partly to procure 
 their trucke." So the doughty captain took nine men, and Tisquanto the 
 interpreter, and sailed away at midnight. Through the darkness the little 
 shallop bravely held its way up the coast, rounded Point Allerton, and 
 reached the bottom of the Bay, at Squantum. Here the Pilgrims landed 
 at daylight, and found a pile of fresh lobsters on the beach, which they 
 carried under the Chapel Cliff, and breakfasted upon. Afterwards sentries 
 were placed on the Chapel, and Standish and his men found Obbatinewat, 
 the Massachusee sachem. He was persuaded to acknowledge the English 
 authority, though with the dimmest possible idea of what that was ; and 
 then the militant missionaries marched inland. 
 
 Morton, the delightful Munchausen of ante-Puritan days, proclaims 
 that " Chalke stones there are near Squanto's Chapell, shewed me by a 
 
9 8 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Salvage." Again, Motley makes him say, " Over at Squanto's chapel 
 yonder, is a fountain of a most remarkable power; for its waters cause a 
 deep sleep of forty-eight hours to those who drink forty-eight ounces at 
 a draught, and so on proportionably." As a reason for this property, he 
 suggests that "the Puritans of Plymouth have buried their oldest and most 
 soporific sermons within the grave of their honored and red-legged friend 
 Squantum, who lies buried there. But, whatever be the cause, the fact is 
 unquestionable. The great Powahs were accustomed to go thither to drink 
 of the fountain, and when filled with its inspiration they would astonish 
 
 their disciples with the multitude and mag- 
 nificence of their visions." 
 
 Morton says that, during his govern- 
 mentof Merry-Mount, " Sir Christopher 
 Gardiner (a Knight, that had bin a 
 traveller, both by Sea and Land; a 
 good judicious gentleman in the 
 Mathematticks, and other Sciences 
 usefull for Plantations, Kimistry, &c. 
 and also being a practicall Enginer) 
 came into those parts, intending dis- 
 covery." This mysterious individual 
 was one of the most interesting of 
 that group of strange men who 
 came hither, apart from the Puri- 
 tans, and perhaps as parts of a 
 hostile Church -of -England con- 
 spiracy, designing to rear a new 
 feudal state on the ruins of the 
 Roundhead colony. In his fascinating romance of " Merry-Mount," Motley 
 places Sir Christopher's home just north of Squantum, at the head of a beau- 
 tiful cove. He also speaks of him as being the same person (under another 
 name) as the renowned Sir Fulk de Gorges, a knight of Malta, hero of 
 many naval battles with Turkish fleets and Dalmatian pirates, captain 
 of Venetian free-companies, a gallant adventurer in Spain, and a close ally 
 of Sir Ferdinando Gorges in his schemes for renewing the triumphs of 
 Cortez and Pizarro on the coasts of New England. But the Puritans made 
 short work of this brilliant and ambitious monk-soldier, who was branded 
 in their colonial records, as " a person unmeete to inhabit here." Gov. 
 Hutchinson, in his History of Massachusetts (written 120 years ago), thus 
 despatches the unfortunate knight: "In the same ship [in 1631] Sir Chris- 
 topher Gardner was sent home under confinement. He was a Knight of 
 the Sepulchre, but concealed his true character, and came over last year, 
 
 Captain Miles Standish. 
 
XT/JVC'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 99 
 
 under pretence of separating himself from the world, and living a life of 
 retirement and devotion. He offered to join to several of the churches, 
 but he was suspected to be an immoral man, and not received. He had 
 a comely young woman which travelled with him. He called her his cousin. 
 For some miscarriages in Massachusetts, he fled to the Indians. They 
 carried him to Plymouth, having first used him pretty roughly. From 
 thence he was sent to Boston. He joined afterwards with Gorges, Mason 
 & others in complaints against the colony." In his "Rhyme of Sir Chris- 
 topher," Longfellow is equally censorious : — 
 
 " It was Sir Christopher Gardiner, 
 Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, 
 From Merry England over the sea, 
 Who stepped upon this continent 
 As if his august presence lent 
 A glory to the colony. 
 
 " But a double life was the life he led; 
 And, while professing to be in search 
 Of a godly course, and willing, he said, 
 Nay, anxious, to join the Puritan Church, 
 H e made of all this but small account, 
 And passed his idle hours instead 
 With roystering Morton of Merry Mount, 
 That pettifogger from Furnival's Inn, 
 Lord of misrule, riot, and sin, 
 Who looked on the wine when it was red." 
 
 The first white proprietor of Squantum was the canny Scot, Thompson, 
 who dwelt upon, and gave his name to, the adjacent island. It was after- 
 wards the domain of Roger Ludlow, "a pious gentleman of good family;" 
 next, of Mr. Newberry, the ancestor of a celebrated geologist of this 
 century ; and then of John Glover, who established a tannery here, and 
 had large herds of cattle grazing on the hills. The rocky pile of Musquan- 
 tum Chapel (whose projecting ledges form a remarkable profile of the 
 human face) was a favorite landmark as early as 1632. This locality has 
 notable natural attractions, and has been termed by Charles Francis Adams, 
 "a miniature Nahant, deep within the recesses of the harbor." In 1716 
 Squantum was set apart for a hospital, to receive the sick from vessels 
 entering the Bay. But Dorchester, Milton, and Braintree protested against 
 it, and the scheme was abandoned. Sixty years later the promontory was 
 cannonaded by British vessels, and an unfortunate militiaman was killed, on 
 Moon Island, by a shot. 
 
 The Pilgrim Feasts of Squantum were in ancient times celebrated with 
 great enthusiasm, late in August of each year, and attracted many notables, 
 
IOO KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON' HARBOR. 
 
 and great crowds of the yeomanry. In 1812 the Feast was attended by 
 Gov. Strong, Lieut.-Gov. Phillips, Commodore Bainbridge, and many other 
 eminent men, besides a number of Southern gentlemen ; and the cutter 
 " Washington" anchored off the Point, and fired salutes from her artillery. 
 These annual rejoicings were in honor of the Pilgrim Fathers, who doubt- 
 less would have been drearily scandalized at their hearty merry-makings. 
 The easy access from the town rendered the feasts very attractive to the 
 solid old merchants of Boston, who could drive hither in seven miles, over 
 the pleasant Dorchester roads, or sail across from Long Wharf. At pres- 
 ent the easiest land-route to Squantum is from Atlantic, a station on the Old- 
 Colony Railway, just outside of Boston ; and in summer public carriages 
 connect with the trains, and run out to the boarding-houses on the cliff, 
 crossing the plain where the Boston Jockey Club established, in 1812, the 
 first race-course in Massachusetts. Here, also, the old-fashioned musters 
 were held, when the Norfolk-County brigade assembled on training-days, and 
 went through their rural evolutions, enveloped by a host of temporary sutlers 
 and merry-making boys. Farther on the road runs across marshy low- 
 lands, with the Farm Meadows on the left, running almost to Commercial 
 Point. Beyond is the fine ridge of Squantum, haunted by legions of Mass- 
 achusee ghosts, and beautified by many noble old trees. 
 
 Moon Island is now no longer an island, having been joined to Squan- 
 tum by a substantial artificial isthmus, in connection with the new Boston 
 sewer, whose reservoir is being built here. For two and a half centuries 
 it was the most conspicuous object in this part of the harbor, with its high 
 and grassy bluff rising boldly over Quincy Bay, and dotted with grazing 
 cattle. But now it has become the scape-goat, on which the ills of Boston 
 are to be laid, to be borne off thence into the wilderness of the sea. 
 
 " . 1 
 
 Sailors' Snug Harbor. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. [01 
 
 €>lti ©orcfjegter. 
 
 NEPONSET, HARRISON SQUARE, SAVIN HILL, AND THE GREAT SEWER.— 
 
 CITY POINT. 
 
 the northward of the Neponset River, the shores of the 
 harbor for several miles lie in the ancient town of Dorches- 
 ter, which was settled in 1630, and annexed to Boston in 
 1869. It is now one of the loveliest of suburbs, with sev- 
 eral villages among its graceful hills, and many of the noble 
 rural estates for which the environs of Boston are cele- 
 brated. Here town and country meet, in happy union, 
 amid a diversity of natural scenery, which affords rare opportunities for 
 generous landscape gardening. Gray old colonial churches and mansions 
 stand side by side with last year's growth of Oueen-Anne cottages ; and 
 from a score of hill-tops the wide harbor is seen outspread, stretching to 
 the far-away sea. A region so fair and favored, and inhabited by the genu- 
 ine old Puritan stock (we have seen its steeple-crowned fathers landing at 
 Hull, away back in 1630), must needs have been a nursery of noble men. 
 Among its eminent natives was John Lothrop Motley, who grew up in the 
 love of the sea and its heroes, and was by this inspiration moved to write 
 the most bewitching historical romance of Boston Harbor, and the most 
 vivid and picturesque history of the sea-kings of Holland. Here, too, was 
 born Edward Everett, the silver-tongued orator and statesman, many of 
 whose finest passages were lighted up by the poetry of the adjacent hills 
 and waters. From his own simple and pathetic words, let us recall a 
 mournful picture of the neighborhood. In his youth he often heard of the 
 last Massachusee Indian, who lived in a lonely wigwam on Stoughton Pond, 
 " and used to come down, once or twice a year, to the seaside ; hovered a 
 day or two about Squantum ; caught a few fish at the Lower Mills ; strolled 
 off into the woods, and with plaintive wailings cut away the bushes from an 
 ancient mound, which, as he thought, covered the ashes of his fathers ; and 
 then went back, a silent, broken, melancholy man, — the last of a perished 
 race." 
 
 Near the mouth of the Neponset River, which flows down from the 
 heights of Sharon and Walpole, is the brisk village of Neponset, once a 
 hopeful outport of Boston, with a very respectable commerce, and now a 
 comfortable suburb. The memorials of antiquity abound in and about this 
 retired corner of Boston, and up through the delightful valley of the 
 
102 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Neponset. On Pine Neck occurred an exciting hunt, 240 years ago, when 
 a huge bear was slain here by Goodman Minot, after alarming the whole 
 countryside. Once a vindictive Indian visited this stalwart hunter's house, 
 in his absence, when there were but two children and a servant-girl on 
 the premises. He fired at the maid, but missed her ; and she returned 
 the shot, wounding him in the shoulder. He then tried to break in at the 
 window, and was hotly enough received with a shovelful of burning coals, 
 dashed into his face, upon which, bleeding and fatally scorched, he fled to 
 the woods, where his body was found the next day. The General Court 
 presented the maid with a silver bracelet, bearing this inscription, u She 
 slew the Narragansett hunter." The same old Minot House stood until 
 1875, when it was destroyed. On Pierce's Hill, near by, is the Pierce man- 
 sion, built in 1640, with a museum of Dorchestrian antiquities, and now 
 owned by the seventh generation of the family which founded it. Other 
 neighboring localities are regarded with reverent interest by the local 
 antiquaries. 
 
 Commercial Point, which the Indians called Tenean, projects into the 
 harbor to the northward, near the mouth of the Neponset River, and has 
 deep-water channels up to its wharves. It was occupied in 1633 by John 
 Holland, who sent out vessels hence in the cod-fishery, for twenty years. 
 During the Provincial era fortifications were erected here; and in 1774 
 " the greate gun " was carried away, probably to keep it from the British 
 soldiers. In the War of 181 2 also, it was fortified, and had the camp of the 
 militia from the western counties, when called out by Gov. Strong, in 1814, 
 to defend our coasts. After its long march from the rendezvous at New 
 Salem, the regiment of farmers found a pleasant resting-place by the Bay- 
 side through the fair October weather. One of the commands encamped 
 here was the victim of a singular piratical attack ; for on a certain occasion, 
 when ordered to parade before the State House, it neglected to set guards, 
 and on returning from Boston found that people from vessels in the harbor 
 had completely stripped the camp, taking even the tents. 
 
 The commercial and shipping business founded here in 1807, proving 
 unsuccessful, was replaced, six years later, by a pottery, bakery, and, hotel ; 
 but the locality was nearly deserted, and presented a sad scene of desolation 
 and decay. In 1831 a new life was infused into it, when Dorchester capitalists 
 formed a company for prosecuting the fisheries of cod and whales, and six 
 ships and nearly a score of schooners were owned and sailed from the Point. 
 Crowds of hardy mariners then thronged its wharves, spun South-Sea yarns 
 in its tavern, and distressed the Dorchester farmers with their rollicking 
 pranks. For some reason the business did not prosper; and the last ships 
 of the fleet were laden with Argonauts and lumber, and sent around the 
 Horn to California. The next occupants were a firm who erected a huge 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 103 
 
 building for making heavy iron-castings, and carried on a large business 
 here for several years. They then sold the property to the Boston Gas 
 Company, its present owners, whose works are destined to be of great mag- 
 nitude and importance. The comfortable new club-house of the Dorchester 
 Yacht Club is on one side of the Point. The characteristic American 
 hopefulness has several times seen this dreary old Commercial Point the 
 centre of a coming metropolis ; and once the Old-Colony muse predicted 
 its future majesty, in a resounding poem, beginning with these lines : — 
 
 " Where Dorchester her lucid bosom swells, 
 Counts her young navies, and the storm repels ; 
 High on the Mount, amid the fragrant air, 
 Hope stood sublime, and waved her auburn hair ; 
 Calmed with her rosy smile the tossing deep, 
 And with sweet accents charmed the winds to sleep." 
 
 Close to Commercial Point is the pleasant upland of Harrison Square, 
 occupied by a quiet and nobly shaded collection of pretty houses and 
 villas, islanded between the rushing current of the Old-Colony Railway and 
 the harbor, and crossed by several commodious streets. This Arcadian 
 village was once famous for its stanch Abolitionists, who were always free 
 with their money for the good cause of liberty. 
 
 A little farther to the northward, nearly insulated by two coves, is the 
 picturesque rocky height of Savin Hill, deriving its name from the ever- 
 green shrubs along the upper slopes. The road which runs around its base 
 is lined with pretty villas, commanding views of the adjacent waters, through 
 the abundant foliage of their grounds. There is a small beach on one side, 
 and toward the harbor projects the peninsula of Fox Point. Until the 
 formidable southerly advance of the town began, Savin Hill (although 
 within 3| miles of the State House) was a delightful semi-marine paradise, 
 where a few favored gentlemen dwelt in peaceful luxury, with their yachts 
 and horses. But now the city has pre-empted the thirteen acres of pictur- 
 esque, rocky, and thicketed wild land on the crest for a park ; three or four 
 summer boarding-houses have been opened among the villas ; and the mani- 
 fold noises of the metropolis are slowly approaching from the crowded 
 northern streets. 
 
 The pleasant highland north-west of Savin Hill is Jones's Hill, recently 
 opened to settlement, and commanding a superb view of the harbor. To the 
 south is Meeting-House Hill, crowned by a church and other public buildings. 
 This was the headquarters and parade-ground of the American right wing 
 during the siege of Boston, in 1775. Farther inland is Mount Bowdoin, at 
 whose foot lived the patrician Bowdoin family, affluent in statesmen and 
 philanthropists. The storied plains and hills of Dorchester cover all the 
 
104 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 intervening reaches, now rapidly filling with the overflowing population of 
 Boston. 
 
 Hutchinson says, in his venerable history, that the capital of the Indians 
 in this region was " on a small hill, or rising upland, in the midst of a body 
 of salt marsh in Dorchester ; " and Young thinks that this must have been 
 Savin Hill. The Dorchestrians have an inscrutable joke about Capt. John 
 Smith having landed here, while exploring the New-England coast. In 
 1633 a fort was built on the crest of the hill, at the expense of Dorchester. 
 The engineer in charge — " straight as an arrow, well-nigh as brown as the 
 Indians whom he fought, in leather breeches and peaked hat, with a heavy 
 sword hanging by his side " — was Capt. John Mason, who had fought in 
 the Netherlands under Fairfax, and afterwards crushed the hostile Pequot 
 tribe in Connecticut. The home of this famous Puritan soldier was on 
 Fox Point, where he lived for many years. Several great guns were 
 mounted on the fort, overlooking the approaches to the harbor of Dorches- 
 ter. The main battery was probably at the flat rock on the south side of 
 the hill, to command the Neponset River. It was thought that the chief 
 commerce of the settlement would enter that way, since Dorchester was 
 then the chief town of Massachusetts. After the colony changed front to 
 the northward, and the Castle was built, the fort on Savin Hill fell into 
 ruins. Among the ancient residents of Savin Hill was the ambitious and 
 hot-headed Deputy-Gov. Roger Ludlow, a man well off in this world's 
 goods, and a rigid Puritan, as befitted Gov. Endicott's brother-in-law. 
 Being disappointed at not receiving the chief magistracy, he went away to 
 Connecticut, and then to Virginia, where he died. His neighbor was 
 Thomas Hawkins, the fearless old sea-dog, who chartered several war-ves- 
 sels to the Frenchman La Tour. Afterwards he built the famous 400-ton 
 ship Seafort, " set out with great ornament of carving and painting, and 
 with much strength of ordnance, : ' all which naval splendor was lost on the 
 coast of Spain in 1645. 
 
 Since the little Gibraltar, of Dorchester was dismantled, its site has not 
 appeared in history. In 1824 Lafayette visited the summer camp of the 
 New-England Guards at Savin Hill, which Levasseur, his secretary, called 
 " a very picturesque place on the shores of the sea, where, during the season 
 of good weather, the volunteer companies of Boston come successively to 
 pass some days in tents, and devote themselves to military exercises." 
 
 The beautiful description which Motley gave of Boston Harbor, as 
 Blackstone saw it, may well apply to the view from this hill-top: "The 
 Bay was spread out at his feet in a broad semicircle, with its extreme head- 
 lands vanishing in the hazy distance, while beyond rolled the vast expanse 
 of ocean, with no spot of habitable earth between those outermost barriers 
 and that far-distant fatherland, which the exile had left forever. Not a 
 
KING'S If A. XD BOO A" OF BOSTO.Y //AA'BOA\ 
 
 105 
 
 solitary sail whitened those purple waves; and saving the wing of the sea- 
 gull, which now and then flashed in the sunshine, or gleamed across the 
 dimness of the eastern horizon, the solitude was at the moment unbroken 
 by a single movement of animated nature. An intense and breathless 
 silence enwrapped the scene with a vast and mystic veil. The Bav pre- 
 sented a spectacle of great beauty. It was not that the outlines of the 
 coast around it were broken into those jagged and cloud-like masses, that 
 picturesque and startling scenery, while precipitous crag, infinite abyss, and 
 roaring surge unite to awaken stern and sublime emotions : on the contrary, 
 the gentle loveliness of this trans-Atlantic scene inspired a soothing mel- 
 ancholy, more congenial to the contemplative character of its solitary occu- 
 pant. The bay. secluded within its forest-crowned hills, decorated with its 
 
 necklace of emerald islands, with its dark blue waters gilded with the rays 
 of the western sun. and its shadowy forests of unknown antiquity expand- 
 ing into infinite depths around, was an image of fresh and virgin beauty, 
 a fitting type of a new world, unadorned bv art. unploughed by industry, 
 unscathed by war. wearing none of the thousand priceless jewels of civiliza- 
 tion, and unpolluted by its thousand crimes — springing, as it were, from 
 the bosom of the ocean, cool, dripping, sparkling, and fresh from the hand 
 of its Creator. On the left, as the pilgrim sat with his face to the east, the 
 outlines of the coast were comparatively low. but broken into gentle and 
 pleasing forms. ... A chain of thickly-wooded islets stretched across, 
 from shore to shore, with but one or two narrow channels between, present- 
 ing a picturesque and effectual barrier to the boisterous storms of ocean. 
 They seemed like naiads, these islets lifting above the billows their gentle 
 heads, crowned with the budding garlands of the spring, and circling hand 
 
106 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 in hand, like protective deities about the scene. On the south rose, in the 
 immediate distance, that long, boldly broken, purple-colored ridge called 
 the Massachusetts, or Mount Arrow Head, by the natives, and by the first 
 English discoverer baptized the Cheviot Hills." 
 
 A little way north-east of Savin Hill is Old-Harbor Point, which, after 
 ages of neglect, has recently become a centre of great activity, on account 
 of the works of the great sewer, the Cloaca Maxima of Boston, whose 
 works are being constructed on a scale of magnitude and munificence 
 worthy of ancient Rome or modern London. On this Point are two enor- 
 mous Leavitt and two Worthington engines, with tanks into which the 
 accumulations of many miles of intercepting sewers are to be discharged, 
 their outflow being pumped up thereinto by the engines, and freed from 
 floating substances and heavy drift, after which the sewage will be sent 
 off through the tunnel under Dorchester Bay to Squantum and Moon 
 Island. Handsome stone buildings are to be erected here, of great magni- 
 tude and imposing proportions. The entire cost of the works on the Point 
 will exceed $1,000,000. It has for many years been a source of incon- 
 venience and danger to Boston, that her sewers emptied into the streams, 
 bays, and docks of the city, and poisoned the air ; their contents being left 
 on the flats at low tide, and driven back around the town by the flood tide. 
 The new intercepting sewers surround the margin of the city, below the 
 level of the existing sewers, and conduct their contents to a still lower main 
 sewer, down which they flow to Old-Harbor Point, where they are to be 
 pumped up forty feet, and the fluid part will pass through the tunnel to 
 Moon Island and the sea. It is hoped to complete this colossal work by 
 1884, by which time its cost will probably have exceeded $6,000,000. 
 
 The tunnel under Dorchester Bay is nearly a mile and a half long, and 
 contains 5,000,000 bricks and 8,000 barrels of cement. All of it was cut 
 through solid slate and conglomerate rock, with great difficulty and danger, 
 at a depth of over 150 feet below the sea level, and with an internal diameter 
 of Jh feet. In the centre of the bay an island has been formed of the debris 
 from the tunnel, heaped around the central shaft, whence tunnels were cut 
 eastward and westward, to meet those being driven from the shafts on the 
 mainland. The great five-acre reservoir on Moon Island will have cost 
 upwards of $800,000. It is being constructed by the Cape Ann Granite 
 Company, by digging out the northern part of the grassy hill, stoning and 
 cementing it inside, and defending it by a ponderous sea-wall on the outside. 
 It will have four compartments with a capacity of 25.000,000 gallons. The 
 sewage is to be stored here during the time of one tide, and poured into 
 the harbor about two hours after the ebb-tide has fairly begun. Accord- 
 ing to the experiments carefully made by the engineers, the receding tide 
 will carry it eastward between Long and Rainsford Islands, and between 
 
AYAV.V HANDBOOK OF /WSTOJV HARBOR. \0J 
 
 Gallop's and George's Islands, and throw it against the Brewsters, and 
 thence into the open sea. Fancy the consternation of the lobsters ! 
 
 Farther to the northward, across Old Harbor, rise the crowded heights 
 of South Boston, now an important section of the Massachusetts metropo- 
 lis. There were a large number of Indians living on this now populous 
 peninsula until the time of the great pestilence, when so many died that 
 they were left on the ground unburied, and the survivors fled in pi-ofound 
 terror. For many decades after the settlement of this region by the whites, 
 great numbers of Indians used to congregate here on a certain day of each 
 year, and hold a commemorative feast, in which all the articles eaten were 
 products of the sea. The locality was at the south end of the present K 
 Street. The Indians called this handsome peninsula by the name of Mat- 
 iapan or Mattapannock ; and after Dorchester was settled, in 1630, it was 
 a common pasture, abounding in rich grass and diversified by clumps of 
 trees. In 1660 the first building was erected, by Deacon James Blake; and 
 in 1775 there were nine houses here, the finest of which was the mansion 
 of the Fosters, one of whom designed the present State seal. On the night 
 of March 4, 1776, Gen. Thomas occupied the heights, with 2,000 Conti- 
 nental soldiers and 400 carts of fascines and intrenching tools, his men 
 being forbidden to speak above a whisper. The moon shone brightly, and 
 by morning two formidable forts appeared on the hill ; and Lord Howe 
 exclaimed in dismay, " The rebels have done more in one night than my 
 whole army would have done in a month." The British positions in Boston 
 were commanded at all points by the guns on the heights ; and Washington 
 was so sure that an attack would be made, that he had the entire militia 
 force of Massachusetts called into his camps, and concentrated his floating 
 batteries and boats at Cambridge, ready to carry 4,000 soldiers to land on 
 Boston Common, and fall upon the British garrison, while his best forces 
 should be engaged on the heights. 2,400 regulars were sent to the Castle, 
 under Earl Percy, to storm the new batteries ; and this chosen force would 
 probably have been well-nigh exterminated but that a strong gale sprang 
 up and made it impossible for them to land. The British generals, finding 
 it inconvenient to exist in a town so commanded by hostile batteries, made 
 haste to get away; and the right wing of the American army, posted on 
 Dorchester Heights, watched their departure with great joy. 
 
 In 1814 new defensive works were constructed here, and several regi- 
 ments of militia went into barracks to protect them. One night a false 
 alarm was caused, by boats burning blue lights in the harbor. The garri- 
 son formed hastily in the darkness, and more than a third of the soldiers 
 fled incontinently into Dorchester. Thirty years later a large town had 
 risen here, with famous ship-yards, one of which launched twenty-seven 
 ships within ten years. Among the chief industries of the present time is 
 
I08 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the manufacture of iron, in which South Boston has but two or three rivals 
 in America. 
 
 In 1803, foreseeing the future magnitude of Boston, Messrs. Tudor, 
 Green, and Mason bought most of the peninsula as a speculation. The 
 ensuing annexation movement was resisted by Dorchester, but without 
 success ; and in 1804 the territory became a part of Boston, and its land 
 rose to a tenfold value. There were then 19 voters here; in 1840 there 
 were 6,176 inhabitants; in 1855, 16,612; and now there are upwards of 
 60,000. 
 
 The low promontory of City Point, the most easterly part of South 
 Boston, is the paradise of yachtsmen. Here scores (and sometimes hun- 
 dreds) of pleasure-boats of all classes are to be seen, — in winter hauled up 
 in yards and on wharves, covered with canvas, and partly dismantled ; and 
 in summer, straining at their cables in the blue waters off-shore, graceful, 
 dainty, and apparently full of bounding life and pride. More than a dozen 
 yacht-clubs have moorings he^re, including vessels from ports scores of 
 miles away. Here, too, are the yards of the shipwrights who make these 
 fair little ladies of the sea, carrying out in careful lines and exquisite deco- 
 rations the pet theories of the sportsman, or the costly vagaries of the 
 millionnaire. On shore there are half a dozen taverns, frequented by these 
 amateur mariners and their sailors ; and a seaside theatre, much patronized 
 on summer evenings, and within half an hour of Boston Common by 
 horse-cars. That portion of South Boston which lies to the eastward of 
 Q Street is to be laid out by the city as a water-front esplanade, together 
 with more than twenty acres of the adjacent flats, which, when filled and 
 graded, will form the City-Point Battery, where the people may come to 
 enjoy the music of the band, the pleasant sight of the ships and islands in 
 the harbor, and the delicious and bracing sea-winds. Even now thousands 
 of people come hither on a warm day, to be refreshed by the views and 
 the salty coolness, or, perchance, to enjoy the sea-baths in the spacious 
 bath-houses which have been built here. 
 
 Among the yachts are sloops, schooners, steam-launches, and many 
 convenient and swift little cat-boats. They lie at their moorings, in fairly 
 deep water, and quite out of danger, because large vessels rarely enter this 
 part of the harbor. Another marked advantage of this locality is its com- 
 parative vicinity to the lower roads and the sea, enabling the yachts to 
 reach blue water much more quickly than from the inner wharves of the 
 port. The club-houses of the Boston and South Boston Yacht-Clubs are 
 at City Point. During the summer a small sailboat and skipper may be 
 hired, at the public landings, for 75 cents an hour; and rowboats cost 
 about 30 cents an hour. The steamboat City Point, built in 1882, and with 
 accommodations for 300 passengers, runs several times daily from this 
 

 
 Wf,.:\% 
 
 HOUSE OF THE BOSTON YACHT-CLUB, CITY POINT. 
 
I IO 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 locality to various points in the upper harbor, such as Long Island and 
 Point Shirley. 
 
 This bustling haven of summer-pleasurers was once the remotest and 
 most solitary corner of Boston. In those ancient days the adjacent hills 
 often re-echoed the roaring of the eighteen-pounders of that oddest of mili- 
 tary corps, the Sea Fencibles, — a coast-guard composed of the ship-masters 
 who were left stranded in Boston by the war and blockade of 1812. In their 
 blue short-jackets and white trousers, with anchor-emblazoned glazed hats, 
 these jolly tars would march to City Point, with unsteady rolling gait, and 
 there fire their big guns at floating targets. The soldiers carried boarding- 
 pikes and cutlasses, and yearned for a chance to use their primitive weapons 
 against the hated Britishers. The valorous sea-dogs are now all in their 
 graves, and the American commerce which they loved so well is buried 
 with them. But the great flotilla of pleasure-boats off City Point bears 
 witness that the old maritime spirit is still strong in New-England men. 
 
 Captain John Smith. 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. I 1 1 
 
 !£ast Boston (NooWs Mano). 
 
 MAVERICK. — BATTLE-DAYS.— YANKEE CLIPPERS. — BREED'S ISLAND. 
 
 MILE and a half north of South Boston, across the 
 inner harbor (at whose western end rise the wharves and 
 hills of Boston), is the Island Ward of East Boston, 
 covering more than a square mile, and connected with 
 the city by three steam-ferries, and with the mainland on 
 the north by several bridges. This locality was for 
 over two centuries known as Noddle's Island, from William Noddle, who 
 was probably sent out by Brereton, and settled upon it in 1629, before 
 Boston was founded. This pioneer was a bachelor, and the name is extinct. 
 Sir William Brereton received an early grant of it; but the first conspicuous 
 settler was Samuel Maverick, Gent, who erected a small fortified mansion, 
 with artillery to defend it, and was in comfortable possession and authority 
 long before Winthrop's fleet entered the Bay. The Puritans, coming later, 
 allowed Maverick to remain here, on payment yearly of "a fatt weather, 
 a fatt hogg, or XLs. in money ; " although it is most likely that he was an 
 adherent of the Gorges government, together with Walford, Blackstone, 
 and Morton. He certainly lived under the stigmas of being an Episco- 
 palian and a Royalist, and met with annoying persecutions from the Boston 
 authorities. Maverick was the first New-England slaveholder, when Capt. 
 Pierce brought negroes hither from the Tortugas, in 1638, and sold them 
 in Boston. In 1645, after La Tour's terrible enemy, D'Aulnay, had stormed 
 the fort at St. John, and sailed away with his plate and treasures, leaving 
 Madame La Tour dead of a broken heart, the unhappy chieftain came to 
 Maverick's little castle, where he spent the dreary winter. Not long after- 
 wards the godly brethren of Boston made new encroachments on the rights 
 of their prelatical neighbor, and he found himself forced to depart from 
 the fair island-home. Some years later he died at New Amsterdam. 
 
 During their time of suffering from persecution, about 1660-70, the 
 Baptists of Boston used to meet here, under the title of " The Church of 
 Jesus Christ worshipping at Noddle's Island in New England." The poor 
 fellows labored under all sorts of disadvantages in town ; but in this insular 
 sanctuary their worship was undisturbed, until the slow liberalization of 
 Massachusetts gave them opportunity to enter Boston as accepted Christian 
 brethren. A century later the comfortable Williams mansion was the pride 
 
112 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 of the island; and Putnam, Knox, Lincoln, and the clergy of Boston made 
 frequent visits here. The house was graced by six comely daughters, whose 
 harpsichord was the forerunner of musical Boston ; and the hills on the 
 island gave pasturage to 43 horses and 223 cattle. After this house was 
 burned, in the skirmish of 1775, Washington gave Mr. Williams one of the 
 Continental barracks at Cambridge, which he moved down to the island, 
 and remodelled into a new mansion. During the siege of Boston a score 
 of young ladies left the beleaguered town, and took refuge on Noddle's 
 Island, perhaps in this well-known house of Williams. One of these was 
 especially dear to William Tudor, the judge-advocate-general of the Ameri- 
 can army ; and he used to visit her frequently, passing from Cambridge to 
 Chelsea, where he undressed, and tied his clothing in a bundle, fastened 
 upon his head; after which he swam to the island, resumed his garments, 
 and called upon the fair lady. The result of these Hellespontic wooings 
 was a happy marriage, whence came three sons and two daughters, in later 
 days patricians of the good Commonwealth. 
 
 Passing abruptly from love to war, we find that on this same island was 
 fought the second battle of the Revolution, and the first in which the 
 American artillery was used. On May 27, 1775, Gen. John Stark and 300 
 men were sent to clear out the live stock on Noddle's Island ; and after 
 they had driven 400 sheep inland from Breed's Island, they engaged the 
 British marines on Noddle's, but were driven back when large re-enforce- 
 ments of regulars crossed from Boston. In the mean time Gen. Gage sent 
 a schooner armed with sixteen small guns, and eleven barges full of marines, 
 up Chelsea Creek, to cut off the raiders ; while Putnam came to their relief 
 with 300 men and two guns. The fight lasted all night ; but, although fresh 
 troops poured over from Boston, the Americans forced the crew of the 
 schooner to abandon her and flee, and drove back the other vessels. They 
 took the artillery from the captured vessel, and then burnt her, and retired 
 to the mainland, having inflicted severe loss on the British forces. Lord 
 Percy was immensely disgusted at this affair, and wrote home to his father : 
 " The rebels have lately amused themselves with burning the houses on an 
 island just under the admiral's nose ; and a schooner, with four carriage- 
 guns and some swivels, which he sent to drive them off, unfortunately got 
 ashore, and the rebels burned her." Philip Freneau, the poet of the Revo- 
 lution, makes Gen. Gage speak thus, at this time, referring to the partial 
 famine caused by the American raids on the islands : — 
 
 1 Three weeks, ye gods ! nay, three long years it seem*, 
 Since roast beef I have touched, except in dreams. 
 In sleep, choice dishes to my view repair : 
 Waking, I gape, and champ the empty air. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. II3 
 
 Come, let us plan some object, ere we sleep, 
 And drink destruction to the rebel sheep. 
 On neighboring isles uncounted cattle stray, 
 Fat beeves and swine, — an ill-defended prey : 
 These are fit visions for my noon-day dish." 
 
 In 1 780 there were many sick men on the French fleet in the harbor, 
 and barracks were erected on the island for hospitals. The poor fellows 
 christened their gloomy quarters Ulle de France; but small comfort did 
 they find in that, with dead soldiers being borne to the burying-ground every 
 hour. The mortality was serious, and many a good Gaulish veteran was 
 laid to his eternal rest on the hills of Noddle's Island. After the British 
 forces evacuated Boston the island was strongly fortified. 
 
 The same works were renewed and and strengthened in 181 2, under the 
 name of Fort Strong, having been re erected by various patriotic societies, 
 and guilds of tradesmen and mechanics, each of which marched to the 
 place on their appointed days. After the removal of the barracks in 1833, 
 the walls of the fort were allowed to waste away. In 1819 Lieuts. White 
 and Finch of the United-States Navy fought a duel here ; and the former 
 was killed, according to the code of honor. 
 
 The growth of the city of East Boston on these historic pastures of Nod- 
 dle's Island has been at once rapid and solid. In 1833 there were 8 inhab- 
 itants here ; in 1835, 600; in 1847, 6,500; in 1880, close upon 30,000. The 
 island is now covered with paved streets, bordered by a surprising number 
 of trees, and the houses of a great industrial and maritime community. 
 The population of the island is about equal to that of Mobile, Savannah, 
 Memphis, Trenton, Utica, or Wheeling. 
 
 Some of the finest ships that ever sailed were constructed here by 
 Donald McKay, vessels beautifully finished and furnished, and built for 
 great speed. The Flying Cloud, 1,700 tons, made the passage to San 
 Francisco in 89 days, being the quickest ever known. The Sovereign of the 
 Seas, 2,400 tons, was the longest and sharpest clipper ever built, and once 
 made a run of 430 geographical miles in 24 hours. She earned $200,000 in 
 less than a year. The Fmpress of the Seas held high rank among the 
 famous clippers of the same epoch. The Great Republic was the largest 
 wooden sailing-ship ever built. Her 4,556 tons included 1,500,000 feet of 
 hard pine, 336 tons of iron, and an immense amount of white oak. She 
 sometimes made 19 knots an hour, under full sail; and went from New York 
 to San Francisco in 91 days. Between 1848 and 1858 more than 170 vessels 
 were built at East Boston ; of which 99 exceeded 1,000 tons each, and 9 were 
 above 2,000 tons. These were the famous racers, which swept around Cape 
 Horn, and up through the South Seas, crowded with the Argonauts in 
 search of El Dorado. Others belonged to the Liverpool packet-line, and 
 
114 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 made regular trips across the Atlantic for many years, exciting the keen and 
 jealous admiration of our British cousins. 
 
 The Atlantic Works, on this island, have built iron steamships for Rus- 
 sia, Egypt, Paraguay, China, and the East Indies : the monitors Nantucket 
 and Cascoj the turrets of several other iron-clads ; the engines for many 
 American frigates ; and entire fleets of ferry-boats and tugs. Other neigh- 
 boring shipyards and works have done their share in creating that famous 
 American marine which once was the wonder of all maritime nations. 
 
 Extensive and well-matured plans are in process of elaboration, by which 
 the broad flats to the eastward will be converted into docks of the first mag- 
 nitude, capable of accommodating the largest ocean-steamships, and easily 
 approached from the deep-water channels. What with the great wharves 
 of the Cunard and other lines ; the elevators, ship-yards, and marginal rail- 
 ways; and the Grand-Junction wharves, East Boston is the most important 
 part of the Puritan city, in a commercial point of view. 
 
 Breed's Island, north-east of East Boston, was first known as Susanna 
 /stand, in honor of the daughter of Sir William Brereton, to whom it was- 
 granted (in 1628) by John Gorges. The Puritans found the practical name 
 of Hog Island more to their taste, and thus it remained for more than a 
 century. Late in the last century it was named Belle Isle by Russell, who 
 owned it; but the old name clung tenaciously, and is still sometimes heard* 
 In 1687 Judge Sewall, in the presence of numerous chosen witnesses, took 
 possession of Hog Island, by the ancient rite of "taking Livery and seised 
 of the Hand by Turf and Twigg and the House." Here he built a wharf 
 and planted various kinds of trees, and kept a large flock of sheep. He 
 held the domain for many years, making divers improvements, and deriving 
 a fair revenue therefrom. About the year 1800 the island was bought by 
 John Breed, a wealthy English gentleman, who had been well-nigh heart- 
 broken by the death of his betrothed bride, near the time appointed for the 
 wedding, and afterwards sought only to bury himself from the world. Here 
 he had a rich hay-farm, with a score of workmen, an overseer, and a house- 
 keeper. He built the house whose remains are now visible on the south 
 slope of the hill, — a singular stone structure, 200 feet long and one story 
 high, with terraced gardens in front of it, and nurseries in which nectarines, 
 apricots, and other fruits were cultivated. But in time death carried off this 
 peaceful agricultural hermit, and his domain passed to other uses. It is 
 now being rapidly taken up as a seaside settlement ; and upon the long and 
 lofty ridge many pretty cottages have already been erected, each with its- 
 view of sea or harbor, or rugged hills of Essex. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 "5 
 
 Hfcural attti Puritan SHmttyroB* 
 
 SUNNYSIDE, COTTAGE PARK, CRYSTAL BAY, AND OCEAN SPRAY. 
 POINT SHIRLEY. 
 
 UT from the main, east and south, and forming the northern 
 shelter of Boston Harbor, runs the peninsular town of Win- 
 throp. It is beautifully diversified with hills and meadows, 
 isthmuses and coves ; and, although but 989 acres in area, it 
 , /* has eight miles of beach. The thousand inhabitants of this 
 sea-girt corporation are served by an odd little narrow-gauge railway, diver- 
 ging from the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railway at Winthrop Junc- 
 tion, and running hourly trains down over the marshes to Great Head and 
 Point Shirley, stopping at every street. A branch line leaves the Eastern 
 Railroad, back of Revere Beach, and runs down into Winthrop, heading 
 toward Point Shirley, which it will probably reach within a few months. 
 
 The chief village stands on the pleasant high ground nearly midway 
 between the sea and the harbor, and commands fine views in either direc- 
 tion, on one side to Nahant and Marblehead, and over the open ocean; and 
 on the other to the fortified islands and the Blue Hills of Mil- 
 
 ion. It is a pretty New-Eng- ggQ| land hamlet, without a touch of 
 
 suburbanism, and as rural and 
 
 A Fisherman's Home, Point Shirley 
 
 simple as if it were inwalled by 
 the distant hills of Berkshire or Aroos- 
 took. Two or three country stores, a 
 bleak town-hall, two comfortable wooden churches, a 
 few dignified and emparked mansions, half a dozen 
 
 residences of village magnates, and several score of neat and embowered 
 houses of the yeomanry, — these elements compose the familiar picture, the 
 same here as in hundreds of other places in these six Yankee sovereignties. 
 Within short cannon-shot of the State House, and overlooking the great 
 
Il6 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 channel of commerce and its procession of ships, remains a village in 
 which Judd's Margaret might find herself at home. The ghost of Gov. 
 Winthrop, flying from Irish-Italian-Portuguese Boston, may rest here, on 
 his son's summer farm, and say, " What ! and grown so little in a quarter of 
 a millennium ! " It is still remarkably free from the foreign element, and 
 consequently enjoys almost a complete immunity from pauperism and crime. 
 Liquor is legally banished from its borders, a fact to which the delightful 
 peacefulness and decorum of the beach villages may be attributed. Bibu- 
 lous roisterers find a woefully dry country south-east of Revere Beach, and 
 make- no second visits there. 
 
 To the south of the village, overlooking the harbor, and surrounded by 
 plantations of small trees, is the stately old mansion which was formerly 
 occupied by Mr. C. L. Bartlett, the well-known shipping-merchant of Bos- 
 ton. Hence his chivalrous son rode lightly away to enter the Federal army 
 in 1861 ; and hither he was brought back three years later, wounded almost 
 to death, and with barely strength to write, as he felt the pure air of the 
 Bay replace the malaria of Virginia, " This being at home is delicious ; com- 
 fort and rest." In 1853 the great Italian patriot, Garibaldi, who came to 
 Boston in command of a ship from South America, was entertained for 
 some time as a guest at this place ; and thirteen years later, when Gen. 
 W. F. Bartlett, the merchant's son, was in Italy, he received an invitation to 
 Caprera, where he made a pleasant visit with the Garibaldi family. The 
 lad, with whom the grand Latin patriot had rambled along the shores of 
 Winthrop, had now become a veteran general officer, full of deep and terri- 
 ble experiences. In four years the college-boy had risen from the ranks to 
 the command of a division ; had suffered several grievous wounds and 
 gloomy captivity; and returned home, broken by hardship, and under the 
 shadow of approaching death. These verses are from the poem which 
 Whittier wrote, after the young hero's death : — 
 
 " Mourn, Essex, on thy sea-blown shore, 
 Thy beautiful and brave, 
 Whose failing hand the olive bore, 
 Whose dying lips forgave ! 
 
 " As Galahad pure, as Merlin sage, 
 What worthier knight was found 
 To grace in Arthur's golden age 
 The fabled Table Round ? " 
 
 After the death of the gallant young general, the Bayard of the army, 
 the estate passed into other hands. Farther toward the city, on a pictur- 
 esque point projecting into the harbor, stands the fine old mansion occupied 
 for so many years by the eminent educator, George B. Emerson, and often 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON JIANKOh'. 
 
 117 
 
 visited by Agassiz and other scholars. The great trees which shade the 
 avenues, and grounds were planted by his own hand, and greatly beautify 
 the place. 
 
 The quaint old farmhouse which still stands on Shirley Street is said 
 to have been the home of Deane Winthrop, the sixth son of Gov. Win- 
 throp. It was built probably as early as 1649; anc ^ nere the honorable 
 governor and other colonial magnates, including also Chief-Justice Sewall, 
 made many summer visits. Here Deane died, in the year 1704, having 
 
 The Old Deane Winthrop House, near Ocean Spray. 
 
 lived hereabouts for forty years. He 
 was the founder of the town of Groton, 
 which he named for the home of his 
 
 family in England. A little way beyond this ancient house, and over Ocean 
 Spray, is the noble headland of Grover's Cliff, where 180 acres of rolling 
 pasture-land are owned by the corporation of Boston. In 1867 the city 
 council ordered the construction of a new and magnificent hospital for the 
 insane, on this estate ; but the mayor vetoed it, being opposed to such a 
 large outlay of money, and also objecting to the establishment of a public 
 institution on an exposed headland. The subsequent erection of the State 
 asylum at Danvers rendered it unnecessary ; and the land remains idle, in 
 possession of the city. Either here or on Great Head, the future citadel 
 for the defence of Boston Harbor will be constructed, to prevent vessels 
 from lying off in the Bay, and shelling the town. 
 
 Winthrop is rich in summer resorts, on her sea-swept shores. Ocean 
 
u8 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Spray and Point Shirley are the chief ones, but Crystal Bay and Sunny 
 Side and Harbor Avenue each has its advocates and habitues. Sunny Side 
 is a little group of summer cottages, with boat-house, wharf, and still-water 
 beach, fronting southward on the harbor, near Snake Island and its wide 
 entourage of flats. This colony of sequestered houses is usually occupied 
 of late years by the Voices family, so famous in the annals of British and 
 American comedy. 
 
 Cottage Park is another cluster of cottages fronting on the harbor, and 
 mainly occupied by summer visitors from the city. It is on a bluff, just in- 
 shore from Apple Island, and sheltered from easterly storms by the trees 
 of the old Bartlett estate. There is a small pier here, with bath-houses, 
 arbors, and other appurtenances. The view across the harbor to the Blue 
 Hills is full of impressive beauty ; while on the right, three miles distant, 
 appear the massed houses and many spires of Boston. In this prosperous 
 
 little summer village 
 stands the Hotel Win- 
 throp, a large new 
 boarding-house, where 
 the cottagers can get their meals. From this point, the view extends south- 
 ward, over the graceful elms of Apple Island, and out through the opales- 
 cent air, by many a historic islet and promontory ; and westward, to where 
 the red sun sets behind Boston, — 
 
 " Like eye of God aglare 
 O'er evening city with its boom of sin." 
 
 These pretty pleasure-houses are but the formal successors of the sum- 
 mer wigwams of the red men who were once lords of the soil, stalwart 
 hunters and fishers, and gallant archers. The Indians who dwelt on this 
 side of the harbor were of the Pawtucket tribe, whose domains reached as 
 far as Concord and Portsmouth. The head of the clan at Chelsea ( Winni- 
 simmet) was Sagamore John, who died in 1633, with many of his people. 
 The Winthrop peninsula, surrounded with fishing-grounds, appears to have 
 been a favorite resort of the red men; and many remains of their wigwam 
 villages have been found upon it. One of the first edicts published by the 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 II 9 
 
 Puritans at Boston established a game-preserve here, saying: "That noe 
 pson w'soeuer shall shoote att fowle vpon Pullen Poynte or Noddles Island, 
 but the s<l places shalbe reserved for John Perkins to take fowle w' h netts." 
 In 1635 the peninsula became a common, for pasturage ; and Boston caused 
 a house and cattle-yard to be built at the Point. The territory appears to 
 have been occupied subsequently by farms, owned by non-resident pro- 
 prietors, who kept here servants and tenants. In the summer they some- 
 times came down from Boston, to enjoy the sea-air, and relief from the 
 turmoil of the town, which then had four or five thousand inhabitants. 
 Deane Winthrop had an estate of 120 acres at Pulling Point, and here "he 
 was wont to set up a bush when he saw a ship coming in." Capt. Gibbons 
 also had a place near by; and once (in 1643) his wife and family, on their 
 way down from Boston to the Point, were terribly frightened on meeting 
 La Tour's French ship. Slavery flourished here in those ancient times; and 
 
 Great Head, Winthrop 
 
 the negro burying-ground in the north part of the town had many quaint 
 monuments. Connected with the Bill mansion, on Lincoln Street (now over 
 two centuries old), were several sable slaves ; and their bills of sale are still 
 preserved. There is a legend that one of these negroes buried his acquisi- 
 tions, — a tea-kettle overflowing with silver coin, — and died without reveal- 
 ing its whereabouts. This is the Captain Kidd's treasure of Winthrop, and 
 has stimulated no end of delving on its pleasant headlands. 
 
 Very slender are the threads of history and tradition which connect the 
 green hills of this country town with the outer world. She rests quietly on 
 the shores, watching the grand promenade of the commercial fleets, the 
 dainty quadrilles of the yachts, and the Terpsichorean achievements of 
 the breathless steam-tugs, which, with their iron hands clasped upon those 
 of the Mary Jane of Liverpool, or the Gypsy Maid of Baltimore, guide 
 her, in a stately gliding minuet, down the mazy channels, to the outer sea ; 
 
120 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and return, up the blue floor of waves, leading some other thousand-ton 
 beauty, the Empress of the Seas perchance, or the Saucy Sally of Kenne- 
 bunk, or La Reina Margherita of Genoa. Meanwhile Winthrop placidly 
 observes the scene, the fair wall-flower of the harbor. 
 
 One of the most attractive summer villages on the Massachusetts coast 
 is this prettily-named district of Ocean Spray, in the town of Winthrop, 
 with its beach gently curving between two high cliffs, the bright wide sea 
 in front and the level salt-marshes behind. The line of beach rests at one 
 end on Great Head, and at the other on Grover's Cliff and the unbroken 
 green slopes of the city estate. The view includes the aristocratic peninsula 
 of Nahant, with its villas and cliffs, about four miles distant across the Bay, 
 and reaching far out into the water; and on the right front are the ragged 
 and picturesque Brewster islands, off the mouth of Boston Harbor. The 
 surf is usually light, and bathing is quite safe ; but during easterly and 
 northerly gales there is a tremendous pounding along the entire line of 
 beach, and the waves leap fifty feet high over the adjacent bars of Great 
 Head and the sea-walls of Deer Island. There are usually a few yachts 
 anchored off the beach, in which the Spray villagers cruise through the 
 narrow seas toward the North Shore. 
 
 Up to the year 1875 the site of this village was a barren waste of gravel 
 and coast grass, whose only product was the seaweed washed up on the 
 beach, and whose value did not exceed $40 an acre. In 1875 Dr. Samuel 
 Ingalls bought forty acres of the Wheeler heirs; laid it out in building-lots 
 and avenues ; and sold many of the former at auction, at i| to 2 cents a 
 foot. During a single year these prices were quadrupled; and then the four- 
 teen acres bordering on Capt. John Tewksbury's beach, adjacent, were put 
 upon the market. There are now several scores of cottages at Ocean Spray, 
 mostly of a more attractive order of architecture than is usually found in 
 beach-houses ; and in some cases they are . spacious and substantial villas, 
 occupied throughout most of the year. The arid gravel which surrounds 
 them has been covered with loam, and laborious attempts at gardening have 
 been rewarded with some measure of success. The local summer society 
 is peculiarly homogeneous and mildly evangelical, with every evening de- 
 voted to some form of associated pleasure, musicales, square dances, or 
 chapel-going, and ending early, so that by ten o'clock nearly all the house- 
 lamps are out, and the resonant music of the low surf breaking on the beach 
 is almost the only sound that is heard. Ocean Spray, and particularly the 
 part outside the hotels, is a place for rational enjoyment and plenty of rest. 
 The spirit of Winthrop, the first lord of the manor, seems to brood over it 
 still. 
 
 It seems somewhat enigmatical that this should be a favorite summer- 
 house for actors : yet such is the case, and the merry pranks of the Vokeses 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 12 f 
 
 and other stage celebrities are often rehearsed among these beauties of 
 nature. " Near The Shirley is the pretty little building of the Casino, 
 adapted and used for dancing and amateur theatricals, and the scene of 
 temperate gayeties throughout the livelong summer. At the north end 
 of the beach is The Shirley, a comfortable summer-hotel of modern con- 
 struction and accommodations, and very close to the edge of the surf. The 
 Winthrop-Beach House is another hotel at this point, somewhat less pre- 
 tentious than The Shirley. Near the southern end is the spacious new- 
 Hotel St. Leonards, an airy and well-built structure, close alongside the 
 railway. 
 
 Ocean Spray is the seat of one of Boston's fairest charities, the Seashore 
 Home for sick and destitute children, transferred here from Plymouth in 
 
 Boston, from Winthrop Great Head. 
 
 1878; and every season taking two or three hundred poor children from the 
 hot and unhealthy streets of Boston, and placing them in pure air and good 
 influences. It is a very noble and satisfactory work, and the only regret is 
 that the resources of the institution are not sufficient to care for a vastly 
 greater number of these innocents. The seventh chapter of Book IV. of 
 Michelet's " The Sea" {La Mei r ) should be read as a preliminary to visiting 
 this beautiful charity; for it describes the foundation of the first seaside 
 hospital for children, which was done by the majestic old city of Florence, 
 but little more than twenty years ago. 
 
 Great Head, or Green Hill, about half a mile south of Ocean Spray, is 
 a symmetrical curving eminence, 100 feet high, from whose summit very 
 extensive views are given over the adjacent bays and shores, and out on the 
 
122 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 open sea. The railroad passes around one side of it, over the beach; and 
 on the other is the fine carriage-road to Point Shirley, following the curves 
 of the harbor. Within five years a pretty summer village has grown up 
 around Great Head, and a planked walk projects into Crystal Bay, for the 
 convenience of the mariners of the Winthrop Yacht-Club. The new con- 
 struction is securely enrailed, and is the Brighton Pier of this quiet resort, 
 where the transient citizens may "loaf, and invite their souls," and feel the 
 sea all around and beneath them, without fear of mal du mer. This placid 
 sea off Winthrop is indeed capable of profound agitations, and many a ship 
 has been dashed in pieces against the heads hereaway. In the great March 
 storm of 1878 four vessels were driven ashore at Ocean Spray and Great 
 Head ; one of them being the brig Katahdin, bound from Portland to 
 Matanzas, and wrecked while trying to make Boston Harbor. Many people 
 came down from the neighboring cities to see these helpless victims of the 
 gale, beaten by the foaming sea. 
 
 Winthrop may be likened in its outline to a rose, rising from the blue 
 sea, and opening toward Middlesex County. Curving gracefully from 
 south-east to south, over a mile long, and generally but a few score feet in 
 width, the stem of this fair Puritan rose of Winthrop ends in the nodulous 
 expansion of Point Shirley, with its tombs of dead enterprises, and the 
 long level of Gut Plain. The locality was relatively much more important 
 in ancient times than now, and is often mentioned in the chronicles of the 
 fathers. One of the first appearances of the name was in September, 1631, 
 when "Will" 1 Bateman was left on shore of Pullen Poynte, being very 
 sicke and weake." Those with him were forced to return home to Plymouth, 
 leaving him what provisions they had. On returning two days later they 
 found him dead, about a stone's-throw from where they left him, at about 
 high-water mark. " Soe the jury psents that he dyed by God's visitacon." 
 In 1634 William Wood thus described the region: "The opposite shore is 
 called Pullin-point, because that is the usuall Channel. Boats used to passe 
 thorow into the Bay ; and the Tyde being very strong, they are constrayned 
 to goe ashore and hale their Boats by the sealing, or roades, whereupon it 
 was called Pullen-pointP 
 
 In the diary of the Rev. Noadiah Russell we find this entry, in Septem- 
 ber, 1682: " Being on Tuesday at night a snowy stormy night Mr. Horton 
 master of a ship was coming up to Boston but by reason of ye violence of 
 ye storm and ye boysterousness of ye sea was forct to run on shore at 
 Pullens Poynt where ye ship was staved to peices 3 men drowned ye rest 
 got on shore on an Island but by reason of ye coldness of ye weather and 
 their want of clothing, 3 or 4 more of them died so that 6 or 7 lost their 
 lives, after break of ye day they knew where they were and went to a hous 
 3 - t was on the Island." 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR 
 
 12' 
 
 The Boston News-Letter of Sept. 13, 1753, thus announced how the new 
 fishing-station here, founded by capitalists in the town, was opened: "On 
 Saturday last His Excellency the Governour [Shirley] did the Proprietors 
 of Puffing-Point the Honour of dining with them at said Point, where a 
 very elegant Entertainment was prepar'd for him ; he was attended thither 
 by the Proprietors, and a Number of Gentlemen of Distinction from the 
 Town ; he was saluted with fifteen Guns from Castle William as he went 
 down, and the same Number when he return'd ; and was receiv'd at the 
 Point with all the Demonstrations of Joy that so new a settlement was 
 capable of. His Excellency express'd great Satisfaction on finding so con- 
 siderable an Addition to that valuable Branch of Trade, the Cod-Fishery, 
 
 .,!«,* 
 
 
 I Iff 
 
 
 
 Old Mansion, Point Shirley. 
 
 and hoped the Gentlemen con- 
 cern'd would meet with such suc- 
 cess as to make them ample Amends for so noble an Undertaking. The Pro- 
 prietors, after having leave from his Excellency, gave it the name of Point 
 Shirley." The events connected with its christening made this an aristo- 
 cratic summer resort, where several of the best families of Boston had villas. 
 Among these was Governor John Hancock's summer home ; and there is still 
 preserved a letter of Edmund Quincy, sent by Mr. Otis to Mrs. Hancock, 
 and conveying friendly messages to other families. This letter was sent " via 
 Apple Island;" most of the peninsula being then covered with forests, except 
 at the Point, where there were 25 or 30 houses, several stores, and a church. 
 The proprietors spent so much on their villas, that they could not properly 
 equip the fisheries ; and so their hopes of erecting a new Gloucester here 
 
124 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 were disappointed. But the place made a good camp-ground in 1759, when 
 Bagley's Massachusetts regiment lay here nine days before embarking for 
 Louisburg. In 1764, when small-pox was devastating the Province, an 
 inoculating hospital was opened at Point Shirley by the Boston doctors, 
 aided by Dr. Barnett of New Jersey. It was given out that the locality 
 then had many comfortable and decent houses to accommodate patients. 
 The Point saw a gloomy sight in November, 1775, when British boats 
 landed here with 300 aged persons, women, and children, sent out of the 
 besieged town of Boston. 
 
 In May, 1776, when the Continental privateers Franklin and Lady 
 Washington were stealing out of Boston, through Shirley Gut, the former 
 grounded, and could not be moved. Here the two vessels were attacked by 
 a flotilla of boats from the British fleet outside, and a furious battle was 
 fought amid the whirling eddies of the strait. The man-of-war barges fired 
 grape and langrage, and were answered by the cannon of the Franklin, 
 loaded with musket-balls, and the swivels of the Lady. Pikemen defended 
 the decks, from behind high boarding nettings, and upset two of the barges 
 with boat-hooks. After a half-hour of very close and deadly work, the 
 attacking party retreated, and the saucy little cruisers were left free to make 
 sail and escape to sea. The next morning two children, playing on the 
 Winthrop shore, found there an overturned British barge, and the dead 
 body of a royal marine, with a spear-wound in his side. He was buried just 
 to the eastward of the old Bartlett mansion ; and Captain Mugford, the 
 commander of the Franklin, who was slain during the fight, received a 
 stately military funeral at Marblehead. 
 
 He had richly earned it; for, without what he had given to the American 
 army, Gen. Gage could have driven Washington's half-armed militiamen 
 into the Berkshire Hills. While the frigate Lively lay in Marblehead harbor, 
 some months before, Mugford was impressed as one of her crew, and re- 
 mained on board until released in answer to the supplications of his wife. 
 During his service on the Lively, he heard the sailors talking of a great 
 powder-ship soon expected from England; and so, without waiting for a 
 commission, he put to sea in a fishing-smack, and cruised up and down the 
 bay in search of her. At last the coveted vessel hove in sight, and the 
 innocent-looking fisherman sailed up alongside. Suddenly the scene 
 changed, when Mugford made fast to the towering British ship, released 
 his gallant comrades from their hiding-place in the cabin, boarded the 
 hostile deck with a rush, and carried her away as a prize, within sight of 
 His Majesty's fleet off the light-house. She was called the Hope, and 
 her cargo of powder and arms became more than a hope for the Continental 
 array. 
 
 A rude fortification was erected on the hill, during the Revolution, to 
 
AT/NG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 125 
 
 defend the entrance by Shirley Gut. During the War of 1812 the frigate 
 Constitution once stole out to sea through this narrow strait, escaping the 
 British blockaders that were hovering off the harbor. 
 
 About the year 1830 Sturgis & Parker established the salt-business here, 
 and erected several large buildings. To this the contemporary poet-laureate 
 of the lower harbor thus delicately alludes : — 
 
 " Point Shirley, to forget, oh muse, 
 Indeed would be a fault, 
 Which Sturgis never would excuse, 
 Who manufactures salt." 
 
 In subsequent years the Point was the seat of the extensive works of 
 
 the Revere Copper Company, 
 main, with their tall brick 
 above are queer old houses, 
 evident remains of old-time 
 
 J i& 
 
 ft 
 
 whose abandoned buildings still re- 
 chimneys. On the little mound 
 rickety and spider-haunted, but with 
 dignity. Perhaps these 
 the villas of the 
 incial era, 
 
 A Lobsterrman's Cabin, Point Shirley. 
 
 of the Hancocks and their friends, 
 where the fair Puritan ladies dis- 
 cussed the fashions of the time of King George 
 II., and watched the Provincial fleets sailing out against Louisburg, or 
 Quebec, or the Spanish Main, with their husbands and sweethearts on 
 board. The poor old houses are disconsolate enough now, looking down 
 on the industrial Pompeii of the copper-works, and out on the calm blue 
 waters beyond, monuments of pathetic dilapidation. Harborward from 
 the gloomy and silent buildings of the Revere Copper Company is a rude 
 colony of fishermen, most of whom, as the numerous nets bear witness, 
 are engaged in the pursuit of lobsters. In and about their cabins are 
 many very quaint and interesting scenes, connected with the lives and 
 avocations of the toilers of the sea. Several of their homes and out- 
 buildings are the cabins and upper works of defunct steamships which have 
 been burnt on Apple Island; and the state-room which sheltered a Knicker- 
 
126 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 bocker princess or a Beacon-Hill Hypatia may now give protection to the 
 domestic animals or the dripping nets of a Point-Shirley lobsterman. 
 
 Occasionally a premonitory flutter of activity animates the Point. Some 
 one is going to make it a freighting-point for ocean-steamships, with a 
 
 standard-gauge track connect- 
 ing it to the Eastern Rail- 
 road ; some one else is going 
 to start the wheels of industry 
 in the half-dismantled copper- 
 works ; or a great company 
 will run fast excursion-steam- 
 ers a dozen times daily from 
 Boston to this wharf, to rival 
 the glories of Nantasket. But 
 these halcyon days never come, 
 and again the amphibious resi- 
 dents resume their lives of 
 calm serenity. 
 
 Taft's Hotel, or the Point Shirley House, 
 
 k — d close to the strait which separates Deer 
 
 Island from the Point, has been conducted 
 by the famous caterer Taft for more than a quarter of a century, and is 
 the most celebrated resort for gourmets in all New England, if not in 
 America. Through all these passing decades, thousands of the most prom- 
 inent men of Eastern Massachusetts, with their guests, and bon-vivants 
 
,.,: .....-..-■..^■■• , ;/:;.>- ,.: :;;^,-'-.'- '.- ' ■,.:.,. ; , J.^y^>.;-^.,, ■..,:' ?.;'■/;' 
 
 
 ^xJ9,. %;§k*L&<&£>. 
 
128 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 from all parts of the Union, have enjoyed the delights of this wonderful and 
 inexhaustible larder. Oftentimes as many as threescore distinct species of 
 fish and game are kept here in stock at once, the birds being numbered by 
 thousands. It is au regie for the Boston gentleman to drive, with his visitor 
 from the South or West, over the short and pleasant road to Point Shirley, 
 and there, with great pride, to test the bewildering variety of dainty dishes 
 which Taft has on his menu, from the rich turbot and Spanish mackerel, the 
 mullet and Mexican bonetta, to the paper-shell clams, grass frogs, and soft- 
 shell crabs — from Illinois grouse and Erie ducks to Delaware rail and reed- 
 birds, Jersey willets, a great variety of snipe and plover, and humming-birds 
 served in nut-shells. Many cosmopolitan and globe-trotting gentlemen have 
 stated their conviction, that, while Delmonico's may justly claim the palm of 
 excellence in other respects, there is no place in the world where a fish and 
 game dinner is served so successfully as at Taft's. Here the famous Atlantic 
 Club used to meet, with Holmes and Lowell, Emerson and Longfellow, and 
 other choice spirits, at its board ; and the chiefs of the literary Boston of 
 to-day are familiar with this favored locality. Many another group of hun- 
 gering (and thirsting) patricians has found happiness here, — conclaves of 
 financiers, re-unions of veteran officers, detachments from the city clubs, and 
 political councils often seeking, for the time, no more formidable task than 
 the time-honored (and difficult) one of throwing stones from the Point on to 
 Deer Island. 
 
 We have followed the coast of Boston Harbor, from the finger-tip of Hull, 
 along wave-swept Nantasket, past quaint old Hingham and Weymouth, and 
 historic Ouincy and Dorchester, by the eastern wards of Boston, and down 
 to the northern peninsula, gathering here and there a bit of picturesque 
 history, a half-forgotten legend, a gem from the rich treasures of Motley or 
 Everett or Thoreau or Longfellow. It now remains to sail down among 
 and through the islands, and so on out to sea : — 
 
 " When the pink sails at sunset faded out, 
 Far, far, north-east, when, outward-bound, the fleet 
 Left home and love behind, and steered away." 
 
ICING'S II AX D HOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 129 
 
 Castle Mattti anti JFort Entiqjcntjence* 
 
 THE OLD PURITAN STRONGHOLD. — PROVINCIAL AND BRITISH GARRISONS.— 
 THE VIRGIN FORTRESS. 
 
 ROWNING over the channel, zh miles from Bos- 
 ton, and 900 yards from South Boston, rise the 
 batteries of Castle Island. As far back as#i853 
 Dr. J. V. C. Smith predicted that in time a 
 solid mass of buildings, the homes of 300,000 
 people, would extend on reclaimed land out to 
 Thompson's Island. The present Fort Independ- 
 ence is a handsome and substantial stone structure, 
 erected since 1850, on the site of Castle William. It 
 has five sides, each of which is commanded by projecting 
 bastions and flank defences, with large howitzers in the casemates and< 
 15-inch Rodman guns on the barbettes. The accuracy and enormous 
 power of the latter have been tested by firing at targets on the outer 
 point of Thompson's Island. In the casemates which overlook the ship- 
 channel is a long line of the heaviest guns, with a formidable battery of 10- 
 inch smooth-bores on the barbette above, protected from a raking fire from 
 down the harbor by very thick traverses. There are several outworks, also, 
 with grim-looking armaments, and long lines of ponderous guns on the 
 parade-ground, with pyramids of black cannon-balls beside them. Probably 
 Col. Best, who commands the defences of Boston, would object to a more 
 technical account of the number and calibres of the cannon here, which 
 might fall into the hands of some Chilian or Chinese admiral, and forever 
 frighten hostile vessels from the front of the city. 
 
 Several inclined planes and stone stairways lead from the enclosed pen- 
 tagonal parade-ground to the top of the rampart, whence very charming 
 views are afforded, especially across the islands to the eastward. Beneath, 
 and opening toward the parade, are the cavernous quarters of the garrison, 
 the storehouses, bakeries, ordnance-rooms, and other adjuncts of a fortress. 
 Back of the fort, and just outside its picturesque old gate, are two stately 
 elms ; and a line of chestnut and elm trees leads thence to the southward, 
 towards the row of pretty brown cottages which were once used for the 
 officers' quarters. The rich greensward affords pasturage for a few luxu- 
 rious cows and a sinecured horse, who approach the infrequent visitors to 
 the island with a kindly interest, born of uneventful lives. In 1804 the Sec- 
 
I30 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 retary of War wrote to Capt. Freeman, who commanded here for many 
 long years, " I have no objection to two cows being kept for the use of the 
 garrison ; but I cannot conceive there will be any use for a horse on Castle 
 Island." The cows stay on, though the garrison is forever gone ; and the 
 nobler animal which so puzzled Secretary Dearborn, eighty years ago, still 
 grazes along the glacis. Near these fragrant pastures, the thick grass tan- 
 gles itself around the mouldering wheels of a battery of 30-pound Parrott 
 guns, which, in times now growing ancient, thundered their fatal warnings 
 among the hills of Virginia. The low and broad-based white building near 
 the head of the western wharf was the home of the commanders of the 
 fort, where Arnold, De Russey, Hayes, Best, and other well-known officers, 
 had their headquarters, and dispensed a courtly hospitality, after the manner 
 of the old army traditions. The architecture of the house, with its sur- 
 rounding verandas, seems to indicate that it was planned by some veteran 
 from the far Southern posts, — from Pensacola perhaps, or Mobile ; and the 
 pathetic little forget-me-nots, whose clustering blue-and-gold stars gleam in 
 the weedy and neglected garden, may be mementoes of the fair ladies of the 
 Hayes family, whose father, a gray old general, passed hence to the eternal 
 soldiers' home. Near the west front of the fort is the cemetery, with the 
 graves of soldiers who have died within thirty years, most of them marked 
 with tablets bearing the melancholy word, Unknown. There are also two or 
 three forgotten graves of Massachusetts volunteers, on which no Decoration- 
 day flowers are laid ; and the battered old tombstone of Edward Pursley, 
 who died here in 1767. Farther out, on the south point of the island, is the 
 large building of the hospital, through which these veterans made their last 
 march. One of the quaint old epitaphs in the garrison cemetery (now lost) 
 
 read thus : " Here lies the body of John , aged jo, A faithful soldier, 
 
 and a desperate good Gardener." 
 
 In the 250 years during which this island has been the main bulwark of 
 the port, there have happened many strange things, many quaint occur- 
 rences, and many tragic episodes, at a few of which we may glance in pass- 
 ing. The fortress had' its birth in the very dawn of the history of the Bay 
 colony, even before Cromwell bore witness to the virtues of religious faith 
 and dry powder. Fort Hill, in Boston, was adorned with a battery as early 
 as 1632; but the cautious Puritans thought it would be better to hold an 
 enemy at bay (if need came) farther down the harbor, out of gunshot of the 
 sacred First Church. After Winthrop and his councillors had been half 
 frozen at Hull, looking for a place to build " ffortyficaeons," they allowed the 
 question to rest until about midsummer of 1634, when Governor Dudley and 
 his Council, with " divers Ministers and others,'' visited Castle Island, and, 
 in the rich beauty of a July afternoon, voted that it was exactly the place 
 for a fortress. Two platforms and a small earthwork were erected, under 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARJWN 
 
 131 
 
 the supervision of Roger Ludlow of Dorchester; the General Court resolv- 
 ing soon afterwards that "The ffort att Castle Hand, nowe begun, shalbe 
 fully pfected, the ordnance mounted, evry other thing aboute it ffinished, 
 before any other ffort ificacon be further proceeded in." Captain Simpkins, of 
 the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, became the first commander 
 of the Castle, and was succeeded by Gibbons and Morris. In 1635 one of 
 the Castle officers was Thomas Beecher, who had come over as master 
 of the Talbot, in Winthrop's fleet. Among his de- ,.,,,., 
 
 scendants is Henry Ward Beecher. Lieut. 
 Morris was deposed and banished from 
 Massachusetts in 1638, because he sup- 
 ported the hated Antinomian heresy of 
 Mrs. Hutchinson. He had also 
 caused great scan- 
 dal by his 
 
 Main Gate, Fort Independence. 
 
 adherence to the flag of England, whose cross was deemed heathenish by the 
 Puritans. The St. George's cross was left out of the colors of the Boston 
 train-bands, as savoring of Popery, but remained on the Castle standard, to 
 avoid trouble with England. Sewall wrote, " I was and am in great exercise 
 about the Cross to be put into the Colours, and afraid if I should have a hand 
 in't, whether it may not hinder my Entrance into the Holy Land." Other zeal- 
 
132 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 ous Puritans even made way with the Castle flag, and the masters of the ships 
 in the harbor raised great complaints thereat. Harry Vane, who was then 
 governor, feared that if these honest sailors returned to England, reporting 
 that there was no standard on the defences of Boston, the colonists would 
 be denounced as rebels ; wherefore he ordered that the royal colors should 
 be displayed at the Castle. This, as the ingenious Rev. John Cotton 
 pointed out, could not be construed as an approval by Boston of the detested 
 and idolatrous cross, in view of the fact that the Castle pertained to the 
 king. But no English flag could be found in the town, and the governor 
 was obliged to accept one offered by the captain of a ship. Many years 
 later, after our Sir Harry Vane had been immortalized in one of Milton's 
 noblest sonnets, he led the Republican party in the English Parliament, 
 headed the Solemn League and Covenant, rivalled and was imprisoned by 
 Oliver Cromwell, and on the restoration of the Stuart monarchy received 
 the crown of martyrdom for freedom, meeting his death like a very gallant 
 knight and gentleman. 
 
 In 1635 three cannon (one of which belonged to Deputy-Gov. Belling- 
 ham) were carried down on lighters to the Castle ; and the garrison soon 
 showed that they intended to be recognized in the harbor, by firing on the 
 ship St. Pat?'ick, and forcing her to strike her colors. A gentle hint was 
 not always enough, for about this time the pinnace of one Anderson stood 
 out three shots before she would heave to. The English sea-captains found 
 it hard to comply with the etiquette of this mud fort, which demanded as 
 much respectful notice as if it had been South-Sea Castle or the Tower of 
 London. In 1637 three ships from Ipswich, England, sailed up the harbor, 
 bearing 360 passengers. One of them refused to anchor in front of the 
 Castle, and the vigilant gunner tried to fire a shot across her bows. The 
 cannon was badly aimed, for the ball struck the vessel, and killed a passen- 
 ger in the shrouds. The governor and his inquest decided that this un- 
 happy immigrant " came to his death by the Providence of God," — a verdict 
 which must have excited great admiration among the coloaial Dogberries. 
 
 It was rather bold and deadly work for obscure transatlantic artil- 
 lerists to be doing. At any rate, the General Court thought it hardly worth 
 while to spend money in keeping this hornets' nest in repair; and so it was 
 abandoned the next year. Several citizens, however, kept the works in 
 order voluntarily, aided by small grants, until 1643, when the ordnance and 
 ammunition were removed to Cambridge, Charlestown, and Ipswich, and 
 the island passed into Capt. Gibbons's hands, by lease. When La Tour's 
 French frigate, the Clement, sailed up the harbor a few weeks later, and 
 fired a salute, there was no one at the Castle to answer it; and no one to 
 oppose her, had the intent been hostile. This evident danger aroused the 
 citizens, and in 1644 delegates from Boston and the five adjacent towns 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK- OF BOSTON HARBOR. 1 33 
 
 petitioned the General Court to restore the Castle and garrison. Their 
 prayer was refused (even then the country members voted on principle 
 against Boston measures); and with great difficulty the six towns got per- 
 mission to build a fort here at their own expense, on condition, furthermore, 
 that the work so built should belong (not to the contributing towns, but) to 
 the Colony. 
 
 A singular report was carried abroad to England before 1650, and 
 printed there, that " eighteen Turkish men-of-war had attacked and burned 
 Charlestown, killing 40 of its citizens, and holding the remainder for ran- 
 som." Those were the days when the Moslem corsairs swept the seas ; 
 and in many a smoky English forecastle the sailors drearily sang the ballad 
 which begins, — 
 
 " Oh, I have got a ship in the north country, 
 She goes by the name of the Bold Galatee ; 
 But I am afraid she will be taken by that Turkish galley 
 
 As she sails along the Lowlands, 
 
 Lowlands low ; 
 
 As she sails along the Lowlands low." 
 
 Boston was not to be surprised by such a phenomenal attack of the 
 gallant Asiatics, or even by the nearer French or Dutch naval guerillas. 
 In order that the Allah il Allah or the Angelus should not sound from the 
 site of the godly First Church, the castle was restored, and well garnished 
 with black British guns. The new commander was Lieut. Davenport ; and 
 his instructions bore warrant to examine all vessels coming in ; to allow trad- 
 ing-ships to enter and depart freely ; and to send half his garrison (of twenty 
 men) to town each Sunday, to attend divine worship. He was ordered, "the 
 Lord having furnished him with able gifts," to take care of the garrison as 
 his own family"; and had a third of the island for himself, and a tenth for 
 the gunner. The town tried to induce ten families to settle on the island, 
 in the hope of thus having a permanent and resident group of militiamen 
 under the walls of the defences. 
 
 During the civil war in England a ship arrived at Boston from one of 
 the Royalist ports, and was straightway attacked and captured by a parlia- 
 mentary vessel from London. The Castle opened fire on the latter, for an 
 infraction of the peace ; and the Londoner's guns returned the cannonade. 
 Finally, however, she yielded ; and the unfortunate Royalist ship, wrested 
 from her possession, was made a prize by the Massachusetts authorities. 
 The commander of the fort was ordered " not to permit any more ships to 
 fight in the harbor, without Licence from Authority." The delicious quaint- 
 ness of this colonial edict must have profoundly affected the belligerent 
 naval parties, for we hear of no further engagements about Boston during 
 
134 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the civil war. Perhaps, however, the sea-dogs of king or parliament could 
 not afford to get the necessary license. Without this, they must keep as 
 quiet as fishing-boats; for, in 1645, the Legislature ordered the "cheife 
 millitary officer of the trayne band of the towne of Boston " to arm and 
 garrison his batteries, and " If any shipps w th in yo r harbor shall quarrell, & 
 shoote one at another, whereby the people or howses may be endangered, 
 you shall use your endevor and Power to stay and suppresse such attempts, 
 & to bring such shipp or shipps under comand." At the same time, the 
 Legislature '' not taking it well, yt ye Castle is & hath binn so long neglected 
 by ye sevll tounes yt undertooke the finishing thereof," ordered Boston to 
 complete the Castle gates within a fortnight, on penalty of a heavy fine. 
 ^150 were appropriated for the works, and ^280 for yearly pay for the 
 garrison, which consisted of a captain and ten men in winter, and ten addi- 
 tional soldiers during the rest of the year. Three years later this force 
 suffered a reduction ; and it was appointed that " uppon an alarum given by 
 the Castle, viz., by shootinge off two great guns, & fireing of a beacon, and 
 hoysting & lowering the flag, or anny two of the sd signes," a re-enforcement 
 of forty men should instantly be sent down from Boston. 
 
 In 1651 the Legislature passed this order: "Forasmuch as this Courte 
 conceives the old English colours now used by the Parliament of England 
 to be a necessary badge .of distinction betwext the English & other nations 
 in all places of the world, till the state of England shall alter the same, 
 which we much desire, we being of the same nation, hath therfore ordered, 
 that the capt. of the Castle shall presently advaunce the afforesaid colours 
 of England uppon the Castle uppon all necessary occasions." Davenport, 
 the cross-hater, was sorely galled at this order, but perforce obeyed it. He 
 was a grim old Puritan, who came across the sea two years before Win- 
 throp's colony; and had been so delighted with Endicott's act in cutting 
 out the cross of St. George from the English flag, that' he named his 
 daughter Truecross. His equipment now included two boats, a drum, six 
 murtherers, and two muskets and pikes for each soldier. The works were 
 thus described by a contemporary: "There was a small Castle built with 
 brick walls, and had three rooms in it; a dwelling Room below, a lodging 
 Room over it. the Gun room over that, wherein stood six very good Saker 
 Guns, and over it upon the Top Three lesser Guns." And in 1654 it was 
 written in The Wonder- Working Providence, that "The Castle is built on 
 the North-East of the Island, upon a rising hill, very advantageous to make 
 many shots at such ships as shall offer to enter the Harbor without their 
 good leave and liking, the Commander of it is one Captain Davenport, a 
 man approved for his faithfulness, courage, and skill, the Master Cannoneer 
 is an active Ingineer; also this Castle hath cost about ,£4,000, yet are not 
 this poor pilgrim people weary of maintaining it in good repair, it is of very 
 
h'IA r G\S HANDBOOK ()/■ HOS'J'ON //A ABO A'. 
 
 *35 
 
 good use to awe any insolent persons that putting confidence in their ship 
 and sails, shall offer any injury to the people, or contemn the Government, 
 they have certain signals of alarums, which suddenly spread through the 
 whole country. Thus are these people with great diligence provided for 
 these daies of war, hoping the day is at hand wherein the Lord will give 
 
 Casemate Battery and Southern Face, Fort Independence. 
 
 Antichrist the double of all her doings, and therefore they have nursed up 
 in their Artillery garden some who have since been used, as instruments 
 to begin the work." 
 
 Soon afterward Boston sent a great bell down to the Castle, probably 
 for use in alarming the bay-villages. It was one of the bells which a Yan- 
 kee sea-rover captured on a ship bound for New France or New Spain, and 
 
136 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 had been destined for the tower of a Roman-Catholic church. It appears 
 that some reminiscence of the Inquisition must have come with this melo- 
 dious gift ; and so, about this time, we find tokens that the little colonial 
 Gibraltar began to be used for sinister purposes. In 1661 the General 
 Court ordered " Nicholas Upshall to be imprisoned at Castle I for drawing 
 Quakers here. None to speak to or see him but his own family." Probably 
 other heretics against the State religion were interned in the little block- 
 houses on the island, and held on the rack of the east winds. 
 
 In 1665 a flash of lightning killed Capt. Davenport, as he lay on his bed, 
 alongside the powder-magazine. Another grim Roundhead soldier, Capt. 
 Roger Clap, was put in command of the Castle, and held it for 21 years, 
 resigning then, rather than carry out an odious order of Sir Edmund Andros. 
 He would have none but pious men in his garrison ; and " in his time it 
 might be seen that Religious and well disposed men might take upon them 
 the calling of a souldier, without danger of hurting their morals or their 
 good name." The garrison now consisted of several officers, with 20 soldiers 
 from Boston, 12 each from Charlestown and Dorchester, and 10 from Rox- 
 bury. Clap demanded that the port-holes should be repaired ; and that the 
 platform should have additional supports, since it sustained six guns, each 
 of 3,000 pounds weight, and also, on training-days, crowds of people. He 
 also complained that he had endeavored to stop the leaks into the rooms, 
 but in a short time they would again be in the same condition as before ; 
 that in the frequent hard rains he and his wife had been driven from their 
 beds because they were so wet with rain, and had to leave their small house 
 for the Castle for shelter in dark stormy nights, and " sometimes in snow 
 above my wife's knees." She certainly expressed a reasonable desire that 
 she might live in such quarters, " that in the cold winter she may not go so 
 far out of dores to bed, if the Court will be pleased to show us the favor." 
 Edward Everett says that " When the great Dutch admiral De Ruyter, the 
 year [1665] after that famous Annus Mwabilis, immortalized by Dryden, 
 having swept the coast of Africa, had been ordered to the West Indies, 
 'intending,' says Capt. Clap, not a whit daunted at the thought, 'to visit us,' 
 the Captain adds, with honest exultation, ' Our battery was also repaired, 
 wherein are seven good guns.' " 
 
 In 1673, ' b having considered the awful hand of God in the destruction 
 of the Castle by fier," the General Court ordered it rebuilt; and the next 
 year came one of the earliest official junketings in Boston Harbor, when 
 " Itt is ordered, that the whole Court on the morrow morning goe to the 
 Castle to view it, as it is now finisht, & see how the countrys money is layde 
 out thereupon, & that on the countrys charge; which was donn." They had 
 been aided in the expense of construction by a singular dispensation of 
 judicial Providence. It seems that Governor Bellingham, a victim of 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. I 37 
 
 occasional mental derangement, died in 1672, leaving a large property for 
 charitable purposes. But his will was somewhat incoherent; and therefore, 
 after heated discussions, the General Court cut the Gordian knot by devot- 
 ing the entire estate to rebuilding the Castle-Island fort. To increase this 
 fund, and maintain repairs, every vessel above the size of twelve tons was 
 obliged to pay a shilling a ton for each voyage to Boston, to be applied to 
 the fortifications. ^160 a year had been granted for the Castle, with which 
 the captain must pay himself, the gunner, and the three soldiers of the gar- 
 rison ; but the contributing towns paid chiefly in shoes and corn; and Clap 
 gloomily wrote that " had not your petitioner through God's goodness some 
 estate of his own, he might sometime be put into straits, and so he is also 
 like to be to get wood to burn on this cold island, and other things he wants 
 which cost him a great deal of money in a year." 
 
 In 1676 Edward Randolph thus described the fort: "Three miles from 
 Boston, upon a small island, there is a castle of stone lately built, and in 
 good repair, with four bastions, and mounted with 38 guns, 16 whole cul- 
 verins, commodiously seated upon a rising ground sixty paces from the 
 waterside, under which at high-water mark is a small stone battery of six 
 guns. The present commander is one Captain Clap, an old man ; his salary 
 ^50 per annum. There belong to it six gunners, each £\o per annum." 
 Clap went off duty in 1686, and was succeeded rapidly by Winthrop, Sav- 
 age, Pipon, and Fairweather. In the same year the gunner, Supply Clap, 
 was killed, on the island, and buried to the mournful sound of minute-guns. 
 
 In Drake's "Captain Nelson," we read that "The Castle, as it was then 
 and still is called, was a regular and well-built work of stone, with bastions 
 at each of its four angles, and a formidable array of cannon on its walls. 
 All vessels were required to lower their colors in passing ; and such as were 
 outward bound to exhibit a pass, signed by the governor, before they could 
 proceed to sea. As the captain of the Castle was expected to enforce exact 
 obedience to these regulations, the approach to Stamboul was not more 
 strictly guarded." This is not the only mention of Castle Island in the pages 
 of romance ; for when Lydia Maria Child wrote " The Rebels," full sixty 
 years ago, she located here one of its most exciting scenes, the burial of 
 the treasure-chest, an episode quite in the vein of " The Mysteries of 
 Udolpho." 
 
 To return to the quaint old-time records : In January, 1686, according to 
 Sewall's diary, it was "extream cold, so that the Harbour frozen up, and to 
 the Castle. This day so cold that the Sacramental Bread is frozen pretty 
 hard, and rattles sadly as broken into the Plates." Later in the year Presi- 
 dent Dudley was received with a salute of 25 guns, as he sailed by in a 
 royal frigate. After 1691 the lieutenant-governors became ex-officio com- 
 manders of the Castle, which was for a few years known as Fort William 
 
I38 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and Mary. As soon as the Boston people heard of the landing of the 
 Prince of Orange in England, in 1689, and his marching against the tyran- 
 nical and papistical King James, they rose in arms against Sir Edmund 
 Andros, James's representative, and seized his forts at Boston. 5,000 armed 
 New-Englanders paraded in the town, and soon captured the Castle and its 
 garrison of regulars, and also the royal frigate Rose in the harbor. An- 
 dros was imprisoned at the Castle, with the chief officers of his government ; 
 one of whom, Commissioner Palmer, wrote here, while the pleasant spring 
 days enlivened the harbor, his famous " Impartial Account of the State of 
 New England." Andros did not take his captivity kindly, but often tried to 
 escape. Disguised as a woman, he passed two lines of sentinels ; but the 
 outer guard recognized military boots under his skirts, and haled him back. 
 Again, his servant made the sentry very drunk ; and Sir Edmund left the 
 Castle, and got as far as Rhode Island, whence he was returned to captivity 
 once more. For eight months the noble baronet languished on the island, 
 under Puritan guards, regretfully remembering the days when he was one of 
 the freest and merriest officers of Prince Rupert's bold dragoons. Years 
 later he became governor of Virginia, where the cavaliers endured his 
 sabre-knot ?-egime for many years ; and he founded William and Mary 
 College for their elevation. 
 
 After the unhappy knights and gentlemen of England had been set free, 
 quiet reigned in the little fort for some years. But in 1696 the apprehen- 
 sions of a French naval attack caused the committee on defences to order 
 new batteries and bastions at Castle Island; and they had a number of 
 ships moored in the harbor, " in line of battle, to annoy the king's enemies 
 in case of an attack." Finally, in 1701, all the old Colonial works on Castle 
 Island were removed, and a scientific fortification of brick was commenced. 
 The slab over the portal bore the following inscription (in Latin) : " In the 
 thirteenth year of William III., most invincible king of Great Britain, 
 France, and Ireland, this fortification (called Castle William — Wilhelmi 
 Castellum — from his name) was undertaken; and was finished in the 
 second year of the reign of the most serene Anne, Queen of Great Britain, 
 France, and Ireland, and in the year of Our Lord 1703. Built by the 
 Tribune William Wolfgang Romer, chief military engineer to their Royal 
 Majesties in North America." Boston committees supervised the new 
 constructions, and with difficulty kept peace between Romer and the colonial 
 officers. Even Sewall himself was obliged to go down to the island, and 
 tell " the young men that if any intemperate language proceeded from Col. 
 Romer, t'was not intended to countenance that, or encourage their imita- 
 tion ; but observe his direction in things wherein he was skilful and ordered 
 to govern the work." A considerable part of the cost of the Castle was 
 borne by the British Government, whose officers had therefore a right to 
 
■ KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 1 39 
 
 name the new outworks, the Crown, Rose, Royal, and Elizabeth Bastions. 
 Some part of the wall of Romer's fort still remains, hidden under the 
 granite ashlar of the present works. New troubles soon arose; for Sewall 
 reports, in August, 1703: "It is said the Colors must be spread at the 
 Castle every Lord's Day in honor of it. Yesterday was first practised. If 
 a ship come in on the Lord's Day, Colors must be taken down. I am 
 afraid the Lord's Day will fare none the better for this new pretended 
 honor." And a year later he added : "1704. Lord's day, April 23. There 
 is great firing at the town, ships, Castle, upon account of it being the 
 Coronation day, which gives offence to many. Down Sabbath, up St. 
 George!" In 1709, when a delegation of Mohawk Indians came to Bos- 
 ton, on their way to England, they were shown over the Castle, with high 
 military ceremony. At this time, and for many years, Capt. John Larrabee 
 was in charge of the works. In 171 1 the alarm was sounded from the 
 Castle, and re-echoed by drums beating to arms in Boston streets. But 
 the incoming fleet was friendly, and the batteries soon saluted the fifteen 
 great frigates and five veteran regiments (of Marlborough's army) which 
 Lord Bolingbroke had sent from England to conquer Canada. In 1725 
 another and larger party of Indians were sent here as captives; but they 
 very ingeniously evaded the sentinels, and escaped from the island. A few 
 years later the annual trainings were held on the island ; and the brave 
 militiamen received copious refreshments of biscuits, cheese, and punch. 
 In 1740 the ice in the inner harbor was unbroken for weeks, and many 
 people drove down to the island over the firm and level surface of ice. 
 
 When Gov. -Burnett came to assume his jurisdiction over Massachu- 
 setts, in 1728, the Castle gave him a resounding salute ; and Mather Byles 
 (perhaps in view of the fact that the new executive was the son of the 
 famous Bishop of Salisbury) wrote a stately poem, in which we find the 
 following Cowperian lines : — 
 
 " And thou, Boston, Mistress of the Towns, 
 Whom the pleas'd Bay, with am'rous arms, surrounds, 
 Let thy warm transports blaze in num'rous fires, 
 And beaming Glories glitter on thy Spires.'' 
 
 Boston watched her little fortress with tender care, and the subject came 
 up in almost every town-meeting. In 1735 the report went out that the 
 mortar had deteriorated so much that the walls were crumbling ; and the 
 engineers erected a new battery at the eastern end of the island. Five 
 years later the guns were carefully re-mounted. In 1744 the town rejoiced 
 at the arrival of twenty 42-pounders and two mortars, sent from England 
 for the Castle. These guns were taken out on the Provincial fleet the next 
 year, and did grand service in the bombardment of the French fortress of 
 
14O KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Louisburg. There they were managed by Gridley, who had been one of 
 the chief engineers of the Castle, and hammered down the Grand Battery 
 and the King's Bastion, and poured their heavy missiles into the heart 
 of the great Catholic fortress. A year later the island batteries saluted 
 the entering ships of Sir William Pepperell and Admiral Warren, returning 
 victorious from the siege of " the Dunkirk of America, whose sombre 
 towers rose like giants over the northern seas." Another year passed ; and 
 hundreds of citizens were seen upon the island, repairing and building 
 fortifications, while 6,400 rural militia crowded the streets and Common of 
 Boston. A grand armada of 16 ships-of-the-line and 95 frigates, with an 
 army on board, had been sent by France to destroy the spoilers of Louis- 
 
 bourg. 
 
 "For this Admiral d'Anville 
 
 Had sworn by cross and crown 
 To ravage with fire and steel 
 Our helpless Boston town." 
 
 Longfellow tells, in his " Ballad of the French Fleet," how their plans 
 came to nought. But, had they escaped the perils of the sea, what could 
 our little Yankee forts have done against so vast an embattled host ? Yet 
 in 1750 Capt. Peter Goelet, of New York, reported that "The Harbour is 
 defended by a Strong Castle of a Hundred Guns, Built upon An Island 
 where the Shipping must pass by and within hale. Its Situation is Ex- 
 traordenary as it Commands on Every Side and is Well Built and kept in 
 Exceeding Good Order." 
 
 John Phillips, whose father, grandfather, and great-agjandfather were 
 New-England divines, held the position of chaplain of the Castle from 1746 
 to 1759. Sir William Pepperell and Gov. Pownall had the keys of com- 
 mand during a part of that time ; and Chaplain Phillips was made resident 
 commander from 1759 to l 77°i being the last Massachusetts Provincial 
 officer in charge of the island. The defences were composed of a star- 
 fort on the high ground, a long water-battery near the channel, and two 
 block-houses at the ends of the island. Some of the best American artil- 
 lerists in the Revolution received their first lessons here. The Massachu- 
 setts soldiers in garrison generally numbered about fifty men, and were 
 quartered in the citadel ; while in the spacious barracks outside, the veterans 
 of Shirley and Pepperell were kept in 1753, the Royal Americans in 1758, 
 Irving's Provincials in 1765, and several companies of Royal Artillery in 
 1766-67. When Gov. Pownall arrived at the seat of his government, the 
 conqueror of Louisburg, who was also the senior councillor, held the com- 
 mand of Castle William. Sir William Pepperell, in presenting to the gov- 
 ernor the kev of this fortress, observed that the Castle was the key of the 
 Province. His Excellency replied, " Sir, the interest of the Province is in 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 141 
 
 your heart : 1 shall, therefore, always be glad to see the key of it in your 
 hands." 
 
 In 1 761 the remnants of the Acadian people were shipped to Massachu- 
 setts, to be scattered among the Bay towns. But the vessels were brought 
 to off Castle William, and held there, under its batteries, while the General 
 Court debated as to what to do with these mournful exiles. At last it was 
 resolved that they should not be allowed to land, and the transports were 
 sent to sea again. 
 
 Between 1760 and 1770 there were two imposing funerals here, when Sir 
 Thomas Adams, commander of the Boston frigate, and the daughter of 
 Governor Sir Francis Bernard, were buried. When Fort Independence was 
 built, the workmen discovered their corpses, enclosed in elaborate coffins, 
 under arches of masonry. They were carried to the south point, and 
 re-buried; but, as no one then knew of their history, they were placed 
 among the graves of the common soldiers, and all 'trace of the spot has 
 been lost. 
 
 In 1764 the barracks of Castle William, then accommodating 480 men, 
 were opened for inoculated patients, during the raging of the small-pox. 
 3,000 persons were inoculated, and several doctors were in residence at the 
 castle. Four years later the Royal commissioners fled from angry Boston, 
 and took refuge here. Near the West Head, at this time, stood a block- 
 house, wherein the officers dwelt ; while the older block-house, where many 
 of the soldiers were quartered, was on the most southerly point. Shirley's 
 battery was a strong detached work on East Head, commanding Shirley Gut. 
 For six years the 4>ost was held by British garrisons. At the time of the 
 Tea-Party the eannoh were kept loaded ; and Copley, the celebrated artist, 
 visited the island in unsuccessful endeavor to mediate between the towns- 
 people and the Royal officials. In September, 1770, a Royal order reached 
 Gov. Hutchinson, in virtue of which he was obliged to give up the castle 
 to Col. Dalrymple, who was stationed at Boston with the Fourteenth and 
 Twenty-ninth Regiments. 
 
 After the Boston Massacre the citizens demanded that the Royal troops 
 be taken out of the town, and they were accordingly quartered at the Castle. 
 The soldiers found consolation in singing the following, and other verses of 
 
 animosity : — 
 
 "Our fleet and our army, they soon will arrive; 
 Then to a bleak island you shall not us drive. 
 In every house you shall have three or four, 
 And, if that will not please you, you shall have half a score. 
 Derry down, down, hey derry down." 
 
 Soon afterwards the Twenty-ninth went to New Jersey, and the Four- 
 teenth sailed to the West Indies. A few years later, when the Fourth, 
 
142 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Fifth, Thirty-eighth, and Forty-third British Regiments lay on Boston 
 Common, and the Welsh Fusileers held Fort Hill, the Castle was garri- 
 - soned by Col. Leslie's Sixty-fourth Regiment, and contained nearly all the 
 Royal stores and powder from New York. The troops that raided on Salem 
 were embarked here ; and frequent scouting-parties landed at City Point, 
 destroying the buildings on the peninsula, and carrying off detached Ameri- 
 //can pickets. In March, 1776, the Castle batteries were trained on the adja- 
 cent heights of South Boston, and poured a hot fire upon the new American 
 forts there. But the Continental troops, sheltered by Gridley's admirable 
 intrenchments, replied fearlessly ; devoting most of their shot, however, to 
 the British lines nearer the town. These were the liveliest days the island 
 ever saw ; and its guns, directed against the people whom they were meant 
 to protect, roared hotly over the rebel bay. When the town was evacuated, 
 the garrison burned the barracks, blew up the magazine, and otherwise 
 devastated the island. Washington sent Col. John Trumbull down, as soon 
 as possible, to take possession of the burning Castle, and save what he 
 could from the general wreck. (Trumbull was then fresh from Harvard 
 College, and in later years he perpetuated his memories of the Revolution 
 in the huge paintings now in the Rotunda at Washington.) The Conti- 
 nental troops restored the works almost immediately, under the command of 
 Lieut.-Col. Paul Revere ; and when the French frigate Hermione, 36, sailed 
 up the harbor in 1779, bearing the Marquis de Lafayette, Castle William 
 gave her a good republican salute. In 1778 Gridley renewed the works, 
 under the direction of Congress ; he being then chief engineer of the Conti- 
 nental army. The rubbish was removed, as far as possible ; and an epaule- 
 ment arose on the site of the Shirley bastion, armed with disabled guns 
 left here, to which new trunnions had been added. When the British frig- 
 ate Somerset was wrecked on Cape Cod, in 1778, her armament of 21 hand- 
 some 32-pounders was saved, and mounted on the Castle. The garrison 
 during much of the Revolution consisted of an invalid corps, and the bar- 
 racks were used as a station for recruits. When Washington visited Bos- 
 ton in 1789, the batteries here made grand salutes. A contemporary picture 
 shows the island as a high embrasured bluff, with several plain buildings 
 on and about it, a pier running out toward the channel, and a preternatu- 
 rally long flag. At this time there were 150 cannon on the island, most of 
 which had been abandoned by the British when they fled from Boston. 
 The first salute fired here by a British frigate in honor of the American flag 
 was in 1791, when H.B.M.S. A lligator sailed up the harbor, and discharged 
 thirteen guns when passing the Castle, which were returned by the artil- 
 lerists on the island. The commander of the Alligator was Sir Isaac 
 Coffin, a native of Boston, who afterwards became a famous British admiral. 
 In 1799 the Duke of Rochefoucauld-Liancourt reported that he had been 
 
AVA r G'S HANDBOOK' OF BOSTON I/ARBOR. 
 
 143 
 
 informed by Gen. Knox, late Secretary of War, that Congress had appro- 
 priated #100,000 to fortify these islands, but that the State of Massachu- 
 setts had forbidden the prosecution of the work. From 1785 until 1805 
 the criminals of the State were confined on the island. Among these was 
 Stephen Burroughs, one. of the quaintest of rascals; none of the county jails 
 being thought strong enough to hold him. There were at first 16 prisoners 
 here, many of them hardened and desperate criminals. Burroughs quickly 
 effected his escape, with seven companions, by digging through the wall 
 of the casemate, and carrying off the Castle boat and the sentry who 
 should have guarded it. They were all re-captured on shore, and received 
 100 lashes each. At a later day, when there were 45 prisoners in the 
 bombproof, he formed a plan to overpower the garrison, overawe the town 
 
 
 » 
 
 Castle William 
 
 Last Century: 
 
 with the artillery of the fort, capture and heavily arm the best vessel in 
 the harbor, and sail away to some foreign land, after blowing up the Castle. 
 Burroughs attacked and dispersed the main guard single-handed ; but his 
 fellow-convicts feared to follow him, and the brave fellow was stricken down, 
 ironed, and lashed. He remained in duress until the year 1788. 
 
 From 1 799-1801 the Castle was used as a place of captivity for soldiers' 
 and sailors of France, with which power we were then at war. Sometimes 
 there were as many as 250 of these merry fellows here at once, especially 
 after the capture of the war- vessel Berceauj but the garrison found no such 
 difficulty with them as with the truculent criminals of Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1798 Massachusetts ceded Castle Island to the United States; and 
 when President John Adams visited the island, a year later, the little fortress 
 
144 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 was christened Fort Independence. Four years afterwards a new barbette 
 fort was finished here, with bastions named Winthrop, Shirley, Hancock, 
 Adams, and Dearborn ; the constructing engineer having been Lieut.-Col. 
 Tousard, 2d Artillery, who was succeeded by Col. Foncin, formerly gov- 
 ernor of the French colony of Cayenne. Ten years later Gen. Dearborn 
 put the island in posture of defence, under apprehension of a British naval 
 attack, and fully garrisoned the fort and outworks. 
 
 During the War of 1812 Fort Independence was occupied by details of 
 Massachusetts militia, largely from Dorchester and adjacent towns, whose 
 discipline was rapidly perfected amid these grim and warlike environments. 
 The commanders of the post between 1808 and 1828 were Gen. Moses Por- 
 ter, a veteran of Bunker Hill and of Washington's campaigns ; Gen. John P. 
 Boyd, who had commanded 10,000 Indian cavalry at Madras, and led a bri- 
 gade at Tippecanoe and in the war in Upper Canada ; Gen. James Miller, 
 who fought so gallantly at Lundy's Lane ; William Gates, who afterwards 
 captured Osceola, and led the Cherokees from Georgia to the Indian Terri- 
 tory; Col. Isaac Lane, a veteran of many battles; Col. Nathan Towson, the 
 famous artillerist who defended Fort George and Fort Erie so well; Col. 
 Abraham Eustis, who led the light artillery in the attack on Toronto; Gen. 
 John R. Fenwick, a South - Carolinian, badly wounded at Oueenstown 
 Heights ; and Gen. W. K. Armistead of Virginia, who commanded in the 
 famous Seminole campaigns of Florida. Among the subordinates in the 
 garrison were Col. J. Snelling, from whom a fort in Minnesota was named ; 
 Samuel Cooper, who became adjutant-general of the rebel army in i86t ; 
 and B. L. E. Bonneville, the Tennesseean officer whose journal of a jour- 
 ney across the Rocky Mountains was edited by Washington Irving. 
 
 On the lonely shores of City Point, occasional duels took place, as when 
 Rand and Miller met there in mortal combat. The officers at the fort saw 
 them, and sent a barge to stop the fight; but, before it reached the shore, 
 Rand was shot through the heart, leaped high in the air, and fell dead. 
 The island itself was the scene of several duels ; and on the glacis still 
 stands the marble monument of Lieut. Massie of the Light Artillery, who 
 was slain in this manner (in 181 7) when but 21 years \>f age. The pathetic 
 little memorial bears this couplet: — 
 
 Here Honour comes, a Pilgrim gray, 
 To Deck the turf, that wraps his clay. 
 
 In the quiet years succeeding the War of 1812, a small garrison remained 
 here, whose most interesting member was private Rochford, a veteran of 
 Wolfe's Canadian campaigns and a British soldier at Bunker Hill, who 
 drifted hither in his white old age, and had a home given him on the island. 
 He was the minstrel of the post, continually composing songs of war and 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 145 
 
 adventure, which he sang to groups of his comrades, sunning themselves on 
 the quiet parade-ground. Occasionally there was a flurry of excitement, as 
 when (in 1806) a band of Sacs and Foxes, Osages and Pawnees, were re- 
 ceived here with military honors; or when Gov. Strong visited this alien stron- 
 hold in his sovereign State ; or at the unfortunate times when soldiers guilty 
 of high crimes were executed in presence of the assembled troops. 
 
 For fifty years this was one of the quietest garrisons on the long 
 coast-line of the United States. New armaments were brought on from 
 time to time ; the troops in the barracks gave place, according to army rota- 
 tion, to companies ordered hither from the forts along the Gulf or among 
 the Sierras ; and the ancient walls were replaced by the new works which 
 now occupy the ground. But, when the Secession War broke out, Gov. 
 Andrew reported that the Boston forts were " entirely unmanned," and asked 
 authority to put a State regiment into them. A little later he ordered the 4th 
 Battalion of Infantry on the island. The post was commanded by Major 
 Stevenson, who became a general, and was killed in the Wilderness. Among 
 the bright young fellows who entered the school of war at Fort Independence 
 were Barstow, who died at Newbern ; Abbott, killed in the Wilderness, when 
 major of the 20th; Robeson and.Mudge, who died at Gettysburg; and 
 Russell, Hallowed, and Crowninshield, each of whom won a colonelcy in the 
 field. When Banks was whipped by Stonewall Jackson, and a wild panic 
 ran through the North, the garrison of Fort Independence was sent away to 
 the front, and the Independent Corps of Cadets took its place. Early in 
 the year 1863 the island was made a headquarters for recruits, which the 
 General Government was demanding of Massachusetts in larger and larger 
 quotas, as if the Bay State were a fountain of sword-bearers. When the 
 draft-riots broke out in Boston, the garrison was hurried into the city to aid 
 in the protection of property. At the end of 1863 the fort contained 107 
 cannon, including 40 24- and 32-pounders in barbette, and 54 guns of the 
 same grade, and 21 large columbiads, in casemates. 
 
 Fort Independence was evacuated about three years ago, in pursuance 
 of Gen. Hancock's policy of concentrating his garrisons, so that better 
 discipline and drill may be maintained in larger posts. The parade-ground 
 and quarters at Fort Warren are commodious ; and the troops were trans- 
 ferred to that point, where they may become familiar with the position which 
 is the key to the harbor. The Castle is now defended only by Ordnance- 
 Sergeant Maguire, who finds quite enough to do in warning off unauthorized 
 visitors from the closely adjacent shores of South Boston. A few laborers 
 are kept at work, repairing the damages of envious time, sodding the ram- 
 parts, etc. ; and they toil on, day after day, in a shamefaced and somnolent 
 way, as if half-aware how alien from nineteenth-century life is this patching 
 of mediaeval walls. But the tompions of the great guns are kept well-oiled ; 
 
I46 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 and in the magazine are cartridge-bags of powder (with grains as large as 
 walnuts), and piles of sabots, and cannon-balls and shells of mammoth pro- 
 portions. If the Inflexible, or the La Galissoniere, or the Italia can shed 
 such fiery raindrops from their mailed sides, they must be the works of 
 gods, rather than of men. 
 
 This fortress, which the old fishermen and pilots still call " The Castle," 
 is the most ancient military post in the United States, continuously occu- 
 pied for defensive purposes; and its records (up to 1803) fill a huge folio 
 volume, whose pages are closely written over in the delicate clerkly hand of 
 fourscore years ago. This very interesting chronicle was deposited by 
 /Gen. Benham (in 1875) m tne care °£ the^Njej!tEliglaad--Historix^Cienealogi- 
 )*cal Society, and has furnished some of the incidents herein set forth. 
 Probably this is the oldest virgin fortress in the world. Important as its 
 position is, and often as hostile flags and armaments have been within sight 
 of its walls, the fort has never been besieged, and has never surrendered 
 to an alien summons. One after another, new flags have succeeded each 
 other on its tall banner-staff, — the crossless flag of Endicott, the cross of 
 St. George, the crown-emblazoned red cross on a white field, the pine-tree 
 flag, the white ensign of Massachusetts, and the broad banner of the United 
 States ; but their halyards have been drawn by no hostile hands. What other 
 fortress can show so stainless a record for two hundred and fifty years ? 
 
 How short is the distance between the Old World and the New, when, 
 in a half-hour, one may pass from the intense modern activities of State 
 Street, or the dull decorum of the Back-Bay residence-quarter, to this lonely 
 and deserted fortress, with the fresh east wind rustling the long grass on 
 its parapets, and undisturbed birds flying in and out of the gloomy case- 
 mates ! Under these gray walls (modern, indeed, but laid in the mould of 
 antiquity) you may dream of St. Jean d'Acre, of the wars of the Holy 
 League, of the storming of Quebec, — or you may read Sir Walter Scott, 
 or Charles Lever, or the noble old " Chronicle of a Drum." If the day is 
 drowsy, you may hear strange sounds, — the psalm-chanting of the ancient 
 Puritan garrison ; the martial tread of Sir Edmund Andros, pacing up and 
 down the narrow parade-ground; the plaintive songs of the Acadian exiles; 
 the resounding oaths of the British officers ; the reverberating thunder of 
 Washington's bombardment of Boston ; the nasal twang of companies of 
 Yankee "trainers;" the crash of the Shannon's fatal broadsides; and the 
 reveille of the assembling Massachusetts volunteers in the last war. Then 
 the great bells in the neighboring city peal out the noon hour, an excur- 
 sion-boat rushes by, with its band playing favorite airs from " Olivette," or 
 " The Merry War ;" the swell from an in-bound British steamship breaks 
 along the strand; and you are aroused from mediaeval dreams, to take 
 part in the new life which is stirring in the world of to-day. 
 
AV.Ycrs HANDBOOK (>/■' BOSTON HARBOR. 147 
 
 ffiobcntor's Islanti nnti JFort QHmtjjrojj. 
 
 JOHN WINTHROP AND HIS CHILDREN. — THE GREAT FORTRESS.— 
 THE CITADEL. 
 
 HIS high green island is very conspicuous in all views of the upper 
 harbor, and lies within two miles of Long Wharf, and less than 
 a mile from Fort Independence. It is occupied by the strongest 
 earthwork in Massachusetts, at present ungarrisoned, but heavily armed. 
 In ancient times the place was much more visited than now, when the 
 frowning defences of a military post have supplanted the homes of summer 
 rest. The locality was first known as Conant's Island, probably in honor 
 of Roger Conant, some time a conspicuous citizen of Hull. After the 
 Colony granted it to John Winthrop, the head of the infant State, in 1632, 
 it was called Governor's Island, and its annual rent was placed at a hogs- 
 head of wine that should be made thereon; and afterwards two bushels of 
 the best apples there growing, — by which means the sagacious Winthrop 
 secured an exemption until such time as his vineyard or orchard became 
 productive. As to the apples, one bushel was to be given to the governor 
 of the Colony, and another to the legislature : so that he thus secured for 
 himself one-half of his own tribute. Here, in his famous " Governor's 
 Garden," with his Indian servants, the worthy Puritan chieftain enjoyed 
 many a happy day, and regarded his rising metropolis across the narrow 
 channel with dignity and comfort. Here he doubtless smoked many a 
 sweet and contemplative pipe, amid whose blue wreaths of incense he may 
 have built strange prophetic air-castles along Beacon Hill, as the sun went 
 down behind that august height. In a letter written to his wife, in 1637, he 
 says : " I pray thee send me six or seven leaves of tobacco, dried and 
 powdered ; " and so, in common with his great contemporary John Milton, 
 and his doughty Dutch neighbors at New Amsterdam, he found joy in the 
 most un-Puritanic of weeds. The present lord of the island maintains 
 the ancient traditions, both as to devoutness and smoking. 
 
 The governor planted here the first apple and pear trees in New Eng- ) 
 
 land, and made gallant efforts to raise, also, grapes, plums, and other fruits. 
 Many a noble orchard of the Bay towns may show lineal descent from this 
 island-nursery ; and the Yankee Pomona can justly claim this as her birth- 
 place and shrine. His Puritanic Excellency found it worth while to erect 
 a small fort, or blockhouse, here ; and also had some kind of a house in 
 which to live during parts of the heated season. The hospitality of the 
 
148 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 place was bestowed freely on visitors and immigrants of distinction. In 
 1638 Josselyn wrote that there was not an apple or pear tree in all New 
 England, save those on Governor's Island ; and described how he had en- 
 joyed the pippins there produced. In 1643 the Huguenot noble, La Tour, 
 who had been driven from his fort at St. John by D'Aulnay, an adventurous 
 relative of Cardinal Richelieu, sailed into Boston Harbor in a ship with 140 
 Huguenots from La Rochelle, and visited Winthrop on his island, seeking 
 aid against his Catholic enemy. The austere Puritans referred to the Bible 
 to see if they could find any precedent for such action, but found no certain 
 response from that oracle. " On the one hand, it was said that the speech 
 of the Prophet to Jehoshaphat, in 2d Chronicles xix. 2, and the portion of 
 Solomon's Proverbs contained in chap. xxvi. 17th verse, not only discharged 
 them from any obligation, but actually forbade them to assist La Tour; 
 while, on the other hand, it was agreed that it was as lawful for them to give 
 him succor as it was for Joshua to aid the Gibeonites against the rest of the 
 Canaanites, or for Jehoshaphat to aid Jehoram against Moab, in which expe- 
 dition Elisha was present, and did not reprove the king of Judah." But 
 when they had assured themselves that it would be allowable for them to 
 aid the distressed nobleman, they sent such a fleet that D'Aulnay's forces 
 were quickly scattered. 
 
 In Winthrop's first will, he wrote thus : " I give to my son Adam my 
 island called the Governor's Garden, to have to him and his heirs forever; 
 not doubting but he will be dutiful and loving to his mother, and kind to his 
 brethren in letting them partake in such fruits as grow there. I give him 
 also my Indians there, and my boat, and such household as is there." Soon 
 afterwards, and eight years before his death, the governor settled the island 
 on Adam and his heirs, reserving for himself one-third of its fruits. 
 Twenty years later the owners petitioned the General Court to remit its 
 tribute of apples, saying that the product had greatly fallen off. Adam 
 Winthrop was the ancestor of the Cambridge Winthrops, so called because 
 his son Professor John Winthrop was for more than forty years connected 
 with Harvard College, where he achieved great works in science. It was 
 the professor's grandson, Col. John Winthrop of Louisiana, who owned the 
 island when the United States took possession of it, in 1833. 
 
 Margaret Winthrop and her family often dwelt on the island, among. its 
 pleasant orchards of apples, pears, and plums, and under its hard-blown 
 grape-vines. Here her five sturdy sons made visits, when the cool harbor 
 breezes wooed them from the little town of wood and thatch close by. Of 
 these were Adam, the heir; John, the founder of New London, and gov- 
 ernor of Connecticut ; Stephen, who became one of Cromwell's colonels, 
 and member of Parliament from Aberdeen ; Deane, a resident of the pres- 
 ent town of Winthrop ; and Samuel, who became deputy-governor of An- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 149 
 
 tigua, and ancestor of. Lord Lyons and the Duke of Norfolk, — "and thus 
 the Puritan blood of Margaret Winthrop is found flowing in Old England, 
 after two and a half centuries, in the veins not merely of the highest 
 nobility, but of the leading Roman-Catholic family of the realm." 
 
 The colonists had trouble enough with this mountainous guard of the 
 port. Not only did it lure on to its strand the good ship Frie7idsJiip, 
 bound for St. Kitts, in 1631 ; and hold here for a week a half-dozen good 
 Puritan burghers, in 1635, while an angry sea beat on all its shores; but 
 also, in 1643, terrible voices were heard issuing therefrom, which could not 
 have been the accents of the good governor, and " sparkles " of lire cor- 
 
 
 Fort Winthrop, Governor's Island. 
 
 ruscated on its heights. For a brief space the Governor's Garden was 
 regarded as an isle of demons by the superstitious and witch-ridden Bos- 
 tonese. In 1696, however, the committee on defences ordered the construc- 
 tion of an eight-gun battery on the south-east point, and a ten-gun battery 
 on the south-west point, the cannon to be taken from the works on the town- 
 wharves. French visitors were then expected, and they were to be held at 
 arm's-length down the Bay. Exactly fifty years later new and more for- 
 midable fortifications were begun here by Richard Gridley, the chief bom- 
 bardier in the siege of Louisburg, colonel of the First Massachusetts 
 Regiment, Provincial Grand Master of Masons in America, a Harvard man, 
 editor, lawyer ("the Webster of his day"), mathematician, and military 
 
I50 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 engineer. We cannot learn much of the residents of the island in those days, 
 but at least one hero was cradled there. When David Williams was born 
 on this island, in 1759, it might have been an easy task to cast his horo- 
 scope, and predict that the infant whose eyes first rested on a broad rim of 
 blue waters, across lines of redoubts, should become (as he did) a famous 
 and valiant pilot and privateersman. But little is heard of the island thence- 
 forth until 1776, when several British transports were driven ashore here by 
 the furious gale which prevented Lord Percy from being annihilated on Dor- 
 chester Heights. It does not appear that the rattling skirmishes and cannon- 
 ades with which nearly every other island was visited came near this spot, 
 where peace reigned in desolation. In 1793 the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society held a meeting here ; James Winthrop, one of its owners, being then 
 a member of the society. Fifteen years later the summit of the island was 
 occupied by Fort Warren, an enclosed star-fort of stone and brick, with brick 
 barracks, officers' quarters, magazine, and guard-house. During the War 
 of 181 2 these works were fully garrisoned ; but Gen. Dearborn considered 
 this point the key of the harbor, and laid out new defences, inviting the 
 men of Boston to come down with spades, pick-axes, and wheelbarrows, to 
 aid in their construction. The low battery on the southern point of Gov- 
 ernor's Island was built several years before the War of 1812, of brick and 
 stone, with a brick guard-house and magazine; and once mounted fifteen 
 cannon. It is a picturesque bit of antique fortification, whose purpose was to 
 sweep the wide flats adjacent, and deliver a level point-blank fire at the hulls 
 of hostile vessels passing in the channel. Later, in the War of 1812, the 
 Sea-Fencibles went on duty to guard the batteries, and mortars were placed 
 in the works. Furnaces stood ready, so that all the shot required for the 
 guns could be heated; and the presumably gallant defenders dreamed fondly 
 of British ships-of-the-line bursting into flames, as these red-hot globes of 
 iron plumped into them from water-line to shrouds. The commanders of the 
 Shannon and Tenedos must have heard that the irate Sea-Fencibles were 
 dashing their tarry toplights on this gloomy isle, for they kept their ships 
 far out in the offing until the war was over. 
 
 During the days of Lieut.-Gov. Thomas L. Winthrop, the island was 
 celebrated for its hospitality ; and the Massachusetts Historical Society had 
 meetings on its green mounds, where the venerable antiquaries could discuss 
 the genealogies of Peter Cakebread and Robert Bootefish, and the " three 
 brothers, one of whom landed in Virginia," etc., without alarming the town. 
 Lieut.-Gov. Winthrop, the grandfather of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, 
 was not a proprietor of the island, since he was descended from Gov. John 
 of Connecticut; but received the freedom of the estate from his friends 
 and kinsmen, the Cambridge Winthrops. 
 
 The fortress which now rambles, apparently without plan, over the high 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 1 5 I 
 
 bluffs, was commenced some years before the Secession War, under the 
 dire< tion of Gen. Sylvanus Thayer. The name of Fort Warren was then 
 transferred to the modern work on George's Island; and the new defence 
 here received the name of Fort Winthrop, in honor of the ancient Puritan 
 governor. In 1S61 it had received no armament, and had never been occu- 
 pied as a military post; but when Gen. Schouler inspected the defences 
 late in 1863, he found at Fort Winthrop 25 large Rodman guns, and 11 
 pieces of other calibres and forms. Various companies of State militia 
 and volunteers garrisoned the post during the civil war, and found it an 
 ineffably dull station. 
 
 The island contains seventy acres of land, comparatively low on the 
 east, and rising to a fine commanding height on the west. Here are the 
 great military works, on which vast sums of money have been expended by 
 the Nation. There is little of the delusive symmetry of masonry to be 
 seen ; for vast mounds of well-turfed earth cover the entire hill, with pon- 
 derous outworks on the bluff to the eastward, mountainous magazines, and 
 skilfully contrived traverses. Flere and there long underground passages, 
 arched with masonry, lead from one battery to another, or enter the main 
 stronghold. At the crest of the hill is the citadel, — a massive granite 
 structure, so well curtained by impenetrable earthworks that only its top is 
 visible from the harbor, and entered by a light wooden bridge high above 
 the ground. The lower story, with its roof hung with small stalactites, con- 
 tains the cistern ; the second story is the barracks of the garrison, with 
 rooms opening on an interior court ; the third story contains the officers' 
 quarters ; and above, on the top, covered by a temporary roof to protect 
 them from the weather, are the immense Parrott rifled guns, which look 
 down on the harbor. On the south of the hill a long stone stairway, so built 
 that it cannot be raked, or carried by a rush, leads to a battery at the water's 
 edge. Among these heavy mounds, lurk scores of powerful 10 and 15 inch 
 guns, well mounted, and peering grimly out on the channel, as if hoping, 
 with a clogged iron patience, that some time their hour may come. Mean- 
 while Sergt. Schwartz, gray veteran of Mexican and Southern wars, keeps 
 watch over the fortress, from his quarters in the time-blackened barracks 
 near the eastern end of the island, and hangs the keys of the frowning 
 citadel among the pictures of the saints in his little parlor. A phalanx of 
 fierce black dogs stand guard at the farmhouse by the wharf, and make a 
 securer defence than good-natured Irish-American sentinels could; and on 
 the glacis, and up the slopes of the ramparts above, plump cattle graze 
 through the long day, and look wisely out over the thronged harbor. 
 
 Bird Island formerly lay close to Governor's Island, toward the north- 
 west ; and its site is marked by a spindle, rising over a gravelly shoal. The 
 
152 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 loss of this bold bluff, around which the narrowed tide swept with scouring 
 force, was reckoned by Professor Gould as one of the worst disasters which 
 has befallen the harbor. The original shape of each of these islands was 
 that of a perfect dome ; but the continuous action of the north-east gales and 
 surges for centuries has cut away half of their curves, leaving almost per- 
 pendicular cliffs on their north sides : and in this case every thing has been 
 destroyed, and only the low-tide wreck of an island appears. 
 
 Bird Island was a spacious tract in the year 1630, as large, according to 
 Professor Gould, as Governor's Island now is. In 1634 a party of men 
 were frozen in, and obliged to stay here all night. A few years later the 
 right to mow grass on the adjacent meadow was granted by the General 
 Court to Thomas Munt. In 1726 the French miscreant, John Battis, with 
 his son, and three Indians, were hung at Charlestown, and then cut down, 
 and carried out, — a ghastly freight, — and buried on Bird Island. Other 
 criminals, pirates, and sea-robbers were put to death, and buried here, or 
 hung in chains, making a ghastly but perhaps salutary spectacle before the 
 wharves and shipping. In 1790 there still remained a handsome grassy 
 islet on this site ; but afterwards a great deal of ballast and sand was re- 
 moved therefrom, as Mayor Ouincy complained in 1827. The same thought- 
 less dilapidations seriously injured Gallop's, Long, the Brewster, and other 
 of the lower islands. But little such help was needed, however, for Wabun, 
 the East Wind, and his allied waves, to batter down the hill of gibbets, and 
 blot it out from the offended Bay. 
 
 Sergeant Schwartz, Fort Winthrop. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 1 5 3 
 
 Efjampsan's Islanti anU Spectacle IslanU. 
 
 A SCOTTISH WORTHY. — THE BOSTON FARM SCHOOL. — A BOURNE OF DEAD 
 HORSES.— APPLE ISLAND. 
 
 HOMPSON'S ISLAND is three miles from Long Wharf, 
 one mile from Castle Island, a mile and a half from Savin 
 Hill, and half a mile from Squantum, to which one may 
 almost wade at very low tide. There are broad flats on 
 the east and south, and deep channels on the north and 
 west. The bar on the south has long been famous for its 
 delicious clams ; and many a feast did the old provincial Dorchestrians 
 enjoy on the adjacent shore. It is a narrow island, a mile long, with 157 
 acres of good and fertile soil, rising into two hills, and indented by a 
 cove. The salt-water pond, which formerly covered part of the lowlands, 
 has been dyked and drained, like a new Haarlem Sea, and its site is now 
 occupied by fertile meadows. On West Head stands a pleasant grove, 
 planted about the year 1840, by the Hon. Theodore Lyman, who also 
 bequeathed $10,000 to the Farm School. The trees which diversify the 
 slopes produce excellent fruits, and the rich soil of the island brings forth 
 notably good crops. 
 
 An ancient tradition says, that in 1619 Thompson examined the harbor- 
 islands, in company with Masconomo, the sagamore of Agawam (who made 
 an affidavit to this effect), seeking a proper place to establish his trading- 
 post: and chose the island which still bears his name, because it had a 
 small river and a harbor for boats. In 1620 Miles Standish came hither 
 with William Trevour, a sailor of the Mayflower, and named it Island 
 Trevour, reporting, "and then no Natives there inhabiting, neither was there 
 any signe of any that had been there that I could perceive, nor of many, 
 many yeares after." Trevour made affidavit that he took possession in the 
 name of Mr. David Thompson, gentleman, of London ; who, indeed, soon 
 afterwards secured a grant of the locality. He had been sent over by 
 Gorges and Mason to superintend their settlement at Portsmouth ; and, 
 when Standish went thither to seek supplies for the starving Pilgrims, 
 Thompson returned to Plymouth with him. From thence he and Gorges 
 journeyed to Weymouth, and sailed from that embayed port to Portsmouth. 
 They probably examined the island at this time; for in 1626 Thompson 
 returned, and established here one of the first permanent settlements in the 
 harbor, antedating Boston by several years. It was a trading-post, where 
 
154 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the Indians exchanged their beaver-furs and fish for the trinkets of civiliza- 
 tion ; and the same proprietor had a similar place on the Kennebec. The 
 island was taken possession of as vacuum domicilium, to which no man 
 had claim ; and its advantages were vicinity to the sea, good anchorage 
 under the lee of Castle Island, and vicinity to the Neponset Indians. 
 Blackstone testified that he knew "ould Mr. Thompson," who chose this 
 place for settlement because " there is a harbor in the island for a boat, 
 which none of the rest of the islands had.'' 
 
 The Scottish island-lord took a deep and kindly interest in his Indian 
 neighbors, concerning whom he had fantastic theories. In conversations 
 with Morton of Merry-Mount, and his mysterious neighbor, Sir Christopher 
 Gardiner, he maintained a belief that they were descended "from the scat- 
 tered Trojans, after such time as Brutus left Latium." But he drove sharp 
 bargains with the descendants of Priam and Paris, and piled up many a 
 bale of peltries in his little castle of logs. Near by were Morton, and the 
 Wessagusset colonists, and other isolated settlers, the unwitting pioneers of 
 a great company. It was of these that Prince wrote, "To the south-east, 
 near Thompson's Island, live some few Planters more. These were the 
 first Planters of these Parts, having some small Trade with the Natives, 
 for Bever Skins, which moved them to make their abode in those places, 
 and are found of some help to the new colony." 
 
 Thompson was a Scottish gentleman, a traveller and scholar as well, and 
 had been the London agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges's company, for whose 
 interests he had appeared even before the Privy Council. He died in 1628, 
 leaving his wife and infant son to garrison the jsland, and to give generous 
 hospitality to the colonists of Boston and Dorchester. After the arrival of 
 the Puritan fleet, the good Episcopalian lady abandoned her snug Atlantis, 
 and sailed away to where she could hear once more the familiar " Let your 
 light so shine " in some distant prelatical realms. In 1634 Massachusetts 
 granted the island to Dorchester, which leased it for twenty pounds a year, 
 the revenue to be applied for a schoolmaster. It has been said that this 
 was "the first public provision made for a free school in the world, by a 
 direct tax or assessment on the inhabitants of a town." Fourteen years 
 later came David's son, John Thompson, demanding his birthright, and 
 bringing affidavits from Trevour, Standish, Blackstone, and Masconomo, to 
 prove his claim. The General Court found his title good, and restored the 
 island to him, giving to Dorchester, in lieu thereof, a thousand acres in the 
 present town of Lunenburg. Six years later the Indian Winnequassam 
 claimed the island, but was decided against by the courts. John Thompson 
 returned to England, and sold his Western estate to two Bristol merchants. 
 The region was well known by these people ; for since 1622 ships of Bristol 
 had visited the southern part of Boston Harbor, at the annual fishing- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. I 55 
 
 seasons, exchanging guns and ammunition for heaver, martin, and mus- 
 quash skins. For the next century and a half the island was used for 
 farming, with but a single flurry of excitement, in 1775, when American 
 foragers destroyed the houses, and lit up Ouincy Bay with their flames. 
 
 In 1834 the proprietors of the Boston Farm School purchased the estate 
 for #6,000; and it was annexed to Boston, with the precious right reserved 
 to the Dorchestrians of digging clams on its banks. A handsome brick 
 building, 106 feet long, with a projection in the centre, was erected, with 
 dining-hall and offices on first floor, schoolrooms on second floor, and dormi- 
 tories above. In 1835 the Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys was united j 
 with the Farm School. There are about 100 boys (of from 8 to 17 years of 
 age) on the island, for whom the school stands in loco fta?-entzs. Up at 
 sunrise, and busied in practical studies and useful labors, the lads lead a 
 happy and contented life ; and their health is efficiently preserved by the 
 
 Thompson's Island, from South Boston. 
 
 pure air of the Bay and their frequent baths in the sea. Within two or- 
 three years a spacious new building has been erected, with gymnasium 
 and work-shops, where the boys may receive a practical mechanical train- 
 ing. Some of the graduates of this school have occupied high and honor- 
 able positions in the outer world ; and many of them visit the island 
 in after-life to renew their memories of the place once so dear to them. 
 The great catastrophe of the institution is now almost forgotten. It 
 occurred in April, 1842, when a large boat, full of the boys, returning from 
 a fishing-excursion down the harbor, was upset by a sudden squall, 
 and twenty-three of the lads were drowned, besides the boatman and a 
 teacher. 
 
 As a well-known citizen said, 40 years ago : " That little island reminds 
 one of the old mythological fable of Latona, who, when she had no 
 place on earth for her to bring forth and rear up her young, had an 
 island created for her own special uses : and something like it exists here ; 
 
156 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 for when the boys who prowl about our city streets, fatherless, motherless, 
 forlorn, and homeless, are discovered, this little Thompson's Island rises as 
 a refuge for them ; and here they are sheltered and educated, until they are 
 fit to go forth into the great world, and battle manfully with it." It should 
 be borne in mind that this is not a reformatory institution, but a home- 
 school for teaching practical farming and the common educational branches 
 to indigent American boys of good character. 
 
 Hawthorne once visited the Farm School, and thus reported his experi- 
 ence : " A stroll round the island, examining the products, as wheat in 
 sheaves on the stubble-field ; oats somewhat blighted and spoiled ; great 
 pumpkins elsewhere ; pastures; mowing ground, — all cultivated by the boys. 
 Their residence, a great brick building, painted green, and standing on the 
 summit of a rising ground, exposed to the winds of the bay. Vessels flitting 
 past ; great ships with intricacy of rigging and various sails ; schooners, 
 sloops, with their one or two broad sheets of canvas ; going on different 
 tacks, so that the spectator might think that there was a different wind for 
 each vessel, or that they scudded across the sea spontaneously, whither their 
 own wills led them. The farm boys remain insulated, looking at the passing 
 show, within sight of the city, yet having nothing to do with it; beholding 
 their fellow-creatures skimming by them in winged machines, and steam- 
 boats snorting and puffing through the waves. Methinks an island would 
 be the most desirable of all landed property, for it seems like a little world 
 by itself ; and the water may answer for the atmosphere that surrounds 
 planets. The boys swinging, two together, standing up, and almost causing 
 the ropes and their bodies to stretch out horizontally. On our departure 
 they ranged themselves on the rails of the fence, and, being dressed in blue, 
 looked not unlike a flock of pigeons." 
 
 The views from Thompson's Island are full of variety and beauty, espe- 
 cially from the high ground about the house, and include broad expanses 
 of azure sea, and many a snug little island. The nearest and most con- 
 spicuous of these is Spectacle Island, with its busy colony of manipulators 
 of defunct animals, its myriads of spiders, and its unhallowed perfumes. 
 Here is exemplified the commendable Old-World thrift, by which useless 
 refuse is converted into products of value, by the aid of ingenuity and 
 industry. 
 
 Spectacle Island covers about sixty acres, its graceful trim bluffs being 
 of about equal size. Sailing down the harbor, after Castle Island is passed, 
 the bold headland of Spectacle is seen on the right, with a large barn on 
 its summit, as the only sign of human occupancy. From other points appear 
 the rendering-works and their chimneys, low down, near the Bridge of the 
 Nose. 
 
 As early as the year 1666 Spectacle Island (even then so-called) was, for 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OK BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 157 
 
 the most part, owned by the Bill family, who continued to hold it for nearly 
 a century. In 16S4 Samuel Bill bought it from the son of Wampatuck, 
 the chief of the Massachusetts Indians, who inherited his father's authority 
 over the fast-diminishing tribe. The deed (now in the possession of Mr. 
 F. J. Ward) begins thus : " By these presents I Do fully, freely, absolutely 
 give, grant, sell, enfeaffe, and convey unto the said Samuel Bill his heyeres 
 
 Wreck of the Brig "Grace Lothrop," 
 Point Allerton. 
 
 and Assignes forever one certain 
 Island, Scituate in the Massachu- 
 setts Bay, commonly known and called 
 by the name of Spectacle Island." 
 
 It was at the earliest days covered with 
 trees ; and Winthrop relates that a party of thirty men came down here 
 one bright January day, to cut wood. They were overtaken with wind and 
 snow, followed by extreme cold ; and so, the harbor freezing, except for a 
 narrow channel, it was with great difficulty that a few found themselves able 
 to get as far towards home as Castle Island, while several were carried 
 through the ice to the Brewsters, where they remained two days, with 
 neither food nor fire, suffering intensely from the extreme cold. 
 
 When the tide is low, the aptness of the name Spectacle is very evident; 
 
158 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 for then the island is seen to consist of two nearly equal parts, connected 
 by a narrow isthmus. Both these parts, anciently called the East and West 
 Spectacles, are high, — the northerly one being a bold bluff, facing the chan- 
 nel. In 1 71 7 a part of the island, "on the cleft or brow of the southerly 
 highland," was sold by Mr. Bill to the town ; and here a hospital was built, 
 and used for eighteen years, when it was for some cause removed to Rains- 
 ford Island. In 1728, when H. M. S. Sheerness lay just off Spectacle 
 Island, the last duel was fought upon Boston Common, and young Phillips 
 killed Woodbridge. At midnight he was put on board the vessel. She 
 sailed at dawn, and his forfeited life was safe from the Puritan gibbet. 
 
 When Sir Francis Wheeler's fleet arrived here, after its unsuccessful 
 expedition against Martinique, with yellow-fever on board, Boston wanted 
 Spectacle Island for a quarantine hospital. In 1739 tne estate once more 
 belonged to the Bill family, who sold it, in 1742, to Edward Bromfield, a 
 prominent citizen of Boston. For many decades thereafter, excursion- 
 parties from the happy little colonial town used to come hither on summer 
 days, and encamp on the breezy slopes, or prepare their gypsy dinners over 
 driftwood fires on the beach. In 1742 the hay which had been made here 
 was hauled to South Boston on the ice, amid much provincial merriment. 
 But the waters in this direction were not always safe to unarmed excur- 
 sionists ; for very novel dangers haunted the sea. In that famous week 
 of September, 1726, when twenty bears were killed within two miles of 
 Boston, the unfortunate beasts seem to have concluded that they might find 
 more peaceful shelter down the harbor. Two were sjain while swimming 
 from Spectacle Island to an adjacent shore ; and, a little farther out in the 
 channel, a boat suffered a fierce attack from a large bear, which was beaten 
 off, with great difficulty, by the use of boat-hooks and oars. 
 
 As the nineteenth century advanced, Spectacle was more and more 
 favored by summer visitors, until one Woodroffe opened a house of enter- 
 tainment in 1847. Here the current events were discussed by parties of 
 grave citizens, — the annexation of California, the election of President 
 Taylor, the rise of settlements in the prairie territories, — while the savory 
 dishes of sea-products were in preparation, and the high-flavored punch 
 underwent assimilation. 
 
 In 1857 the island was bought, for $15,000, by Nahum Ward, who 
 founded here a large establishment for rendering dead horses, still in pos- 
 session and full activity. At this time there stood here two brick powder- 
 houses, two dwellings, and a wharf. Many buildings have been erected 
 since, to accommodate the extensive and increasing business. In 1872 the 
 lucrative industry of rendering cattle-bones was introduced ; and in 1874 
 came the rendering of tallow and suet. The tanks are of iron, and all 
 possible precautions are taken to prevent odors from getting abroad in the 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 159 
 
 harbor. Every day the steam-tug and barges pertaining to the company go 
 clown from their wharf on Federal Street, laden with dead horses and 
 refuse from slaughter-houses; "which matter," says Mr. Ward, "if it were 
 allowed to remain in the city for three days in summer, would cause a 
 plague" There are 30 men employed on the island, and 13 families dwell 
 there. The vegetable-gardens cover 5 acres, and the mowing-land 37 acres. 
 About 2,000 dead horses are received here yearly, from points within ten 
 miles; and their products are hides, hair, oil, and bones. This, however, 
 
 Rocks on the Outer Brewster.' 
 
 is not a leading feature of the business, the main part of which is connected 
 with cattle-bones and tallow. Other articles of manufacture are glue-stock 
 and neat's-foot oil. Surely this must be one of the Isles of Greece ; but 
 even the harbor muse flouts it, thus : — ■ 
 
 " The next, for frolic, once was fam'd, 
 In ancient happy time ; 
 And long, lias Spectacle been nam'd, 
 A name unfit for rhyme." 
 
 Apple Island, which is seen on the left, as one sails down the harbor, 
 is nearly three miles from Boston, and just off the shore of Winthrop. It 
 is always noticed among the first, simply because of its rare grace, rising in 
 a gentle slope from the water's edge, — such a perfect shape, crowned with 
 
l6o KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 waving elms fifty or more years old, proud and beautiful, and marking the 
 island at once as unlike any other. At low water it is for some distance 
 surrounded by flats, and becomes difficult of access. In very early times 
 Apple Island belonged to Boston, and was used (like the other islands) 
 chiefly for pasturage ; but having a rich soil, and being well sheltered, it 
 became in time private property, owned in 1723 by the Hon. Thomas 
 Hutchinson, father of Gov. Hutchinson, who was the author of the His- 
 tory of Massachusetts. It passed in 1802, by will, to an English mariner, 
 who, living in Northumberland and knowing little about it, allowed the 
 property to decay, and the island to lie idle. About this time Mr. Marsh, 
 an Englishman, being attracted by its beauty, and perhaps by its fitness as 
 a home for Britannic insularity, settled there with his family, and became 
 so attached to the soil that he resolved upon owning it ; and, after many 
 an unsuccessful search, at last (in 1822) found the proprietor of the island, 
 buying it of him for $550. Black Jack was Marsh's negro servant, well 
 known about the harbor, and at one time much talked about on account of 
 his brutal treatment by certain naval officers, who charged him with helping 
 a sailor to desert. By the exertions of Samuel McCleary, he was enabled 
 to recover heavy damages from his assailants. Here Marsh lived, con- 
 tented and happy, until the age of sixty-six, when he died (in 1833), and was 
 then, by his own request, buried upon the western slope of his beautiful 
 island-home. The funeral was attended by many gentlemen from Boston. 
 Two years later the house was burned, leaving the island again lonely. 
 
 The island covers nearly ten acres, and belongs to Boston, in virtue of 
 a payment of $3,750, made in 1867. Aside from the irregular athletics and 
 ichthyophagous picnics of the North-street gladiators, it finds conspicuous 
 use in the annals of destruction. Here many a famous old ship, by lapse 
 of years and buffetings of alien seas grown decrepit and useless, has been 
 hauled up on the beach and burned, in order to get at the metal used in 
 her construction. There is a kind of pathos in the final sacrifice of these 
 trusty old vessels, whose keels, no more to plough the yielding waves, are 
 dragged across the muddy flats, and abandoned to the flames. Dismantled 
 and forsaken, the flames riot along the venerable hulls, crackling through 
 the deserted cabins, and throwing out their wild banners from the falling 
 spars. At such times the island is wrapped in rolling smoke, and glows 
 like Stromboli, among the waves, while the lower harbor is illuminated by 
 a baleful light. In a few hours nothing remains but the stock of the junk- 
 merchant. Among the victims of this lurid shore, burned at the stake in 
 the name of the copper-market and the iron-trade, have been the famous 
 old steamships, James Adger, destroyed in 1858; the Baltic, the last of the 
 Collins line ; and the Ontario, one of the immense wooden steamships built 
 at Newburyport for the transatlantic trade. 
 
A'/XG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. IOI 
 
 SLong Eslantr. 
 
 THE BATTERY.— AN AZOREAN COLONY.— JOHN NELSON. — WAR MEMORIES. 
 
 jELL down the harbor rise the picturesque shores of 
 Long Island, a narrow strip of land, indented here and 
 there around its coast, and at either end terminating 
 abruptly in lofty cliffs. It naturally takes its name from 
 its inordinate length, which is about a mile and three- 
 quarters, though it appears much more. It is but five 
 miles from Boston, and has become familiar to all who 
 pass, by its great white hotel, and still more by the light-house, perched 
 upon the very tip of the steepest bluff in the harbor, eighty feet above high- 
 water mark. It bears a clear and brilliant fixed light, visible for fifteen 
 miles at sea. The battery which crowns the cliff, presenting only a range 
 of low green mounds to the view of the passing sailor, is a formidable little 
 work, of modern construction, with walls of great thickness, bombproofs, 
 and other defences, partly separated from the rest of the bluff by a deep 
 dry moat. There are no cannon here now; but it would be a matter of very 
 slight delay to mount a line of heavy guns which could deliver a for- 
 midable plunging fire on the ship-channel, and perfectly command the 
 approaches through Broad Sound. The favor with which this insular para- 
 dise was at first regarded faded out in time, and by the year 1840 there 
 remained but a single farmhouse. But when the United States wanted to 
 buy Eastern Head, for a light-house, the proprietors discovered that every 
 rod of the soil had a great value ; and the Government was obliged to go 
 through a long lawsuit, in order to acquire the 35 acres on the bluff without 
 emptying the Treasury. The national domain extends to the pond on the 
 west ; and the weather-beaten old houses near the wharf and around this 
 side of the hill were the shelters of the workmen on the fort. The seaward 
 front of the Head is defended by a handsome sea-wall, whose construction 
 cost $150,000. 
 
 The light-house was built in 1819, and is a round white iron tower, 
 attached to a neat little house, which serves the keeper as a home. On 
 two sides it is surrounded by ramparts, which rest upon the very edges of 
 the steep cliff, and, though at present of little service as defence, yet cer- 
 tainly are picturesque, being clad with verdure, and dotted all over with 
 daisies and buttercups, forming by their great mounds and deep embrasures 
 
162 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 just the most delightful place in the world for a merry game of hide-and- 
 seek. It is pleasant to sit there, and look off across the Bay, beyond all 
 land, until the purple sea is lost in purple sky, watching the tiny yachts 
 and great ships coming in and going out, and the flag-decked steamers, 
 from whose decks distant music floats upward. Or, should one care for a 
 less lofty view, at the base of the cliff is the most charming promenade, 
 over the top of the massive wall, built lest the persistent sea should take to 
 itself the very island. This promenade over the works and at the water's 
 edge is about semi-circular, and, if followed round, brings one to the little 
 pebbly beach and cove on the east side of the island. 
 
 Near this point is a quaint little cluster of huts, inhabited by a colony of 
 olive-skinned Portuguese fishermen, most of whom are from the Azore 
 Islands, and reproduce on this far-away sister of Fayal and San Miguel the 
 customs and sports of their homeland. Many a pretty little Azorean child 
 runs along the grassy slopes of the hills near by, seeking vainly for the 
 oranges and pine-apples, the palms and periwinkles, of his 
 
 " Summer isles of Eden lying in dark-purple spheres of sea." 
 
 Along the shore the boats are drawn up; and the dark fishermen loiter 
 by the water-side, waiting for time and tide to serve, and calling on Santo 
 Cristo to deliver their out-bound dories from peril or a barren cruise. In 
 the winter season most of these people go to the city, where they can attend 
 divine service in the Portuguese Roman-Catholic Church, and assemble with 
 their comrades to dance to the music of the guitar, or to practise the worst 
 Americanisms which they have been doomed to observe. They may miss 
 the lofty peak of Pico, or the flowery delights of Ponta Delgada ; but here 
 they can at least have meat more than once a year, and earn more than two 
 dollars a week, which is the best their brethren at home can do. They 
 have driven the Yankee fishermen from the field, because they can live on a 
 quarter of what our people regard as essential ; and the New-England coast 
 already has many such hamlets of Portuguese mariners, frugal, industrious, 
 and hardy. 
 
 On the little upland south of the fishermen's huts, and near the head of 
 the steamboat-wharf, rises the great white building of the Long-Island 
 House, on whose front is the finest and most luxuriant grove in the harbor. 
 Beyond and running south the island becomes lonely and desolate, until it 
 finally ends at South Head, a high bluff rising over the water, serene and 
 quiet, peopled only by the skimming swallows, and keeping its silent guard 
 over Spectacle Island, just across a narrow reach of blue water. The total 
 area of Long Island is about 216 acres ; and it is separated from Governor's 
 and Castle Islands by President Roads, and from Deer Island, not quite a 
 mile to the northward, by Broad Sound. Around its southern shore is the 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON 1IAKFOF 
 
 163 
 
 Western (or Hack) Way, which is much used by coasting-vessels entering 
 or leaving the port. 
 
 'The rise, decadence, and fall of Long Island as a home for men might 
 be made an interesting theme by some Gibbon of the adjacent villages. 
 Sedition has harbored here; battle has been waged ; martial revels have ., 
 been celebrated; and love has been made in the old ways. The island first 
 appears in history in the year (1634) in which Wallenstein was slain, at the 
 middle period of the Thirty Years' War ; when it was granted, with Deer 
 and Hog Islands, to Boston, in the halcyon days when " these isles 
 abounded with Woods and Water, and Meadow-ground, 
 
 Long Island Light-House. 
 
 and whatsoever the spacious 
 fertile maine affords." Bos- 
 ton at that time apportioned it to 37 differ- 
 ent persons, who laid low its beautiful forests, 
 and stripped its cliffs bare and desolate. In 
 1639 it was ^ a 'd out in lots for planters, and 
 after a time became their own, on the payment 
 of a yearly rent of sixpence an acre, for the benefit of the free school. But 
 this agreement was not always kept ; and in 1667 the town gave up the island 
 to the renters, on condition that the back rent should be paid ; and so it was, 
 not long after, that Long Island passed firmly into private hands. A manu- 
 script in the Geneva Library, in which a French Huguenot refugee describes 
 his visit to America in 16S7, speaks of the "number of very pretty islands 
 that lie in front of Boston, most of them cultivated and inhabited by peas- 
 ants." The term "peasant" was misapplied; for here on Long Island was 
 the house of John Nelson, the hero of Drake's romance, whom the records 
 call " a young gentleman of Boston, a near relation to Sir Thomas Temple, 
 but an episcopalian, and of a gay, free temper." He it was who headed the 
 
164 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Bostonians in their attack on Sir Edmund Andros and his troops at Fort Hill 
 in 1689. Such a man would have been at least a chevalier in France. In 
 1692 Nelson, having been captured by the French while on a voyage to the 
 eastward, discovered some secret designs which were being matured'against 
 the New-England colonies, and informed the authorities of Massachusetts 
 from his prison at Quebec. For this patriotic act he was sent to Paris, and 
 shut up in the Bastille for a long time, obtaining his release through the 
 intervention of Sir Purbeck Temple. After twelve years of absence, the gal- 
 lant captain returned to his little kingdom of Long Island, where the Nelson 
 family gave a famous feast to celebrate the liberation of their chief. Frag- 
 ments of the table-cloth used on this occasion (about the year 1702) are still 
 preserved among his descendants. 
 
 Interior of Battery, Long-Island Head. 
 
 After Nelson had bought all but 4^ acres of the island, he mortgaged it 
 to certain Salem capitalists, " with all and singular the houses, buildings, 
 barns, orchards, gardens, pastures, ffences, woods, stones, beach, wharffes, 
 liberties, immunities, hereditaments, emoluments," etc. From Nelson's heirs 
 it passed to Charles Apthorp, whose heirs sold their domain, " butted and 
 bounded Northerly, Southerly, Easterly, and Westerly, by the sea," to Bar- 
 low Trecothick, Lord Mayor of London, who had married Grizzell Apthorp. 
 In 1791 Trecothick's brother-in-law sold it to James I vers, whose heirs con- 
 veyed it to Thomas Smith of Cohasset in 1847; and two years later it was 
 vested in the Long-Island Company, its present owners. 
 
 In July, 1775, a detachment of 500 Continental soldiers, in 65 whale- 
 boats, landed on Long Island, and took off all the sheep and cattle there, 
 together with 17 British sailors. They were hotly cannonaded by the men- 
 
STING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 I6 5 
 
 of-war in the harbor, and chased to Squantum by an armed schooner and 
 barges crowded with blue-jackets ; but got off safely with their prizes, whose 
 loss was grievously mourned by the hungry officers in Boston. Colonel 
 Pierce thus described the affair in his diary: "Our people go to Long 
 Island, and fetch of all the cretors, and took 13 mereens prisoners." 
 
 Two years after the port of Boston was closed, a squadron of British 
 frigates still lingered in the roads, blockading the harbor and insulting the 
 State. John Adams wrote from Philadelphia to John Winthrop, in May, 
 1776, "Is there no such thing as getting upon Lovell's Island, or George's 
 Island, and driving away the men-of-war which lie in Nantasket Roads? 
 
 ' J^v .^ V. 
 
 The Long-Island House. 
 
 Can nothing be done at Hull or Point Alderton ? I am afraid you are as 
 destitute of active and capable engineers as in spirited commanding offi- 
 cers. ... I never shall be happy until every unfriendly flag is driven out of 
 sight, and the Light House, George's and Lovell's Islands, and the East end 
 of Long Island, are secured." He advocated the construction of galleys, 
 like those of Turkey and Venice, armed with 42-pounders ; and added, "A 
 kind of dodging Indian fight might be maintained among the islands in our 
 harbor, between such galleys and the men-of-war." 
 
 The efficacious hint was given in June, 1776, when a force of Continen- 
 
1 66 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 tals and militiamen occupied Long Island, and planted several heavy guns 
 on East Head. At the same time another force had taken position at Hull, 
 and upon a concerted signal the newly raised batteries opened hotly on the 
 hostile ships. These, indeed, were not slow at replying; and for a space 
 the lower harbor was wrapped in white cannon-smoke, and its islands re- 
 verberated with the crash of opposing broadsides and field-works. Finally, 
 however, after several ships had been hulled, and a destructive shot had 
 torn up the upper works of the flagship, the fleet moved away to sea. 
 
 They should have left a frigate off in the bay, to' warn incoming British 
 vessels ; for several of these, with rich cargoes, sailed unsuspectingly into 
 captivity in this snug little Yankee harbor. Even worse befell a transport 
 full of Highlanders, coming to re-enforce the king's armies in America, 
 even before the fleet had been driven from Boston. The poor Scots were 
 sorely assailed by two Yankee privateers in Massachusetts Bay, but hotly 
 beat them off, and sailed onward toward their desired port. But Capt. 
 Tucker's Marblehead privateer and an armed vessel of Rhode Island took 
 up the chase, the former running in Broad Sound, and the other on the 
 east of Long Island. They found the transport aground ; but her guns 
 were served so well that the Rhode-Islander was driven behind the island, 
 and Tucker's spars' were shattered, and his sails and his pine-tree flag were 
 riddled. At last the British ship struck her colors, and her rich cargo of 
 military stores became the spoils of the Americans. The commander and 
 36 men had been slain; and these were buried on Long Island the next 
 day, in a sad and solemn procession, preceded by the Scottish bagpipes, 
 wailing the coronach, and followed by the lamenting women who had ac- 
 companied their husbands from the North Country. 
 
 When the splendid new line-of-battle ship Independence and the famous 
 frigate Constitution were blockaded here in 1S14, by a strong British squad- 
 ron, the Massachusetts authorities requested that they should be moved 
 into the lower harbor, so that the enemy could take them away without 
 endangering the city by a bombardment. But stout old Commodore Bain- 
 bridge refused to accede, and begged the State to guard the bay for its own 
 sake; asserting, that, in case of an attack, the naval people would defend 
 themselves with all possible vigor, and the town could not help receiving 
 serious damage in the engagement. Among the defences which he strongly 
 advised was a battery of 18-pounders on Long-Island Head, with a garrison 
 at Hull ; and there is little doubt that the final adoption of such precautions 
 by the State kept Boston from molestation during the war. 
 
 During the first two years of the Secession War, Long Island was alive 
 with soldiers ; the State volunteers making ready for the field, or resting 
 here on their return. The Ninth Regiment lay in camp here through May 
 and June, 1861, and then sailed away on transports to Washington; and 
 
AVNG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 167 
 
 in the chapters in the regimental history devoted to this period, the follow- 
 ing bit of description occurs : " The island was, upon the south side, thickly 
 studded with trees; a beautiful verdure clothed the miniature valleys; and 
 of a summer morning when the sea was calm, and the red glory of a sum- 
 mer sunrise looked down upon the dotted camp-ground, the scene was in- 
 expressibly beautiful. It was a good thought, the selection of Long Island 
 for a military rendezvous, not only for its sanitary merits, but for the 
 security it afforded against desertions. It boasts many fine parade-grounds, 
 walks, and lounges, while beautiful views of the sea and land greet the eye 
 in every direction." 
 
 On April 17, 1861, the Third Massachusetts Regiment sailed down the har- 
 bor in a steam-transport ; and on the same day the Fourth Regi- 
 ment left the city. Both < ^L* — "!^ ^_ commands were from the 
 Old Colony, and went jS/S^~-- .-.-:■"-' ^^""^"v. to Fortress Monroe by 
 
 destroyed the navy- 
 and fought the 
 Hampton. In 
 m e n t was 
 and encamped 
 Long Island, 
 mustered out. 
 the first North- 
 that marched 
 sacred soil of 
 fought at Big 
 returned to 
 Long Island 
 Third; where 
 the boys had 
 
 sea. The Third 
 
 yard at Norfolk, 
 
 Virginians at 
 
 July the regi- 
 
 brought back, 
 
 four days on 
 
 before being 
 
 The Fourth was 
 
 ern regiment 
 
 on to " the 
 
 Virginia." It 
 
 Bethel, and 
 
 encamp on 
 
 with the 
 
 for a few days 
 
 a chance to rest in security, far from rebel alarms and the hardships of the 
 
 field. The Long-Island House was the headquarters building in those days; 
 
 and many a bright young officer solaced his impatience by promenading its 
 
 long piazzas, while awaiting orders to the fatal front. At the end of the year 
 
 1863 there was a camp of over 1,000 conscripts on Long Island, and several 
 
 full companies of heavy artillery. The post was under the command of 
 
 Gen. Devens, and the camps stood on the slope between the Portuguese 
 
 village and the summit beyond the Long-Island House. The troops here 
 
 suffered extremely from cold; and at times it was found necessary to relieve 
 
 the sentries every half-hour, just as is done in the Citadel of Quebec on 
 
 winter nights. An iron discipline had to be maintained here among these 
 
 unwilling soldiers ; and not a few would-be deserters were drowned in the 
 
 adjacent waters, while trying to gain the mainland. 
 
 Portuguese Village, en Long Island. 
 
i68 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Since the close of the Rebellion the island has lain fallow, awaiting new 
 changes. The great hotel has been run, with varying success, by many 
 different administrations, and sometimes with a goodly number of guests, 
 who enjoy the pleasant views of the harbor, and the rustling groves in front 
 of the house. The hopeful avenues of the land-company have as yet been 
 occupied by only a feeble group of shabby cottages ; and the sanguine 
 dreamers who hoped to see here a new island-ward, like East Boston, must 
 wait until the twentieth century, at least, before their prophecies are real- 
 ized. As a summer resort the locality suffers from its proximity to certain 
 unaesthetic quarters of the town, whose adventurous young men find here 
 a domain where the terror-inspiring helmets of the city-watch seldom 
 intrude. In June, 1882, a large assemblage of bruisers and plug-uglies 
 visited Long Island, with the intent to have a comfortable prize-fight there. 
 But the police-boat, with 33 stalwart officers, made a dash on the desecrated 
 island, and prevented the consummation of the affair. 
 
 The soil of the island is r eputed to be very rich ; but it has been used 
 mainly for the pasturage of horses and sheep, great numbers of which 
 have revelled on these fenceless plains. Five or six years ago there was 
 much talk of converting the island into a marine park, connected with South 
 Boston and the North End by city steamboats, and affording a place of 
 recreation for the people of the most densely crowded wards. Somewhat 
 later the Naval Committee discussed the feasibility of selling the United- 
 States Marine Hospital at Chelsea, and establishing a new one on Long 
 Island. In 1882 there were discussions among the city fathers as to the 
 expediency of purchasing the entire island, and transferring hither the 
 municipal charities and prisons at South Boston and West Roxbury. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 169 
 
 SLobell's Eslanti anti Gallop's Iislanti. 
 
 THE LOST FRIGATE MAGNIFIQUE. — THE QUARANTINE HOSPITAL.— 
 NIX'S MATE. 
 
 'EST of the Brewster archipelago, and upwards of six 
 miles from the Hub of the Universe, stands Lovell's 
 Island, separated from George's by the main ship- 
 channel, and exposed on its northern side to the full 
 force of the Atlantic, which was found to encroach so greatly upon it, that, 
 in 1843, measures were taken to build there a costly and massive sea-wall. 
 Lovell's is three-quarters of a mile long, and about half that distance in 
 width, and is the flattest of the large islands in the harbor. It was named, 
 probably, for Capt. William Lovell, who lived in Dorchester in 1630; and 
 the first mention of it occurs in the Massachusetts Records in 1636. In 
 1648 it was granted to Charlestown, " pvided that halfe of the timber and 
 fire wood shall belong to the garrison at the Castle." A part of the island 
 was also given to James Brown, "if he set up a stage and follow a trade 
 of fishing there." Again, in 1654, it was granted to Hull ; but at the pres- 
 ent time belongs to the Government of the United States, and is used 
 by the Light-House Board. A steep little upland rises beyond the wharf, 
 covered with long, fine grass ; and descends towards the north to a long, 
 low point, reaching out into the sea, and called Ram's Head. This was 
 the scene, some sixty years ago, of a dreadful shipwreck, when a vessel 
 from Maine struck upon the rocks at midnight, and, though all its crew 
 and passengers reached the hill-top, at morning not one was found alive, 
 the cold being so intense as to freeze them to death. It was thus vividly 
 described by an ancient poet : — 
 
 " At length they gain'd the sea-beat strand, 
 And rescued from the waves ; 
 On Lovell's Island only land, 
 To find more decent graves. 
 
 " For ere the tempest, howling night. 
 With horror ceas'd to roar ; 
 Each soul had gone with rapid flight, 
 Where sorrow springs no more. 
 
170 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 "Among the rest, a youthful pair, 
 Who, from their early youth ; 
 Had felt of love an equal share, 
 Adorn'd with equal truth, 
 
 " Lay prostrate 'mid the dire alarms, 
 Had calm resign'd their breath ; 
 Fast locked within each other's arms, 
 Together sunk to death." 
 
 The great bowlder, which is still visible on the bluff, and has been for 
 many decades the rendezvous of picnic-parties, became invested with a 
 mournful and romantic interest from the events of that terrible night. Under 
 its unavailing shelter were found the bodies of the young man and woman 
 aforesaid, closely locked in each other's arms. They were on the eve of 
 being married, and had sailed for Boston, to buy there the furniture of their 
 home. Sad fate was theirs, — to die inside the harbor, within cannon-shot 
 of a thousand happy firesides ! 
 
 In the early days of the Colony, many trees covered Lovell's, and were 
 cut for fire-wood. Upon its southern point stood, until lately, a solitary 
 tree, used for many years as a guide for the pilots of incoming vessels. 
 The island has been found a good pasture for horses, and once was overrun 
 by pretty pink-eyed rabbits. On the wharf are duplicates of the great 
 whistling buoy off the Graves, and the bell-buoy off Harding's Ledge, be- 
 sides an endless number and variety of others, ready, in emergency, to 
 take the places of those now in different parts of the Bay. A track runs 
 thence to Ram's Head, over which horses draw the great granite blocks 
 used on the sea-wall and breakwater. This was first built at an expense of 
 $90,000; but proved inadequate, and the necessary additions cost the Gov- 
 ernment some $40,000 more. 
 
 Between Lovell's and Deer Island is the channel of Broad Sound, used 
 by small vessels and steamboats bound for the eastern ports, but too shallow 
 for large ships. It is much shorter and less intricate than the main channel, 
 but even here the inevitable dangers of the sea have been fatally predomi- 
 nant. So late as June, 1858, the beautiful new schooner Prairie Flower, 
 with a pleasure-party of 47 Salem gentlemen on board, was upset by a squall 
 here, and seven of her passengers were drowned. 
 
 The ancient history of Lovell's was not recorded, and only here and there 
 is a passing mention made of it. Away back in the year 1645, the crew of 
 a Portuguese ship in the Roads stole some goats from these islands, upon 
 which the Puritan magistracy rose in wrath, and made a prize of the unfor- 
 nate vessel. They did not release her until a good round fine had been 
 screwed out of the captain. During the same year a ketch was wrecked 
 
KING'S I! A. YD BOOK' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 \/l 
 
 upon the island; although, two years before, the Boston pilots led La Tour's 
 fleet safely out through Broad Sound, past the island, " where no Ships of 
 such burden had gone out before, or not more than one." In August. 16S5, 
 a ship came in with small-pox on board, and was ordered by the council 
 " to remove lower to Lovell's Hand, and there the Passengers, Ship, and 
 Goods between Decks to be Aired : None to come to Town till further 
 Order." In the latter part of 17S2 Admiral Vaubaird's French fleet sailed 
 into Boston Harbor. The immense three-deckers, 
 Trin inpJiant and La Couronne, and a dozen smaller 
 frigates, passed inward safely ; but the Magniftque, 
 a stately line-of-battle ship, missed stays off Lovell's 
 Island, and went ashore. There she lay for many 
 years, a noble and melancholy wreck, until 
 the winter storms gradually broke 
 pieces, or buried her under the 
 of the sea. The ship-of-the-line 
 ica was then being built at Ports- 
 uth, and Congress gave her to 
 
 the French 
 Govern- 
 ment, to recom- 
 pense it for the 
 lost Magniftque. The 
 Boston pilot whose care- 
 lessness caused her loss became sexton of the New North Church ; and 
 the parish lads annoyed him by chalking on the meeting-house door, — 
 
 " Don't you run this ship ashore 
 As you did the seventy-four." 
 
 The treasure-seekers have made many an attempt to secure the riches 
 which they fancy went down with the Magniftque. About the year 1840 
 they found pieces of the very beautiful wood of which she was built ; 
 and in 1859 I a rge quantities of lead, copper, and cannon-balls were found. 
 Ten years later the United-States engineers who were widening the channel 
 brought up many oaken timbers of the old French frigate, more than twenty 
 feet below the surface of the ground. The place where she struck, on Man- 
 of-War Bar, is now solid land, above the sweep of high tides. 
 
172 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 About six miles from Boston, and between the main channel and Nan- 
 tasket Roads, rises the high bluff of Gallop's Island, whose Revolutionary 
 fortifications have been replaced by a dainty summer-house, perked jauntily 
 \over the channel. Below is the great sea-wall, built since 1S68 by the 
 United-States engineers. From this bluff the strange gravelly ridge of 
 Beachy Point stretches many rods to the eastward along the channel, almost 
 submerged at high tide, but bold and conspicuous enough when the ebb 
 tide has lowered the channel. 
 
 The first owner of the island, long before 1650, was Capt. John__Gallop, 
 then the best pilot in the Bay, who had here a snug farm, with a meadow 
 on Long Island, a sheep-pasture on Nix's Mate, and a house in Boston. 
 He achieved great distinction by piloting in the ship Griffin through a new- 
 found channel, when she had on board 200 passengers, including the Rev. 
 John Cotton, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, and other fathers of New England. 
 Shurtleff thinks that this channel was the Black-Rock Passage ; and Sav- 
 age prefers to consider it the channel leading from the north, between Lov- 
 ell's and the Great Brewster. Gallop was also distinguished for a naval 
 exploit off Block Island, where he attacked a party of Indians in possession 
 of the shallop of John Oldham (formerly of Hull), slaying several of the 
 savages, and recovering the body of his murdered friend. When the old 
 pilot died, in 1650, he valued the island at ^12, and estimated its area at 
 16 acres. 
 
 The richness of the soil made this a favorite location for successive 
 generations of farmers. Even now it produces about seven hundred 
 bushels of vegetables yearly, and ten tons of hay ; and its dairy yields milk 
 and butter enough for the local demand. In old times the farmers here 
 supplied the ships in Nantasket Roads with vegetables and milk and pure 
 spring water ; and many parties of summer voyagers used to visit these 
 fertile shores, and enjoy the quaint hospitalities of the Snow place. 
 
 Gallop's was long owned by gentlemen of Ouincy and Hingham, and 
 passed, in 181 9, into the possession of Peter Newcomb, who dwelt here for 
 many years. It was purchased from his son by the city of Boston in i860, 
 for $6,600, and loaned to the United States for a camp-ground. In the 
 latter part of the Secession War there were long lines of barracks on the 
 island, where at times 3,000 recruits were quartered, many of them being 
 professional bounty-jumpers, with $1,500 to $2,000 in each man's pocket. 
 All manner of employments were assigned to these soldiers, to keep them 
 from mischievous idleness ; but the sutler was the busiest man on the 
 island, and the happiest. During the winter the recruits suffered terribly 
 from the cold. The island was under the command of Gen. Hendrickson, 
 and had a church and a library. Here the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts 
 Regiment was quartered, on returning from the wars, in 1865. They were 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 173 
 
 veterans of the Louisiana campaigns, and the later battles in the Carolinas ; 
 and, as their steamer approached the harbor, one of their number wrote : 
 " The luxuriant banks of the Mississippi, or the historical ones of the 
 Potomac, had no charms compared with the dwarfed shrubbery of Cohasset, 
 of Scituate, of Marshfield, and of Plymouth." Here also the Second .Mas- 
 sachusetts Heavy Artillery and the Fifty-fourth (colored) and Sixty-first 
 Infantry Regiments were encamped. 
 
 Since 1S67 the island has been used as a quarantine hospital, for in- 
 fectious diseases, — the Quarantine Grounds lying between Gallop's and 
 Deer Islands. Between iS66and 1881 there were 765 persons placed here. 
 
 / 
 
 The Port Physician boardin 
 Ship. 
 
 Inbound 
 
 afflicted with danger- 
 ous contagious diseases, of 
 whom 221 died. Most of 
 these had small-pox or yellow-fever. 
 There are on the island two hospitals, 
 a dwelling, and other buildings, all of which 
 belong to the city of Boston. The appear- 
 ance of the place is cheerful and bright, in 
 spite of its mournful destination ; and, if any thing could revive the poor 
 sailors whose veins have been filled with fatal poison on the far Spanish 
 Main, it would be the tender care and pure sweet air which awaits them 
 on this cool northern islet. But the rec£axL_Qf deaths shows that nothing 
 avails to save, in many cases; and the yearly enlarging cemetery on the 
 island bears witness that _poor Jack finds here his last snug harbor, his long 
 repose from a life of unutterable toil and hardship. 
 
 ^/Nix's Mate is a large, gravelly shoal between Long Island and Gallop's 
 island, partly bare at low tide, and crowned by a singular and ominous-look- 
 ing beacon, now perhaps eighty years old. It is a massive piece of copper- 
 riveted masonry, 40 feet square and 12 feet high (with stairs on one side), 
 upon whose top stands a black wooden pyramid, 20 feet high. As early as 
 
174 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 1636 this locality was known as Nixes Island, when it was granted to John 
 Gallop; and at a later day it divided with Bird Island the dishonor of being 
 the place of execution for pirates, where the bones of these luckless sea- 
 dogs were exposed in chains and on gibbets. Murderers and burglars were 
 executed on the Common, or down on Boston Neck; but the people whose 
 crimes were perpetrated on the ocean suffered the penalties of the law in 
 sight of its accusing waters. 
 
 The usual form of the popular legend of this locality states that Capt. 
 Nix was killed at sea, and that his mate was charged with the crime, and 
 executed on this island, protesting his innocence, and prophesying that the 
 place which witnessed his judicial murder would be washed away by the 
 angry sea. This is certainly not historical, for the present name was applied 
 
 Nix's Mate Island, in 1700. 
 
 to the place two hundred and fifty years ago, at a time when no man had 
 yet been executed in Massachusetts for murder or piracy. Another form 
 of the legend states that Nix was a freebooter, who sailed into Boston in 
 16S0, his ship well laden with treasures ravished from unarmed ships. An- 
 choring down the harbor, he and his mate went ashore on the island, on a 
 dark night, and buried several bags of coin ; after which, to keep the secret 
 as close as possible, Nix murdered his companion, and buried him also. 
 The continuation of the story is crowded with ghastly circumstances. 
 
 There are enough cases of this kind recorded in the sober annals of the 
 colony, without need of invoking tradition. For upwards of a century 
 Massachusetts Bay was infested with freebooters, who plundered passing 
 vessels at will, and were sure of a short shrift and stern retribution when 
 caught. So annoying were these scourges of the coast, that even Win- 
 throp's Blessing of the Bay, the first vessel built in the colony, was armed 
 and sent out as a cruiser against them. In 1689 Tom Pound and his ma- 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 175 
 
 rauding ship were captured by the Boston vessel Mary, after a fight, in 
 which the commander of the latter was mortally wounded. Pound was exe- 
 cuted, his indictment charging that he, "being under a red flag at the head 
 of the mast, purposely and in defiance of their Majesties' authority, had 
 wilfully and with malice aforethought committed murder and piracy upon 
 the high seas, being instigated thereunto by the Devil." About the same 
 time Thomas Hawkins, 
 a young man from one of 
 the best Massachusetts 
 families, was executed for 
 the same crime, with nine 
 of his comrades. Fifteen 
 years later John Ouelch 
 and five of his men were 
 brought up the Bay, con- 
 demned as pirates, escort- 
 ed by 40 musketeers and 
 two ministers to Bird Isl- 
 and, and there executed. 
 The News - Letter said 
 that " notwithstanding all 
 the great labour and pains 
 taken by the Reverend 
 Ministers of the Town 
 of Boston, ever since they 
 were first Seized and 
 brought to Town, both 
 before and since their 
 Trial and Condemnation, 
 to instruct, admonish, 
 preach, and pray for 
 them ; yet as they led a 
 wicked and vitious life, so Nix's Mate, 
 
 to appearance they dyed 
 
 very obdurately and impenitently, hardened in their sin. His Excellency 
 intends to send an Express to England, with an Account of the whole 
 matter to Her Majesty." 
 
 In 1717 Captain Bellamy cruised in the Bay with the formidable pirate- 
 ship Whidah, of 23 guns. She was finally decoyed on to Wellfleet bar, and 
 102 of her crew were drowned. For a hundred years parts of this vessel 
 frequently became visible at low tide, and coins from time to time washed 
 ashore near by. Six of the crew, previously detached into a prize, were 
 
176 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 taken, and executed at Boston. Well into the eighteenth century the Brit- 
 ish war-vessel Sea-Horse was stationed here for years to repress piracy; and 
 many a long cruise did she make against their haunts. In 1724 John Phil- 
 lips was the most notorious sea-robber in these waters ; but, having im- 
 pressed some unwilling young men into his service, they revolted, on good 
 opportunity, killed their chief, and carried the vessel into Boston, where 
 certain impenitent men of the crew were hung in gibbets on Bird Island, 
 on whose gloomy shores many a jolly Jack the Rover had preceded them. 
 
 A famous sufferer on Nix's Mate was William Fly, who headed the crew 
 of the Elizabeth in a mutiny, while on a voyage from Jamaica to Guinea, 
 and threw overboard the captain and mate. Afterwards they changed the 
 name of their vessel to Fame's Revenge, and embarked on a piratical cruise 
 along the American coast. But their prisoners rose upon them, placed Fly 
 and three of his men in irons, and ran the Fame's Revenge into Boston, 
 where the unfortunate buccaneers were executed. Fly was hung in irons, 
 on Nix's Mate, over the graves of his confederates ; and here his bones 
 shook and rattled in the sea-air for many months, as a grim warning to all 
 mariners. The Boston News-Letter reported that Fly " advised Masters of 
 Vessels not to be Severe and Barbarous to their Men, which might be a 
 reason why so many turn'd Pirates ; the other Two seem'd Penitent, beg'd 
 that others might be warned by 'em." 
 
 The Boston merchantmen of those days were hard fellows to tackle. In 
 1748 Colonel Ouincy's ship Bethell, 20 guns, bound for the Mediterranean, 
 encountered a Spanish treasure-ship, which surrendered directly, fancying 
 that its antagonist was an English sloop-of-war. The bold Captain Freeman 
 had doubled his crew by dressing up dummies and handspikes with extra 
 coats and hats. The Bethell and her prize sailed up Boston Harbor in tri- 
 umph, and 161 chests of silver and 2 chests of gold were removed from the 
 latter to Colonel Ouincy's house. When such well-armed merchantmen fell 
 into the hands of their mutinous crews, they became formidable scourges 
 to commerce. As late as the year 1772, there are notices of pirates on the 
 coast ; and Col. Pierce's diary in that year says, " Nov. 22. The Pirates 
 take a scooner and killed the hands." 
 
 A writer in the "Memorial History of Boston" resents Lord Macaulay's 
 charge that there were many "old buccaneers living in comfort and credit at 
 New York and Boston." But there were certainly many queer maritime 
 characters in the little colony, such as those of whom Lowell speaks, " Re- 
 tired sea-captains (true brothers of Chaucer's Ship-man), whose exploits had 
 kindled the imagination of Burke, added a not unpleasant savor of salt to 
 society. They belonged to the old school of Gilbert, Hawkins, Frobisher, 
 and Drake, parcel-soldiers all of them, who had commanded armed ships, 
 and had tales to tell of gallant fights with privateers or pirates, truest repre- 
 
AV/VY;\9 7/AAUWOOA' of boston harbor. 
 
 177 
 
 sentatives of those Vikings, who, if trade in lumber or peltry was dull, 
 would make themselves Dukes of Dublin or 
 Karls of Orkney." 
 
 Among the wild rovers of those days was 
 Captain Cromwell, a poor vagabond of a common 
 sailor about Boston in 1636; but ten years later, 
 under a dubious license from Lord Warwick, he 
 captured a fleet of Spanish ships, and brought 
 the whole array into Plymouth, and then to Bos- 
 ton, where honest old Bradford averred that "he 
 scattered a great deal of money, and yet more 
 sin, I fear." He slew one of his men in the 
 street with a rapier-thrust ; presented a rich 
 sedan-chair to Governor Win- 
 throp ; and then fared away on a 
 three-years' cruise, in which he 
 captured many prizes. Then he * 
 
 returned, to become a solid man 
 of Boston, and presented to the 
 town six great bells, doubtless 
 originally intended for some Span- 
 ish-American convent. Between 
 these fearless sea-kings and the 
 freebooters whose bones rattled 
 above Nix's Mate there was a 
 world-wide difference, to be sure. 
 Captain Kidd had been brought 
 into Boston, a captive, and sent 
 thence to London, to be put to 
 death; but the fame of his ex- 
 ploits and gains led many an 
 honest sailor astray, and led him 
 to a dreary death on this surf- 
 beaten shore. 
 
 A hundred years ago the isl- 
 and was large enough to be used 
 for pasturing sheep, and its chief 
 bluff bore the name of North- 
 End Point. It is certainly a 
 strange coincidence that Nix's 
 and Bird, the two gibbet-bearers, 
 are the only islands in the harbor to be washed away and blotted out, as if 
 
i 7 8 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 kindly Nature refused to endure their presence. A curving shoal runs half 
 a mile south-westward from the Nix's Mate beacon, and would be the most 
 dangerous point in the Bay, were it not for the high black pyramid. 
 
 The beacon was erected under the auspices, and at the suggestion, of 
 the Boston Marine Society, and formed the theme of many communications 
 between that organization and the National Government. One of our cuts 
 shows the island as it appeared many years ago, before the last of the 
 aborigines had vanished from the scene. The approximate date when the 
 last Massachusee canoe disappeared cannot be found; but in 1853 Edward 
 Everett narrated the following incident, which is at least ben trovato : 
 "A few days ago, as I saw in the newspapers, two light birch-bark canoes 
 appeared in Boston Harbor, containing each a solitary Indian. They 
 seemed as they approached to gaze in silent wonder at the city of the 
 triple hills, rising street above street, and crowned with the dome of 
 the State House, and at the long line of villas stretching far into the 
 background ; at the numerous tall vessels outward bound, as they dropped 
 down the channel, and spread their broad wings to the breeze, and those 
 which were returning weather-beaten from the ends of the earth ; at the 
 steamers dashing in every direction across the harbor, breathing volumes 
 of smoke from their fiery lungs. They paddled their frail barks with 
 dexterity and speed through this strange, busy, and to them, no doubt, 
 bewildering scene ; and having made the circuit of East Boston, the Navy 
 Yard, the city itself, and South Boston, dropped down with the current, and 
 disappeared among the islands." 
 
 __ > 
 iV - V, ', 
 
 *^J^£rip"? 
 
 The Port Physician going out. 
 
A'JJVC'S HAJVDIiOOK OF BOSTON JI ARBOR. 1 79 
 
 foainsfortr Eglantr. 
 
 THE ANTINOMIAN ELDER. — AN ANCIENT SUMMER RESORT. — THE BOSTON 
 
 ALMSHOUSE. 
 
 EVEN miles from town, and half a mile from Long Island, 
 the pleasant little island of Rainsford rises from the har- 
 bor, near the entrance of the Western Way, with hardly 
 mi, a dozen acres of soil, drawn out for half a mile, and in- 
 dented with many a pretty cove and miniature bay. Its 
 two bluffs are connected by a low and narrow isthmus, 
 from which the all-devouring sea receives continuous repulses, along the 
 line of the sea-wall. Its first white resident appears to have been Elder 
 Edward Raynsford, to whom the island was probably granted in 1636, at 
 the request of Owen Rowe, of London, who wrote to Governor Winthrop, 
 asking that " Mr Ransford may be accommodated with lands for a farme, 
 to Keepe my cattle, that so my stocke may be preserved." He was the 
 first ruling elder of the Old South Church, a large landholder on Long 
 Island, and one of the substantial men of the Colony. There is a tradition 
 that he came from a very good English family, and that his brother, Sir 
 Richard Rainsford, succeeded Sir Matthew Hale as Lord Chief Justice of 
 the King's Bench. Nevertheless, the colonial authorities disarmed him, in 
 1637, for heresy. (What mountains of revolvers and brooms would fill the 
 State House, if that dereliction were similarly punished to-day !) Yet, 
 though a heretic, and possibly even an Antinomian, it is said that the good 
 elder bought his little domain of its Indian lords, preferring a just title to 
 one founded on the right of might. Here he lived during many years, with 
 his wife and children, until 1680, when he died; and eight years later his 
 wife was buried in King's Chapel Burying-Ground. After her death the 
 island-property was divided, passing through many hands, until, in 1737, 
 Boston bought it, of the Lorings of Hull, for ,£570, "to be used and im- 
 proved for a publick hospital for the reception and accommodation of such 
 sick and infectious persons as shall be sent there by order." A hospital 
 was erected, having four rooms on a floor, and a proper person put in charge. 
 Until 1852 Rainsford's Island was used as a quarantine. 
 
 As early as 1677, just after the close of King Philip's War, a vessel was 
 quarantined in Nantasket Roads, with the small-pox; but sundry people 
 from the villages about the harbor boarded her, and the dread infection was 
 soon let loose in Massachusetts, nearly a thousand persons falling victims. 
 
l80 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 This grim lesson taught the Colony people the need of stricter quarantine 
 regulations ; and, after several attempts elsewhere, they established their 
 lazaretto on this sequestered islet. It appears to have been under the joint 
 control of Boston and Massachusetts ; and the keepers of the Light-house 
 and the commanders of the Castle had orders to send there all vessels in 
 which contagious diseases were found. 
 
 Occasionally junketing-parties visited the island, even in those ancient 
 days, on a variety of pretexts. Ezekiel Price tells us, in his diary, that, on 
 Sept. 2, 1778, he went down the harbor to Hospital Island, with the select- 
 men and other Boston gentlemen, and "had a view of the French fleet then 
 in the harbour, as well as those stationed in Nantasket Harbour; they 
 made a very formidable appearance, and were disposed so as to protect us 
 from any approach of the British Navy." 
 
 Nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the sweet singer of the harbor 
 thus apostrophized " Rainsford's pleasant little isle : " — 
 
 " The sailor here when dire disease 
 His body has opprest ; 
 May lie upon the bed of ease, 
 With kind attentions blest. 
 
 " Here Welch, the son of healing art, 
 Will due prescriptions give; 
 And use each mean to soothe the heart, 
 And make the suff'rer live. 
 
 " Here sprightly youth may exercise, 
 Upon the bowling green ; 
 When no rude storms deform the skies, 
 And nature shines serene. 
 
 " Long may the legislative care, 
 Thy kind protection be ; 
 And long may Mercy's hand prepare, 
 Her dwelling-place in thee." 
 
 On Great Head stands the Old Mansion House, built in 1819, which 
 was for many years the chief summer resort in the harbor, and has given 
 comfortable shelter to many well-known Bostonians of the old regime. 
 The town authorities allowed the keepers to take boarders, when no infec- 
 tious diseases were upon the island ; and the fever and small-pox hospitals 
 were often crowded, besides the old mansion. It must have been a grew- 
 some summer-resort, and abounding in suggestions not conducive to hilarity ; 
 yet our grandfathers appear to have found real and lively pleasure here. 
 The North Bluff (or Great Head) also has the superintendent's house, the 
 
AVjVG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON //ARBOR. 
 
 181 
 
 old dead-house, and several other buildings, besides the wharf at which 
 the city steamboat touches. These houses are now mainly used for pauper 
 women. The West Head is that part of the island west of the narrow 
 isthmus, and is devoted to pauper men. Here is the long, low building 
 erected for the Fever Hospital, and generally known as the Bowling Alleys. 
 The imposing Greek temple on high ground beyond was the Small-Pox 
 Hospital, and not (as its appearance indicates) the shrine of the tutelar 
 divinity of the harbor. It is a stone building, and dates from 1832. Near 
 by is a high promontory of slate projecting to the southward into the har- 
 bor, and sheltering two pretty coves. The graveyard is on West Head, and 
 
 Rainsford Island. 
 
 has monuments nearly a century and a half old, many of which bear pathetic 
 records. Here are buried most of the old keepers of the island, and many 
 sailors and officers of foreign ships, who have ended their voyages here. 
 Up to a date well within the present century, it was the custom for Boston 
 families to send their members, when taken with dangerous infectious die*- 
 eases, to the island, whence they were tolerably certain never to return. 
 Numbers of these unfortunates rest in the local cemetery. Although within 
 sight of the spires of their home-town, they were rigidly isolated on this 
 dreary strand, and allowed to drift down into the darkness of death without 
 the comfort and support of their neighboring friends and relatives. Many 
 years ago a remarkable stone tomb was discovered here, containing a skele- 
 ton and an iron sword-hilt. Dr. J. V. C. Smith, who, as Port Physician, 
 spent many years on the island, wrote a fanciful account of this grim treas- 
 ure-trove, suggesting a strange history. 
 
182 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 In 1852 the State took possession of Rainsford, for a pauper colony, and 
 spent about $100,000 in buildings and improvements. The State institution 
 was broken up in 1866, and its inmates went to the inland almshouses. 
 
 In 1872 Boston bought the island and all its buildings, for $40,000, and 
 the large hospital was converted into a city almshouse. Up to the year 
 1882 a number of ex-soldiers, Massachusetts veterans of the Secession 
 War, were kept here, living on the cold bread of municipal charity. At that 
 time they were transferred to the new Soldiers' Home, on Powder-Horn 
 Hill, Chelsea, where they can pass their broken old age in honor and peace, 
 and free from the taint of pauperism. 
 
 In the good time coming, when chronic poverty shall have become a 
 matter only of tradition, this beautiful and picturesque little gem of the sea, 
 with its rocky shores and snug coves, and its noble view out on the Atlantic, 
 may become once more an abode of summer pleasure, resorted to by the 
 elegant patrician descendants of the plain shopkeepers who used to weather 
 the dog-days in the Small-Pox Hospital forty years ago. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON DA A' BO A'. 1 83 
 
 knock's Manti anti its Eragetig. 
 
 GRAPE AND SLATE ISLANDS. — NUT ISLAND AND ITS ARTILLERY. — 
 HANGMAN'S ISLAND. 
 
 [HE most conspicuous object in the view from the west end of Hull 
 is the quiet and peaceful Peddock's Island, where, between two 
 bold grassy bluffs, several snug houses are seen, clearly outlined 
 against a background of dark-green orchards. Here dwell the 
 Cleverlys, who, father and son, have piloted vessels into Wey- 
 mouth and Ouincy for half a century. From their sitting-room windows they 
 look down Nantasket Roads and seaward, and watch their vessels coming 
 in. From the East Head a magnificent view is gained over the lower har- 
 bor, and down on to Fort Warren, only a mile away. This fine hill is sepa- 
 rated from Windmill Point and the Hotel Pemberton by the narrow and 
 rushing strait of Hull Gut, a quarter of a mile wide. Thence the island 
 rambles away to the south-west, hill and dale and isthmus, with four miles 
 of coast-line, to within less than a mile of the shores of Ouincy. The 
 semi-insulated bluff of Prince's Head long supported the ponderous iron- 
 clad targets upon which Norman Wiard's great guns played from Nut 
 Island, their hurtling missiles tearing and piercing the iron plates as if they 
 had been pine planks. 
 
 Not one in ten thousand of the happy summer idlers who sail by Ped- 
 dock's know that it was once the scene of a tragedy of terrible results, which 
 were thus recorded two hundred and fifty years ago: "It fortuned, some 
 few yeares, before the English came to inhabit at new Plimmouth in New 
 England ; that upon some distaste given in the Massachusetts bay, by 
 Frenchmen, then trading there with the Natives for beaver, they set upon 
 the men, at such advantage, that they killed manie of them, burned their 
 shipp, then riding at Anchor by an Island there, now called Peddocks 
 Island in memory of Leonard Peddock that landed there (where many 
 wilde Auckies haunted that time which hee thought had bin tame), distrib- 
 uting them unto 5 Sachems which were Lords of the severall territories 
 adjoyninge. They did keep them so longe as they lived, onely to sport 
 themselves at them, and made these five Frenchmen fetch them wood and 
 water, which is the generall worke that they require of a servant. One of 
 these five men out livinge the rest had learned so much of their language, as 
 to rebuke them for their bloudy deeds, saying that God would be angry with 
 them for it; and that hee would in his displeasure destroy them: but the 
 
184 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Salvages (it seems boasting of their strength,) replyed and say'd, that they 
 were so many, that God could not kill them. But contrary wise in short 
 time after, the hand of God fell heavily upon them, with such a mortall 
 stroake, that they died on heapes, as they lay in their houses ; and the liv- 
 ing that were able to shift for themselves would runne away, & let them 
 dy, and let there Carkases ly above the ground without buriall. For in a 
 place where many inhabited, there hath been but one left alive, to tell what 
 became of the rest, the livinge being (as it seems) not able to bury the dead, 
 they were left for Crowes, Kites, and vermin to pray upon. And the bones 
 and skulls upon the severall places of their habitations, made such a spec- 
 tacle after my comming into those partes, that as I travailed in that Forrest, 
 nere the Massachussets, it seemed to mee a new-found Golgatha." 
 
 In these words does Morton, one of the earliest settlers, narrate the 
 tragedy of Peddock*s Island, and the Divine wrath which, as the savages 
 believed, came upon the red tribes. The auckies spoken of were probably 
 great auks, a strange penguin-like bird, which Dr. Elliott Coues says was 
 once common on these shores, but cannot now be found south of Labra- 
 dor. Somewhat later, Morton received a more circumstantial account of 
 the massacre of the French sailors from a chief who was engaged in the 
 terrible work. " The Salvagis seemed to be good freinds with vs while they 
 feared vs, but when they see famin prevail, they begun to insult, as 
 apeareth by the seaquell ; for on of thay r Pennesses or Chef men, Caled 
 Pexsouth, implyed himself to Learne to speek Einglish, obsarving all things 
 for his bloudy ends. He told me he Loued Einglish men very well, but he 
 Loued me best of all. Then he said, ' you say ff rench men doe not loue 
 you, but I will tell you what wee have done to y m . Ther was a ship broken 
 by a storm. Thay saued most of they goods & hid it in the Ground. 
 We maed y m tell us whear it was. Y n we maed y m our sarvants. Thay 
 weept much. When we parted them, we gave y m such meat as our dogs 
 eate. On of y m had a Booke he would ofen Reed in. We Asked him 
 'what his Booke said.' He answered, 'It saith, ther will a people, like 
 French men, com into this Cuntry and driue you all a way, & now we thincke 
 you ar thay.' We took Away thay Clothes. Thay liued but a little while. 
 On of them Liued Longer than the Rest, for he had a good master & 
 gaue him a wiff. He is now ded, but hath a sonn Alive. An other Ship 
 Came into the bay w th much' goods to Trucke, y n I said to the Sacham, I 
 will tell you how you shall have all for nothing. Bring all our Canows and 
 all our Beauer & a great many men, but no bow nor Arrow Clubs, nor 
 Hachits, but knives vnder y e scins y l About our Lines. Throw vp much 
 Beauer vpon thay Deck ; sell it very Cheep & when I giue the word, 
 thrust yo r knives in the French mens Bellys. Thus we killed y m all. But 
 Monnsear Fflnch, Master of thay r ship, being wounded, Leped into y e hold. 
 
A'/.V(/\V If AND HOOK OF BOSTON IfAN/iOR. 
 
 .85 
 
 We bidd him coin vp, but ho would not. Then we cult thay Cable & 
 ye Ship went Ashore & lay upon her sid & slept ther. Flinch cam vp & 
 we killed him. Then our Sacham devided thay goods and ffiered they 
 Ship, & it maed a very greeat fier. Som of our Company Asked y m ' how 
 long it was Agoe sine thay first see ships?' Thay said thay could not tell, 
 but thay had heard men say ye first ship y l thay see, seemed to be a rioting 
 Hand, as thay suposed broken of from the maine Land, wrapt together w 1 ' 
 the roats of Trees, with some trees upon it. Thay went to it with thay 
 Canows, but seeing men and hearing guns, thay maed hast to be gon.'' 
 
 Many years later traditions of these events lingered around the Bay, and 
 pieces of French money were found near the Indian villages of Dorches- 
 ter. But no record can be found of Leonard Peddock, who has left so 
 great a monument in our harbor. 
 
 In 1634 the island was granted to Charlestown, for twenty years, to keep 
 cattle upon. The rich, sweet grass on the bluffs seems to have been very 
 kindly food for domestic animals; for in May, 1775, there were 30 cattle 
 and 500 sheep here, which a raiding party of amphibious American infantry 
 swept off, and carried to the mainland. The next year 600 militia of Boston 
 and the Old Colony encamped here, to guard the harbor entrance. In spite 
 of Sir Edmund Andros's dictum, that an Indian deed to land was of "no 
 
1 86 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 more value than the scratch of a bear's claw,'' the people of Hull were 
 careful to secure a grant of the island from one of the last Massachusee 
 sachems ; and the domain was early taken from Charlestown and given to 
 Nantasket, whose people divided it up, each taking four acres. 
 
 In 1778 the great French fleet of the Count D'Estaing, battered by 
 storms and by British guns, took refuge in Boston Harbor. While the 
 vessels were being refitted, large numbers of the soldiers and sailors were 
 set ashore on the islands, where they erected fortifications. Soon after- 
 wards a British fleet of a hundred sail approached the harbor, but were fain 
 to turn to sea again when they saw the island-forts. There is a tradition 
 that the outer head of Peddock's was fortified at this time ; and very faint 
 remains of the old intrenchments are still pointed out. As Chevalier states 
 in his history of the French navy, " Des batteries etaient deja commencees 
 sur quelques-unes des nombreuses lies qui avoisinaient la rade." As he 
 previously gives a minute description of the French forts at Hull and 
 George's Island, this paragraph must refer to other localities near Nantasket 
 Roads, of which Peddock's afforded the best site for defensive works. 
 
 There are grewsome traditions of wrecks on these bold shores, one of 
 them relating to a plague-ship which drifted into the northern cove. It was 
 perhaps thought best to have a domain so associated with suffering and 
 death placed under some form of ecclesiastical supervision, and Peddock's 
 became a part of the parsonage-lands of Hull. About fifteen years ago it 
 was bought by Miss Sallie Jones of Hingham, who now owns the entire 
 island save a narrow strip of eight acres. There is a landing-stage near 
 Cleverly's house ; and in August camping-parties frequent certain parts of 
 the island, their white tents making pretty contrasts with the dark bluffs. 
 Peddock's is a series of lenticular hills, almost insulated from each other, 
 and joined only by low bars. The hotel guests at Hull enjoy the results of 
 the cattle grazing along these curving highlands, and the fruits and vegeta- 
 bles of the little farm. Nor are the higher senses without satisfaction here; 
 for one of Foxcroft Cole's best paintings (much admired at the St. Botolph 
 Club) portrayed the lovely view down the glen back of the houses, and the 
 luxuriant orchard, with its network of wind-twisted boughs. 
 
 In the southern port of the harbor, beyond Peddock's, are several inter- 
 esting little islands, rarely visited by summer explorers, yet each helping to 
 make up the lovely panorama of blended sea and shore. Grape Island, a 
 rather pretty and fertile islet, lies off the mouths of the two Weymouth 
 Rivers, and covers about fifty acres, which are gracefully disposed in two 
 swelling hills. About a furlong distant, to the eastward, rise the thickets 
 and ledges of Slate Island. Grape has been for many years the abode of an 
 eccentric old fisherman whom the harbor people call Captain Smith (a mari- 
 time simplification of his true name, which was Amos Pendleton), and who 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 [87 
 
 is distinguished equally for his dangerous temper, his Munchausen stories 
 of a past life of crime, and his complicated and ingenious system of pro- 
 fanity. He claims to have been for many years an officer of a slave-ship, 
 and afterwards of a smuggler on the Spanish Main ; and, to the few visitors 
 who could win his confidence, he told blood-curdling stories of battles with 
 cruisers, and long nights over Southern seas, with English or Spanish 
 men-of-war in hot pursuit, long-toms roaring, and slaves dying by scores in 
 the hold. The scene would change from the coast of Africa to the bayous 
 of Louisiana, or the lagoons of South America; but everywhere the story 
 was of horror and bloodshed. Captain Smith has a sinister reputation 
 among the yachtsmen and fishermen of the harbor ; and many stories are 
 told of his firing upon invaders of his ancient solitary realm, and planting 
 bird-shot in inconvenient localities. But the writer of this chronicle wan- 
 dered at will over the domains of this sanguinary hermit, from the great 
 
 Peddock's Island. 
 
 bowlders on the eastern point to the shell-heaps which the savages left here 
 so long ago, and up the grassy hills, nor heard nor saw the legendary shot- 
 gun which holds four yacht-clubs at bay. Here and there bevies of horses 
 were enjoying the rich pasturage ; the perfume of the noble forest on the 
 adjacent Hingham shore came off on the land-breeze ; and in the hollow, 
 near the cold spring and the deep water on the south of the island, nestled 
 the snug little house, among its vegetable-gardens. 
 
 This was one of the favorite haunts of the Indians, who, like their suc- 
 cessors in the land, delighted in large and juicy clams, skilfully baked among 
 hot rocks and fragrant sea-weed. Ring after ring of these stones has been 
 found here, set up edgewise, with beds of clean beach-gravel in the enclosed 
 spaces. Here the careful searcher may still find stone tomahawks, with 
 which, in long-past days, the red epicures broke the clam-shells, while they 
 enjoyed their jovial feasts, and made inscrutable and polysyllabic Massa- 
 chusee jokes. The esculent clams are still found in great numbers on the 
 western bar. 
 
I'88 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 In 1775 four small British vessels came down from Boston, and anchored 
 off this point, to the intense alarm of the Old-Colony towns, over whose 
 peaceful plains the roar of alarm-guns, the rapid clanging of guns, and the 
 bickering of drums were quickly heard. The rumor fled down the country- 
 side, that 300 red-coats were marching on Weymouth ; and all the houses in 
 Old Spain were deserted by the people. Nearly 2,000 well-armed minute- 
 men assembled to cover the towns ; and when they found that the object of 
 the naval expedition was the hay on Grape Island, a strong force of rural 
 musketeers put off in boats brought round from Hingham, intending to 
 engage the enemy, and save the Yankee forage. But the raiding-party made 
 haste to get upon their vessels, and sailed away to Boston, happy in the 
 acquisition of several tons of fine hay. Meantime the whole country was 
 aroused, the minute-men made hundreds of ineffectual pot-shots at the 
 scarlet harvesters ; and the British schooner-of-war cannonaded Eastward 
 Neck with all her might. 
 
 Slate Island, comprising about twelve acres, and nearly nine and a half 
 miles from Boston, is difficult of access except at high tide ; but when 
 reached the aptness of the name is evident, for its slaty ledges run far out 
 into the water, their black edges fringed by the light spray. The little 
 beaches are covered with splinters and slabs of slate, which are ground and 
 beaten to and fro by the waves, when they surge around these silent shores. 
 The venerable divine who wrote " New-England's Plantation," in 1630, spoke 
 with enthusiasm of the existence of " plentie of Slates at the He of Slate 
 in Masathulets Bay." Yet a year later Government ordered that no slate 
 should be taken therefrom without permission. In 1650 the island was 
 granted to William Torrey, with a reservation that li any man shalbe free to 
 make use of the slate." It remained in his possession only two years, 
 passing then by grant to Hull. 
 
 Around the coast rise the ragged and irregular ledges of state, well- 
 nigh concealed in places by a luxuriant growth of brown sea-weed and 
 masses of kelp, which seem only floating upon the water's top, though they 
 cling so closely to the rocks below, giving to the island an appearance as 
 if hidden dangers were continually lurking around it. Clambering over 
 the rocks, and across the tiny beaches covered with splinters and fragments 
 of slate, and passing many ancient excavations, one suddenly gets entangled 
 in the high bushes which cover and crown the little island, making of its 
 crest a hopeless jungle. Here, in July, grow the rarest and sweetest red- 
 raspberries, and the perfect golden-rod,- — 
 
 " Graceful, tossing plume of glowing gold, 
 Waving lonely on the rocky ledge ; 
 Leaning seaward, lovely to behold, 
 
 Clinging to the high cliff's ragged edge," — 
 
A'/JVG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 189 
 
 and the sad little purple aster, which dares to stay later than either of the 
 others, until the chilling frosty breezes come down the Bay. On the north 
 and west, towards Grape Island, are low gray cliffs of slate-rock, tier after 
 tier, standing upon edge, or slanting backward or forward like ancient time- 
 worn and weather-beaten tombstones. Here schooners load with the slate ; 
 and one may see the quarries, all along, from which they have taken the 
 material for countless cellar-walls and underpinnings. Were its quality 
 better, who knows but that Slate Island, with its rocks and flowers, might 
 vanish as utterly as Nix 1 s Mate has done ? 
 
 In a rude little hut near the southern shore long dwelt a strange hermit, 
 whose lonely and sequestered life was the subject of many winter-evening 
 
 Hingham. Here was 
 surrounded with 
 visited often by 
 
 stories among the peaceful farms of 
 a solitude to which Thoreau's hermitage, 
 friendly flowers and fraternal trees, and 
 respectful Concordians, was as lively as 
 Scollay Square after a matinee. 
 In this poor anchorite " the He 
 of Slate " may have found 
 its romance, sealed to the 
 world. 
 
 Nut Island lies in Ouin- 
 cy Bay, "j\ miles from Bos- 
 ton, a little to the north of 
 Great Hill on Hough's 
 Neck, and was sometimes 
 called Hough's Tombs on 
 the queer old eighteenth- 
 century charts. It rises 
 
 sharply on one side into a tall, slightly concave highland, the top of which is 
 fairly rounded and covered with green grass and summer flowers, and slopes 
 gently down again to the water on the other side. Just at the foot of the cliff 
 are one or two sturdy trees, a few deserted cannon, a wharf and track, and 
 three fishermen's huts. The guns are immense, and some of them have been 
 exploded by the great tests to which they were subjected. Yonder are the 
 sand-banks which seem to have stood unyielding their heavy fire, though 
 not so the iron plates lying thereabouts, bent, broken, and pierced through. 
 Many experiments in ordnance have been tried on this sequestered islet; 
 and one can see faintly in the distance on Prince's Head the bluff at which 
 the shots were aimed, although they sometimes fell wide of their mark, 
 ricocheting over the waters, and dropping into the waters about Hull. One 
 of these huge missiles even cut the spile from the upper wharf, startling 
 the good people of Hull, and disturbing the quiet of their peaceful little 
 
 Peace and War, Nut Island. 
 
190 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 cemetery on the hill-slope, where it finally landed. This shot weighed 400 
 pounds, and with great labor was hauled to the hotel, only to be reclaimed 
 by the United States. In October, 1876, a Wiard gun fired a 531-pound 
 shot through 12 inches of solid wrought-iron plates on the Prince's-Head 
 target, 1,650 yards distant. Not far from half a million dollars were spent 
 in the experiments made here by Norman Wiard, in endeavors to find the 
 gun of the future. Here occurred the famous tests of the fifteen-inch 
 breech-loading rifle, made at South Boston, and found to have a range of 
 six miles, and power to drive a shot through twenty inches of iron plate. 
 The newly adopted hydraulic gun-carriages also received their most efficient 
 tests here. 
 
 It is very important to have such a testing-ground for heavy ordnance in 
 this vicinity, since the chief manufactory of American fortress-guns is at 
 South Boston. Here, at the famous Alger Foundry, the process of gun- 
 making has been studied as a science for fifty years, during which time 2,000 
 pieces of heavy ordnance and 500,000 projectiles have been made for the 
 United-States Government. Of these the number furnished during the 
 late Secession War were 700 bronze guns and howitzers, 700 iron guns, 332 
 of the great Rodmans (of ten-inch calibre and larger), and a few heavy 
 rifles. Here also were made the fifteen-inch Rodmans, weighing twenty-five 
 tons each, with wonderful powers of endurance in long firing. Among these 
 were the guns with which the Monito?- fought the Merrimac, the splendid 
 armament of the New Ironsides, and some of the heaviest pieces at Fortress 
 Monroe. 
 
 A short bar connects the island with Hough's Neck on the south, and 
 the shallow strait may be forded at low tide. Some years ago a merry party 
 of summer pleasurers drove down here, and essayed to navigate their 
 horse and carriage to the island. But the tide was too far advanced; and 
 the vehicle capsized in deep water, and left several of its occupants to 
 drown. The view from Nut Island is very pretty towards Hough's Neck, 
 across the fields and treetops, and past the towns and villages beyond to 
 the distant Blue Hills ; and the air is fragrant with the odors from the 
 flowers and fruits of the shore. Morton, " the Lord of Misrule," wrote 
 that '■' There are divers arematicall herbes, and plants, as Sassafras, Muske, 
 Roses, Violets, Balme, Laurell, Hunnisuckles, and the like, that with their 
 vapors perfume the aire ; and it has bin a thing much observed that, shipps 
 have come from Virginea where there have bin scarce five men able to hale 
 a rope, untill they have come within 40 Degrees of latitude, and smell the 
 sweet aire of the shore, where they have suddainly recovered." And he 
 should certainly know, for he was familiar with every thing about his home, 
 and especially with this locality. Morton tells this little story of himself 
 and Bubbles, the berated "Master of Ceremonies" at Merry-Mount: "To- 
 
I92 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 gether Bubbles and hee goes in the Canow to Nut Island for brants, 
 and there his host makes a shotte and breakes the winges of many. Bub- 
 bles in hast and single handed, paddels out like a Cow in a cage ; his host 
 cals back to rowe two handed like to a pare of oares, and before this could 
 be performed, the fowles had time to swimme to other fiockes, and so to 
 escape; the best part of the pray being lost, mayd his host to mutter at 
 him, and so to parte for that time discontended." There are still many 
 fowls at Nut Island, apparently not in the least disturbed by guns greater 
 than Morton's ; and could the jolly lord return- now with Bubbles, he might 
 perchance think more of the shooting and less of the fowls. 
 
 Hangman's Island stands well out in Quincy Bay, with open waters on 
 all sides. It is hardly more than a reef, with deep channels all around, and 
 a convenient strip of bedch on the south. Here are several snug little huts 
 of fisher-folk ; and among the rocks are patches of corn, potatoes, and other 
 vegetables in their seasons, among which the crickets chirp merrily during 
 the long summer days. Here and there bloom clusters of wild flowers, 
 leaning over the dark ledges, and outliving the gales ; and occasionally an 
 adventurous bird, flying from the mainland, rests on the beaten crags. The 
 origin of the name of this inhabited rock is obscure, and hardly invites 
 speculation. Perhaps some of the ancient pirates met their fate here, and 
 the gloomy tragedy is thus commemorated. On a chart published in Lon- 
 don in 1775, it is called Haymari's Island, and covers a much larger area 
 than at present. 
 
 Far in-shore, on the broad flats which stretch out from Mount Wollaston, 
 rises the narrow and singularly curved Half-moon Island ; and on the east 
 side of Hough's Neck is Raccoon Island, an irregular tract of ten acres, 
 overlooking the broadenings of Weymouth Fore River. Well out in the 
 centre of the Bay, east of Nut Island, Sheep Island breaks above the blue 
 plain of waters, with its two acres of level ground, whereon, in ancient 
 times, the farmers of the adjacent mainland kept their little flocks, securely 
 fenced by the surges of Massachusetts Bay. Many years ago it bore the 
 name of Sun Island, but it is difficult to imagine why. The snug little 
 domain is now frequently occupied by camping parties, whose tents are 
 visible from the Nantasket and Hingham steamboats, running close by to 
 the eastward. 
 
 Less than a mile distant, across the channel, rises the high round hill 
 of Pumpkin, Bumpkin, or Ward's Island, a conspicuous green dome, ara- 
 besqued with daisies and thistle-tops, and covering nearly fifty acres. It 
 was bequeathed by Samuel Ward to Harvard College, in 1682, and still 
 belongs to and yields an income to the University. 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 1 93 
 
 Ul\)z Penal (£olottp. of Mux EslantL 
 
 GODIVA'S HEIR. — THE CHRISTIAN INDIANS. — ANCIENT MERRYMAKINGS.— 
 BOSTON'S PRISONS AND CHARITIES. 
 
 EVER was fairer site found for a convict-colony than Deer 
 Island, at the mouth of Boston Harbor, which has at dif- 
 ferent times been the abode of thousands of unwilling guests, 
 in its great municipal buildings, — the House of Reformation 
 for juvenile offenders, the House of Industry, and the Alms- 
 house. It is a little continent in itself, with the tall bluffs of North, East, 
 South, and Graveyard Heads, and the high ridge of Signal Hill, with many 
 an incipient cape and miniature bay. There are also two ponds of fresh 
 water amid the environment of salty waves ; whereof one is known as Ice 
 Pond, since it yields large stores of ice for the summer use of the islanders ; 
 and the other as Cow Pond, because the cattle of this penal colony find in 
 it their daily drink. The island is nearly a mile long, and covers 184 acres, 
 with a broad margin of flats. It is 4^ miles from Long Wharf, and nearly 
 a mile from Nix's Mate and Long-Island Head, across Broad Sound. On 
 the west, Shirley Gut separates it from Point Shirley, in Winthrop, with a 
 rushing strait of salt water, narrowed down at one point to 325 feet across, 
 where occasionally a few of the more daring boys, tired of their island 
 prison, have swam across, or drowned in the attempt. If safely landed 
 on the opposite side, they are almost sure to be re-captured by the officials, 
 when they always say, " We were only goin' home to see the folks, and 
 comin' right back." On the side where the waves of the Bay dash against 
 the bluffs, the National Government has built a costly and massive stone 
 sea-wall. The debris from the bluffs, in stormy weather, had already formed 
 two long bars ; one running towards Point Shirley, and the other towards the 
 Graves. The dark pyramidal beacon well out in the water towards Long 
 Island marks the site of the southern tip of ancient Deer Island, which 
 has been washed away for hundreds of feet. 
 
 " The waves unbuild the wasting shore : 
 
 Where mountains towered, the billows sweep." 
 
 Four years after Boston was settled, a traveller spoke of " Deare Ilande, 
 so-called because of the Deare which often swimme thither from the Maine, 
 when they are chased by the Woolves. Some have killed sixteen Deare in 
 
194 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 a day upon this Ilande." About the same time Morton of Merry-Mount 
 wrote thus, in similar vein : " On all these [deare] the Wolfes doe pray con- 
 tinually. The best meanes they have to escape the wolfes is by swimming 
 to Hands, or necks of land, whereby they escape ; for the wolfe will not 
 presume to follow them, untill they see them over a river; then being 
 landed, (they wayting on the shore) undertake the water, and so follow with 
 fresh suite." A more modern romancer gives a vivid account of Sir Harry 
 Vane, Endicott, and Winthrop, and their Pequot slaves, hunting the deer 
 here, with arquebuse and arbalest. Then there were high forests and 
 grassy glades, swamps and thickets, all over the island. Although Motley 
 speaks of moose on the South Shore, these were the common Virginian 
 deer, such as now abound in the Plymouth woods. In 1634 this fine game- 
 preserve was granted to Boston, together with Long and Hog Islands, for 
 £2 a year; and a year later Spectacle Island was included, and the annual 
 tribute reduced to 4s. Massachusetts has never reclaimed this valuable 
 piece of property from Boston, in whose possession it has since remained. 
 In 1636 the Bostonians were given permission to cut wood here; and so 
 the gallant groves, which had so long breasted the north-easters, went down 
 before the Puritan axes. Five years later the island became a pound, in 
 which to keep stray domestic animals ; and a building was erected to shelter 
 them. In 1644-47 it was leased to Penn and Oliver, for £y a year, which 
 went to the school-fund ; and later Bendall hired it for ^14 a year. In 1655 
 the cutting of wood was prohibited ; and seven years later the lease reverted 
 to Sir Thomas Temple, a lineal descendant of Earl Leofric of Mercia and 
 Lady Godiva of Coventry, and brother of the famous Sir William Temple. 
 After his several years in New England, he returned home, and befriended 
 the colonies at court. Once when King Charles was upbraiding Massachu- 
 setts for having coined money, a sovereign prerogative, Sir Thomas showed 
 him a pine-tree shilling. "But what is this tree upon the coin?" exclaimed 
 the irate monarch. To whom the knight rejoined, " That is the oak in 
 which Your Majesty found shelter ; " and Charles, greatly pleased, cried out, 
 " They are a parcel of honest dogs ! " Sir Thomas had a son born on one 
 of the harbor islands, who afterwards became famous as Sir John Temple, 
 Surveyor-General of Customs in England. A town in New Hampshire was 
 named for him. Certainly it is a strange and noteworthy dispensation 
 which makes of one of our islands the birthplace of a descendant of Lady 
 Godiva. Robert Temple came to New England in 1718, and built a very 
 handsome mansion on Noddle's Island. He married the daughter of Cap- 
 tain John Nelson of Long Island; and the granddaughter of this noble 
 couple was the mother of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who renewed the 
 family ties by marrying the daughter of Sir John Temple. 
 
 One of the native proprietors of Deer Island was Winnepurkitt, the last 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 195 
 
 sagamore of Lynn, who married the daughter of Passaconaway, the renowned 
 chieftain of the New-Hampshire tribes. It will be remembered that Winne- 
 purkitt was the hero of Whittier's poem of " The Bridal of Pennacook," 
 who dwelt where, — 
 
 "faint with distance came the stifled roar, 
 The melancholy lapse of waves on that low shore." 
 
 He became sachem in 1633, and in 1676 was transported to Barbadoes, 
 — a deadly change from his cool and breezy northern shores. In 1685 the 
 Indian chiefs Wampatuck (grandson of Chickataubut) and David (son of 
 Sagamore George) were well paid to give a quit-claim of the island, which, 
 however, Sir Edmund Andros endeavored to wrest from its tenant. 
 
 No sadder scene has New England ever witnessed than Deer Island 
 
 The House of Industry, Deer Island 
 
 in 1675-76, when, during the panic caused by King Philip's War, Massa- 
 chusetts tore the Christian Indians from their inland villages, and confined 
 them upon this bleak and dreary strand. The penalty of death was enacted 
 against any who should leave this gloomy prison, and if any one should 
 help them to escape he should be punished " as a man-stealer." Yet the 
 Province appointed officials to go down regularly, and keep them well fed 
 and supplied. Eliot, their saintly apostle, said that the Indian Christians 
 went to their captivity "patiently, humbly, and piously, without murmuring 
 or complaining against y e English," sailing on the downward tide at mid- 
 night, from the present site of Watertown. Through the dreary winter, 
 their chief sustenance was fish and clams ; their only shelter the scanty 
 thickets and the lee sides of the bluffs. Out of this 500 martyrs to English 
 distrust very many died, and were sadly buried by the moaning and misty 
 sea. Later in the winter, as town after town was destroyed by the hostile 
 
ig6 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 tribes, and homeless fugitives poured even into Boston, the hard-pressed 
 Provincials sent down to Deer Island, asking for volunteers. Many of the 
 captives came forward, and were armed and sent to the frontiers (there 
 were 50 in Capt. Hinchman's company alone) ; where they fought their red 
 brethren with equal valor and skill, so that they slew 400 of them, and 
 rescued many white captives. As Gen. Gookin then said, they "turned 
 y e balance to y e English side, so that y e enemy went down y e wind amain." 
 In May, 1676, the surviving women and children and old men were returned 
 to their villages in honor. Thereafter the island was used as a prison for 
 hostile Indians captured in war. Some of these Christian Indians, and 
 many of the captured heathen, were sent into slavery in the West Indies, 
 from whence they never returned. Others were sold at Tangier, and else- 
 where on the African coast ; and Eliot, the saintly apostle, followed them, 
 even in their distant Saracen prisons, with his letters and counsels. 
 
 Eighty years later a nobler sight was seen, when a splendid naval pro- 
 cession emerged from Broad Sound, and, rounding the east point of Deer 
 Island, bore away for the north-east, to the victorious siege of Annapolis 
 Royal. It included the frigates Success, Mermaid, and Siren, and 33 trans- 
 ports, in which were upwards of 5,000 British and Provincial soldiers. 
 Another score of years passed by, and the old comrades became antagonists, 
 when His Majesty's army was blockaded in Boston. In June, 1775, Major 
 Greaton captured a British man-of-war's barge and crew here, and carried 
 from the island 800 sheep and many horses, — very useful supplies for the 
 Continental army at Cambridge, and sorely missed by the hungry red-coats 
 up the Bay. In 181 3 fortifications were erected here by the Boston militia, 
 to prevent a naval attack by Broad Sound or Shirley Gut. The island was 
 then well known as a summer resort, and had a notable hotel and ballroom, 
 with swings, bowling-alleys, and other familiar adjuncts of modern excursion 
 life. This was a favorite resort of the picnic-parties of that period; and 
 here frequently came the annual excursion of the West Church of Boston. 
 In 1823 the last of these trips was made, "accompanied by a very large 
 and respectable number of citizens. . . . The day was fine, entertainment 
 very good, and agreeable to all." The interest of the locality was probably 
 not lessened by its ghastly tradition, which was rehearsed with bated breath 
 by the people of the lower islands. Dominie Brown thus hints at it: — 
 
 " For oft I've heard the story told, 
 How ghost, without a head ; 
 Here guards some thousand pounds in gold, 
 By some strange fancy led." 
 
 In the spring of 1882 a band of Zuni Indians from the mysterious pueblos 
 of New Mexico visited Deer Island, to perform their strange religious cere- 
 
KING 'S HAND BOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 197 
 
 monies on the shores of " The Ocean of Sunrise," and to fill their ancestral 
 vases with the sacred water of the sea. They were attended by 300 citi- 
 zens, including many prominent divines and scholars. Advancing far out 
 on the rocks, they chanted strange songs of prayer, and offered sacrifices 
 to the waves, praying, " Make the roads of life for ourselves and for our 
 children to be prolonged." These ceremonials were continued upon the 
 beach after the tide had driven them shoreward ; and Mr. Cushing, who had 
 long been a resident of Zuni, was there initiated into the high religious order 
 of the Kaukau, an order which is many centuries old. 
 
 The construction of municipal institutions began in 1847, when Boston 
 
 Convicts at Work. 
 
 built here several large buildings for sheltering Irish emigrants, of whom 
 more than 10,000 landed between January and July. The terrible scourge 
 of ship-fever made formidable ravages among these new-comers, hundreds 
 of whom died upon the island, and were buried and forgotten. About three 
 years later the large city building was erected, at a cost of $150,000. In 
 1858 the House of Reformation was established; and the buildings of the 
 farm-school and the asylum for pauper girls date from 1869. 
 
 The main building is a large brick edifice, with three wings projecting 
 from a high central block crowned with a cupola, and is the most conspicu- 
 ous object in the outer harbor. In its western front is the home of the 
 superintendent, Col. Guy C. Underwood; and the nave and transepts of 
 
198 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 this cathedral of Lucifer are occupied by the cells and dormitories, kitchens 
 and dining-rooms, workshops and schoolrooms, of the army of the criminal 
 classes. Here, also, is the spacious chapel, where religion finds a harder 
 and more hopeless (but more necessary) task than under the splendid towers 
 of Trinity Church, or in the solemn aisles of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. 
 It is, however, a pleasing and pathetic sight when the long lines of uni- 
 formed boys file into the galleries, and sing their hearty songs to the music 
 of the band which has been recruited from their own ranks. The schools 
 connected with the reformatory institutions are widely famed for their effi- 
 ciency and perfect equipment, and yearly give 300 or more boys and girls 
 
 A Lively Sea. 
 
 (from 7 to 19 years of age) thorough instruction. Most of these are reforma- 
 tion children and truants. 
 
 From the main building a broad avenue nearly two miles long runs to the 
 wharf and around the island, past the various buildings, each one of which, 
 though sad and unpleasant in its suggestions, is full of interest. In the 
 greenhouse, perhaps the only building free from a prison atmosphere, are 
 beautiful flowers of all kinds and varieties, and a little family of pretty tame 
 squirrels. In front of the nursery, one of the smaller buildings, is a pretty 
 garden, where in early spring peep out long lines of graceful little snow- 
 drops, and brilliant, many-hued crocuses. Here are the poor little children, 
 left homeless almost as soon as born ; but tenderly cared for, spending a 
 part of each day in the airy kindergarten, loving their dolls, or driving their 
 tin horses until wearied, when the bright sunshine and air of the island is 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 199 
 
 freely granted them in the play-grounds. Their ages vary from less than 
 three to five or six ; but all, from the smallest up, wear the dull uniform of 
 charity. On the hill-slopes are the vegetable-gardens, abundant and suc- 
 cessful ; and here are raised enormous mangel-wurzel beets, some of which 
 weigh twenty-five or thirty pounds each, and lie heaped up on the floor of 
 the barn to assure the incredulous visitor. In the barns or on the hill are 
 the gentle-eyed cattle ; and, if one cares to see an endless number of pigs, 
 an entire building is devoted to them on the southern point. 
 
 The drive around the island is everywhere beautiful, with the deep blue 
 of the sea stretching out beyond, the distant isles dotted over the bay, and 
 the white sails of vessels appearing upon the horizon, returning home from 
 distant ports. The light-house stands out whitely, on its centre of rocky 
 islands ; and the flag over Fort Warren seems merely a speck of bright 
 color. The eye returns again to the nearer surroundings, and perhaps rests 
 
 Scene at Deer Island. 
 
 on the queer brown seals sunning themselves on the rocks, and looking so 
 much a part of them, that, but for their sudden disappearance into the 
 water, one would not dream they were any thing else. Yet they come in 
 such numbers to one of the rocky little coves of the island near the sea- 
 wall, that the bay has taken their name to itself. Nearing the wharf again, 
 the view at the sunset hours is very charming, when the sky is reddening over 
 the golden-domed hill, the crown of Boston, and the gulls are flying away 
 seaward, while the sails of vessels at anchor, or sailing home, brighten with 
 color until their very hulls seem all ablaze. As the sun falls lower, the blue 
 hills grow grayer and grayer while the twilight steals over them, until they 
 are lost in haze, and the murmur of the sea alone remains to charm the night. 
 The dwellers on Deer Island number from 1,200 to 1,500; and they are 
 maintained at an annual cost of $150,000. The average expenditure for 
 each person, deducting the amount earned in the work-shops of the institu- 
 
200 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 tions, is $1.96 a week. These are not the desperadoes of the Common- 
 wealth, but rather its chronic unfortunates, the dregs of the great European 
 immigration, — men and women who return here month after month, and 
 year after year, having reached the mournful condition where all sense of 
 shame and responsibility is lost. Perhaps the pure air and rigid decorum, 
 the good food and safe shelter of the city institutions, afford a standing 
 temptation to lure them from the gloomy squalor of the North End. Occa- 
 sionally a delinquent American, grown uproarious in his cups, finds himself 
 locked in with these thronging miserables, and spends penitential months 
 in honest and monotonous labor. These crowded prison-halls are an exam- 
 ple of the survival of the unfittest, — a sign of the growth of a fierce and 
 formidable pauperism under conditions where it has no place and no 
 apology. And yet — for each convict's elevation and purification Paul 
 labored, and Washington fought, and (immeasurably above all else) Christ 
 died. 
 
 The Deer-Island Ferry-Horn, Point Shirley. 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 201 
 
 JFort OTarren, tfje %z^ of tfje $?artior, 
 
 GEORGE'S ISLAND. — THE GREAT FORTRESS. — SOUTHERN CHIEFTAINS.— 
 GARRISON LIFE. 
 
 HE granite- and iron-covered George's Island is a little 
 over six miles from Boston (seven by the channel), and 
 covers 35 acres, defended by a long sea-wall, and rising 
 to a bluff 50 feet high on the eastward. It is about a 
 r F^w"!^-]^ ^ third of a mile south of LovelFs and Gallop's Islands, 
 C !5$I1 /JBslk'-'i? and a mile from Hull. The main ship-channel flows 
 close under it on the north, and on the south are Nan- 
 tasket Roads. The present name was given nearly two 
 centuries ago, perhaps in honor of Captain John George, 
 a prominent merchant and town functionary of Boston about the year 1710. 
 The chief distinction of the locality at the present time is the fortress which 
 covers the greater part of it, and is one of the most formidable defences of 
 the eastern seaboard. 
 
 The proprietary history of George's Island may be stated in a few words. 
 It was claimed by and granted to James Pemberton in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury; he having made "proofe vppon oath, according to law, that he had 
 possession and improvement of the s d iland by the consent & approbation 
 of the antient inhabitants or planters residents in or about the Matachu- 
 setts Bay above fower & twenty yeares agoe." From his family it passed 
 into the possession of Samuel Greenleaf, whose daughter Hannah sold it 
 to Elisha Leavitt, in 17(35, f° r ^34°- The latter bequeathed the island to his 
 grandson, Caleb Rice of Hingham, who sold it to the United States in 1825. 
 George's was so far from the Boston of the Puritans that it is not 
 conspicuous in the town and colony records, and received but few and infre- 
 quent notices. It seems to have been an appanage of the fleet rather than 
 of the colony, and all its old associations were with the shipping. On a 
 fair August day in 1690, Judge Sewall and a large party of provincial officers 
 went down "to see the Lieut. Generail Muster his Souldiers on Georges 
 Island," and also inspected the fleet lying in the roads. Soon afterwards 
 the ships and regiments sailed away to Canada, on Phips's unsuccessful 
 expedition. 21 years later, when Sir Hovenden Walker's huge squadron and 
 army lay in the Roads, their sick men were landed on the adjacent islands, 
 and placed in impromptu hospitals. The first fortification on this site was 
 erected in 1778, and consisted of a large earthwork, commanding the east- 
 
202 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 ern approaches to Nantasket Roads. Its object was to protect the fleet of 
 the Count d'Estaing, then lying at anchor in the harbor, from an attack by 
 British cruisers, many of which then haunted the outer sea. Among the 
 French ships were one of 90 guns, another of 80, and six of 74 each ; huge 
 floating castles, which had just been roughly handled by Earl Howe's fleet 
 off Newport, fighting in a tempest. Many of their guns were landed here 
 to arm the battery with. The great British fleet lay off the harbor, with 
 Earl Howe and Sir Henry Clinton on board, and had some design of dashing 
 in and engaging the crippled sea-lions of France among the islands ; but the 
 show of formidable shore-batteries deterred them, and thus an event which 
 would have been invaluable for this Handbook was lost. 
 
 All the marines of the fleet, and large detachments of sailors, were 
 landed on George's and at Hull, and set to work to fortify the approaches 
 to the channels where the French vessels lay at anchor. On George's they 
 erected six mortars and two batteries, one of eleven 14-pounders, and the 
 other of eight 18- and 24-pounders, which could cross their fire with the 
 thirty-gun fort on Nantasket. The largest of the frigates near by was 
 the Cesar, which had 60 men killed and 100 wounded in the recent naval 
 battle, and now floated in the light-house channel, badly cut up. 
 
 In 1778 there were pilots living on George's, for Commodore Tucker's 
 log speaks of them. Twenty years afterwards the island was the home of 
 Thomas Crane, who had a stock-farm here, and also frequently entertained 
 parties of summer excursionists. Here was born his famous son, Thomas 
 Crane, who dwelt on this narrow realm for seven years, and often revisited 
 it after he had become one of the greatest capitalists of New-York City. In 
 May, 1882, the virtues and successes of this typical Yankee were made the 
 theme of a noble oration by the younger Charles Francis Adams. 
 
 About the year 1833 the National Government began the construction 
 of a first-class fortress here, to command the approaches to the harbor, and 
 cover the city at a safe fighting distance. In August, 1847, the new military 
 works were inspected by Robert J. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 although they were not finished until about three years afterwards. Gen. 
 Thayer, who designed this, and the other modern forts hereabouts, was a 
 native of Braintree, and for many years Superintendent of West-Point 
 Military Academy. The United States kept him in Europe for five years, 
 studying the Continental fortresses and military systems ; and from 1833 to 
 1857 he was the constructing engineer of the defences of Boston. When 
 the Secession War broke out, the Government felt great concern because 
 the drawings and working-plans of Fort Warren could not be found ; but, 
 after Thayer's death, they turned up between the leaves of one of the huge 
 old volumes of his military library. He is buried at West Point; and the 
 tower of the handsome academy which he bequeathed to Braintree is con- 
 picuous from many points in the harbor of Boston. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 203 
 
 In [861 there were no guns mounted on the fort; but Governor Andrew 
 hurried the Second Battalion of State troops to the island, and applied to 
 Col. Rodman for cannon. Gen. Peirce commanded here in May, and Gen. 
 J. Andrews succeeded him. Great labor was performed by the volunteers, to 
 make the deserted fort formidable ; for the State authorities had lively fears 
 of a Southern Armada steaming up Nantasket Roads, to demolish the city 
 of Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips. The Cambridge, Pembroke, and 
 other vessels sent out at that time with Massachusetts troops, were well 
 equipped with ordnance, and commissioned as armed transports ; and the 
 State school-ship received a battery, to act as a coast-guard. Even the 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company volunteered their services "for 
 coast defence ; " and the British residents of Boston formed a corps for 
 
 the same purpose. The 
 regulars, scattered by 
 companies over a terri- 
 tory greater than the 
 Fort warren. Roman Empire, had 
 
 more imminent service 
 to perform ; and the civilians of the Puritan capital sprang to arms, like 
 their ancestors, the minute-men, and worried themselves into a saving knowl- 
 edge of the use of great guns. 
 
 In May, June, and July, 1861, the Webster Regiment (12th Mass.) lay 
 in camp here. Five of its companies were from Boston, one from Glouces- 
 ter, and four from the Old Colony. Its colonel, the son of Daniel Webster, 
 was killed in the battle of Groveton ; and eighteen of its officers died from 
 wounds received in the field. The thorough training given within these 
 grim fortress walls made the Twelfth one of the most trusty regiments in 
 the hard-buffeted Army of the Potomac. But the discipline of the garrison, 
 and the imposing dimensions of the Rodman guns, did not fully comfort 
 
204 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the good people up the Bay. Great alarm was felt at the defenceless con- 
 dition of the port; and the General Court voted $1,500,000 to fortify the 
 Massachusetts coast. State agents in London purchased many heavy 
 Blakely guns for Fort Warren, which were afterwards sold to Chili, and 
 helped to beat off the Spanish iron-clads from Valparaiso. Just after the 
 raid of the rebel iron-clad Merrimac down Hampton Roads, the National 
 authorities ordered Governor Andrew to seal up Boston Harbor, by sinking 
 hulks at its entrance, so that hostile war-vessels might not be able to enter. 
 This panicky despatch passed unheeded ; but a complicated and ingenious 
 system of obstructions was arranged, so that the harbor could be blockaded 
 from within at very short notice. It did not tranquillize the perturbed Bos- 
 tonians to hear, later in the war, that Jeff Davis had said, at Atlanta, that 
 the Alabama and four other cruisers were about to run into Boston Harbor, 
 and drop a few shells into the State House. He added that, "The forts 
 may try to play ball a little, but the ships are such fast sailers they will not 
 hurt them much." 
 
 Meantime, Col. Justin Dimick, the gallant old West-Point officer in 
 command at Fort Warren, had converted his militiamen into a tolerably 
 efficient garrison. As colonel of the First Artillery and a veteran of the 
 Florida and Mexican wars, he should have been the first martinet in the 
 army ; but he preferred to look upon the pranks of his boys with a kindly 
 tolerance, provided their military duties were well done. It happened, 
 therefore, that from this happy garrison proceeded one of the most power- 
 ful influences which made themselves felt in the national armies during that 
 long and weary war. The famous song of the national armies, "John 
 ,/ Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave," was composed, and first sung, 
 at Fort Warren, by the glee club of the Second Battalion Light Infantry, in 
 the spring of 1861. It was adapted to an old Methodist camp-meeting tune, 
 somewhat altered in form ; and the Brigade Band at the fort was the first 
 that played it. The singers entered the Twelfth Regiment, which marched 
 through Boston, New York, and Baltimore, to this grand chorus from a 
 thousand throats ; and the music ran through the Army of the Potomac, 
 nor ceased until grim and powder-blackened choirs had chanted it in Texas 
 and Alabama, and down the great Mississippi, and on all the flowery coasts 
 of the Gulf, and through the Carolinas, and along the streets of conquered 
 Richmond. From Fort Warren came the Marseillaise of our emancipating 
 revolution. As Admiral Preble says, " Few people, aside from those who 
 kept step to its strains when leaving home for the battle-field, and sang it 
 around the smoky camp-fire during the long dull nights and days of army 
 life, know the extent of its popularity, and the deep hold it took upon the 
 soldier's heart. It spread from regiment to regiment like wildfire. No 
 song gained so firm a hold upon the troops ; and it is safe to say that it was 
 
ICING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 205 
 
 sung by every regiment — cavalry, infantry, and artillery — of the Army of 
 the Potomac." 
 
 A few months after the war broke out, the dreaded rebels began to pour 
 into the fort by hundreds, — not in storming-parties, but as prisoners of 
 war, tributes to the prowess of the Northern infantry. Many Confederate 
 officers and civilians of high rank suffered imprisonment here during those 
 terrible years of fraternal strife. Prominent among these were Kane, the 
 chief of police of Baltimore ; Mayor Brown ; and a number of Virginians from 
 Fairfax and Loudon Counties. Other civilians who were under suspicion 
 of disloyalty were immured within these grim walls, side by side with the 
 gray-uniformed officers who had been swept in from hotly contested battle- 
 
 The U. S. Frigate " Constitution 
 
 fields. Here were many political prisoners, gathered from the towns of the 
 North, and charged with disloyalty to the United States. Among these 
 appeared Judge Flanders and his brothers, of Malone, N.Y. ; Robert Elliott, 
 of Freedom, Me. ; Ex-Captain H. L. Shields, of Bennington, Vt. ; Hon. 
 P. C. Wright, of St. Louis ; Wm. H. Winder, of Philadelphia ; Dr. MacGill, 
 of Baltimore; and several members of the Maryland Legislature. In No- 
 vember, 1861, the steamship State of Maine brought here from Fort Lafay- 
 ette no political and 645 military prisoners, who were provided with snug 
 quarters in the casemates. In the accounts which many of these gentlemen 
 have written of their life in Northern Bastilles, they credit Col. Dimick and 
 his Massachusetts garrison with uniformly kind and considerate treatment, 
 
206 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 in marked contrast with the regime at Fort Lafayette. Here also were the 
 famous rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell, who had been captured by 
 the U. S. S. San Jacinto, while on their way to Europe in an English mail- 
 steamer. The threatening attitude of the British Government compelled 
 the United States to release them; and on the morning of Jan. i, 1862, 
 the garrison was paraded under arms, with their backs to the gate, while the 
 prisoners and their secretaries were conducted to the wharf, in a howling 
 winter storm. They were carried across Massachusetts Bay in the tug 
 Starlight, to Provincetown, where the British war-vessel Rinaldo took them 
 on board. During the dreary weeks which they spent on this icy strand, 
 the portly and jovial Mason and his lean and dyspeptic companion solaced 
 themselves by unnumbered rounds of poker, and swore and spat, and spat 
 and swore, continually, to the great and increasing amazement of their 
 orthodox guardsmen. A horrible little triangular dungeon in the casemates 
 was long occupied by Keene, a sailor who had endeavored to blow up the 
 U.S. frigate Congress, with all on board. Many other prisoners weve incar- 
 cerated in the demi-lune, just outside the main gate of the fort. 
 
 There were 800 Confederates here in the winter of 1861-62, most of 
 whom had been captured by Burnside, in his campaign of Roanoke Island. 
 It was found necessary to maintain a vigilant watch down the Bay, and the 
 outer picket-line had orders to keep off all boats. The garrison from 
 November, 1861, to May, 1862, was a battalion of volunteers from Hing- 
 ham, Concord, Boston, and Gloucester, afterwards converted into the 
 Thirty-second Massachusetts Regiment, and full of heroic deeds at the 
 Second Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, Petersburg, etc. Gen. Buckner, 
 the head of the Kentuckian Knights of the Golden Circle, was sent here 
 in February, 1862, after surrendering Fort Donelson and 16,000 men to 
 Gen. Grant ; and remained in captivity until the end of the summer. Gen. 
 Tilghman, who surrendered Fort Henry, in Kentucky, was also imprisoned 
 here for six months. Buckner, an old West-Point professor and Mexican 
 veteran, was a precise type of the "ramrod soldier;" but Tilghman was a 
 merry, happy-go-lucky fellow, once an officer in the old Dragoon Regiment, 
 and distinguished for services at Palo Alto and Matamoras. Less than a 
 year after his release, he was killed in one of the deadly Mississippi bat- 
 tles. Through the long and dreary winter, when the island was covered 
 with glare ice, there were a considerable number of North-Carolinians here 
 in duress; and an unhappier crowd was never seen in Boston Harbor. In 
 February they went South to be exchanged ; and their places were occupied 
 by " long, gaunt men, given to wearing sombrero hats, and chewing to- 
 bacco," — the Tennesseeans captured at Fort Donelson. The batteries here 
 fired a grand salute when the news of Grant's victories came up; but it 
 took them so long to get ready that (as the second in command said) "the 
 
KING'S HAND HOOK OF BOSTON IfARHOR. 
 
 207 
 
 Alabama might have steamed into Boston Harbor before we could have 
 brought any guns to bear on her." The entire supply o£ fixed ammunition 
 at this time in the fort was thirty rounds ; and when the Governor came 
 down they could fire no salute, for lack of powder. In May, 1862, the gar- 
 rison consisted of 374 men, including the Cadet corps from Boston and 
 Salem; and held under guard 146 prisoners of war. Among these was 
 Gen. John Pegram, captured by McClellan in West Virginia, and after his 
 release mortally wounded in one of the battles near Petersburg. Still 
 another Virginian visitor 
 
 was Admiral Barron, of : ' ~) 
 
 the Confederate navy, 
 who passed under the 
 yoke at Fort Hatteras. 
 Twelve other officers of 
 the Southern navy shared 
 his captivity, under the 
 dear old flag which, in 
 spite of their temporary 
 wrong -headedness, they 
 must have always loved, 
 — the flag of their own 
 Washington and Jackson 
 and Scott and Taylor and 
 Decatur and Maury. 
 
 In May, 1862, the fort 
 received a lot of prisoners 
 from the battles below 
 New Orleans, including 
 six officers of the rebel 
 iron - clad Louisiana, 
 Gens. Gautt and Hanson 
 were also among the case- 
 mate-lodgers ; and many 
 officers of the Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee volunteers. The shivering 
 Confederates found themselves in a place where the East Wind was king, 
 and Cotton had no regal powers. The garrison, by education comfortable 
 townsmen, who had never felt the sleet rattle around Mackinaw, or the fur- 
 nace-blasts of the gales blowing from the Gulf around Pensacola and the 
 Tortugas, endured here new and distressing climatic conditions. The 
 sentry-posts were often made untenable by the dashing of the waves, and 
 the guards had to be replaced by patrols. No wonder that the unfortunate 
 sentinels saw mysterious shapes, so that an order was posted at the guard- 
 
 The Bug Light at Low Tide. 
 
208 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 house, "denouncing severe punishment in any case where ghosts were 
 allowed to pass a beat without challenge and arrest." 
 
 Slowly, as this vague solution of town train-bands crystallized into dis- 
 ciplined infantry, the men found new themes to interest them, and arouse a 
 genuine military enthusiasm. In Col. F. J. Parker's "Thirty-second Regi- 
 ment " there are many interesting details of garrison-life here, and stories 
 of bluff old Col. Dimick. He says, " To one who thoroughly explores the 
 island, there will recur vivid reminiscences of the mysterious castles of 
 romance and of history. He will find here a sally-port, a postern, a draw- 
 bridge, and a portcullis. Here, too, are passages underground and in the 
 walls ; turret staircases, huge vaulted apartments, and safe and dark dun- 
 geons. ... It only needs a dark and windy night to make almost real the 
 description of the Castle of Udolpho, with its clanging sounds of chains, 
 its sweeping gusts of air, its strange moanings and howlings, and the star- 
 tling noise of some sudden clang of a shutting door reverberating through 
 the arches." 
 
 The militiamen were often called away for serious service, and acted 
 with soldierly steadiness and resolution. When Banks was driven down 
 the Shenandoah Valley, and Stonewall Jackson menaced Washington, the 
 garrison of Fort Warren was hurried to the front, and a company of artil- 
 lery from Fort Independence took its place. During the draft-riots in Bos- 
 ton a company of artillerists from Fort Warren was in the thick of the 
 fight at the North End. At the close of 1863 the fort contained 78 cannon ; 
 including 30 32-pounders, 13 8-inch and 4 15-inch columbiads in barbette, and 
 16 8-inch columbiads and 14 100-pound Parrott rifles in casemates. The 
 garrison was composed of 700 volunteer artillerymen. Four months later 
 the armament consisted of 101 guns. Later in the war the prisoners in- 
 cluded many desperate blockade-runners, officers of Longstreet's corps, and 
 guerrillas from Morgan's command. Major Cabot's battalion garrisoned the 
 works, and guarded these captives, 172 in number, besides giving much 
 attention to practice with the great guns. An order to send this command 
 South was disregarded ; as it was feared that the bright, brave fellows in 
 captivity here, among whom were some expert artillerists, might possess 
 themselves of the fort, and empty its well-filled magazines against Beacon 
 Hill. 
 
 In August, 1863, a daring attempt at escape was made. Among the 
 prisoners then confined in the casemates were the officers and crews of the 
 rebel privateers Tacony and Atlanta. Of these, four officers and two others 
 succeeded in squeezing themselves through the loophole which opened 
 from their prison, and dropping into the moat at night; and then, skilfully 
 evading the sentinels, they gained the shore. Thomas Sherman and Pryde, 
 quarter-gunner of the Tacony, started to swim across to Lovell's Island ; 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON ///lA'/iOA'. 
 
 209 
 
 but the night was intensely dark, and the tide ran out like a mill-race, and 
 neither of the men was ever heard of again. Lieuts. Thurston and Alex- 
 ander, of the Atlanta, crossed to Lovell's on a rude raft, intending to capture 
 a boat, and return for their comrades. Reaching the shore more dead than 
 alive, they waited there until their strength came back, and then rowed out 
 in a dory, and got on to an anchored sailboat. This frail craft bore them 
 out of Boston Harbor at gray dawn, and they were well down on the Maine 
 coast before a United-States revenue-cutter overhauled them. Two others,. 
 Capt. Reed of the Tacony, and Major Saunders of the rebel army, waited 
 by the shore for the lieutenants to sail in for them, until the day brokej, 
 
 The United-States Revenue-Cutter. 
 
 and they were recaptured. The fort was at that time still commanded by 
 Col. Dimick, the same gallant officer who preserved Fortress Monroe from 
 seizure at the outbreak of the war. 
 
 Among the guests of the " Yankee Bastille " during the last two years of 
 the war were Major-Gen. Edward Johnson, captured with his whole division 
 at Spottsylvania ; Gen. Wm. L. Cabell of Virginia ; Gen. George W. Gor- 
 don ; Gen. John S. Marmaduke ; Gen. Henry R. Jackson of Georgia, for- 
 merly American minister at Vienna; Gen. T. B. Smith; Gen. I. R. Trimble, 
 who lost his foot at Gettysburg ; and Gen. Adam R. Johnson. Another 
 restless prisoner was Harry Gilmour, the dashing Baltimorean, whose cav- 
 alry so often scurried around the flanks of the national armies. 
 
2IO KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The most serious attack upon the fortress was made by minions of the 
 law from Boston, bringing a writ of habeas corpus to release a political 
 prisoner. Being refused passage on the Government steamboat, they hired 
 a sailboat, and approached the island, to find a detachment of the garrison 
 on the wharf, under arms, and compelling the legal invaders to keep off and 
 return to town empty-handed. About the middle of April, 1865, there came 
 to the island a large group of officers captured by Phil Sheridan, and includ- 
 ing Lieut.-Gen. Ewell and Gens. Eppa Hunton, Kershaw, Barton, Corse, 
 Simms, and De Bosc. In the same boat came the rebel Commodore 
 Tucker, and several other officers. During the following June, 288 pris- 
 oners of war were released, after taking the oath of allegiance to the re- 
 united Republic. 
 
 In 1865 tne fortress received no less a prisoner than Alexander H. 
 Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederate States, who remained under 
 guard here for five months. His fate was not severe ; for this captivity took 
 place in the summer and early autumn, and was solaced by many kind atten- 
 tions from the gentlemen of Boston. The fallen chieftain philosophically 
 devoted himself to the study of the Bible and of Cicero, probably as good 
 companions as he could have found in his native Georgia; and emerged 
 from this season of politico-military penance to become a true and valuable 
 citizen of the United States. He was the last 'of the famous prisoners of 
 state here. At the beginning of 1864 Major Stephen Cabot of the Massa- 
 chusetts Heavy Artillery was in command, and had a garrison of 763 men 
 and 131 prisoners of war. In September, the garrison and prisoners remain- 
 ing about the same in numbers, Major A. A. Gibson of the 3d U. S. Artil- 
 lery, took command of the post, and held it for four years. Among the 
 regular officers who have since governed the fort have been Truman Sey- 
 mour, formerly a division-commander in Florida, Carolina, and Virginia; 
 Major Andrews of the 5th Artillery; Major Mendenhall, of the 1st Artillery ; 
 and Lieut.-Col. Clermont L. Best of the 4th Artillery, who has commanded 
 the post from November, 1879, until the present time. 
 
 Fort Warren is connected with the city by the U.S. steamer Resolute, 
 Capt. Loring, which makes three trips each way daily, all the year round, 
 between Central Wharf and the fort-pier, touching at the upper fortifica- 
 tions if there is occasion. During the winter the little boat sometimes has 
 lively work in battling her way through the drifting harbor-ice, or in facing 
 the fierce north-easters which sweep down the Bay. The garrison of the 
 fort includes the famous Battery F, 4th Artillery, which was organized in 
 March, 1776, and in 1882 received a superb guidon of red and white silk, 
 velvet, and gold fringe, from the grandson of its first captain, Alexander 
 Hamilton. As Gen. Hancock said, in presenting the flag, "An unbroken 
 chain of honorable and valuable services, beginning before the Declaration 
 
K/.'VG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON //AR/WR. 
 
 2 1 I 
 
 of Independence, and extending through all the wars of the United Slates 
 down to the present time, runs through this battery's spotless history." 
 
 The walls of the fort are of hammered granite, and present a veryj im- 
 posing appearance, frowning over thcTdeep ditch, and cut, through here/and 
 there by loop-holes for musketry and flank defence. /The main wo^k is 
 surrounded by a moat fifty feet wide, beyond which are minor outworks, — a 
 curtain on the north, a ravelin on the south, and a formidable water-battery 
 on the north-west, fairly glowering over the ship-channel. The fort mounts 
 300 guns 4 70 of which-can concentrate their fire on any point in the channelT 
 Of course there are vessels afloat that could live through such an attack, 
 but they would certainly require a long convalescence and careful nursing 
 afterwards. After passing through such a fiery vortex, they would perhaps 
 hardly yearn to encounter the enfilading cannonade of the inner forts, and 
 the reproaches of the rubicund Ancient and 
 
 Long: Wharf. ,.->' • , 
 
 J\ 
 
 - 4 ' 
 
 Honorable Artillery Corps on 
 The enclosed space is six J 
 acres, of which the parade- / 
 ground covers about five acres. I 
 The great pentagonal fortress, 
 with its bastions at each 
 angle (commanding the 
 ditches), is composed of 
 casemated walls, in 
 which, and protected by 
 enormous thicknesses of 
 masonry and earth, bur- 
 row the barracks, hospi- 
 tal, magazine, store- 
 houses, ice-house, cook 
 
 and mess rooms, cisterns, and a/battery of heavy guns facing the sea. These 
 arejfghted from .howitzer embrasures, musketry loop-holes, and windows 
 opening on the parade. The walls, with their casemates, attain a thickness, 
 of sixty feet. The officers' quarters are two-story stone buildings on the 
 north-west side of the parade ; and the doors nearest the portal were those 
 leading to the prisons of the rebel officers and prisoners of state. Above the 
 casemates are the ramparts, sheltered by massive parapets and traverses, and 
 sustaining long lines of 10- and 15-inch gunT — A-s rapidly as possible the 
 stone faces of the fort are being masked behind outer ramparts of earth, into 
 which the largest missiles "may sink harmlessly. The granite walls them- 
 selves could hardly stand a dozen modern broadsides. The channel at this 
 point has well been called " an ocean Thermopylae," and merits a worthy 
 defence. The South-Boston Iron Company have made preparations for 
 
 Rocks on the Outer Islands. 
 
212 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 manufacturing for this fort one or two 54-ton breech-loading rifle cannon, 30 
 feet long, and of enormous power. It is uncertain, however, when the 
 armament will be increased. The huge guns now mounted are not valued 
 for their long range or penetrating power, but have a well-won reputation 
 for delivering an almost irresistible smashing fire, which, at the short range 
 of the ship-channel, would be exceedingly destructive, even to iron-clads. 
 They are mounted in pairs, with impenetrable traverses protecting each 
 couple, and have the best atmospheric appliances for preventing dangerous 
 recoil. Here and there are rifled Parrott guns of the heaviest calibre, whose 
 power of piercing is counted upon to complement the crushing blows of 
 the Rodman missiles. In the water-batteries, great numbers of 10-inch 
 guns are placed as closely together as the carronades in an old-fashioned 
 ship's broadside; too close to be adequately worked, but making a very im- 
 posing line of iron for the contemplation of passing yachtsmen and in-bound 
 steamships. 
 
 The garrison is concentrated United States, — an island of pure nation- 
 alism. The half-score of officers, whose families and pets and flowers make 
 bright home-lights amid the gloomy granite walls, are before all else Ameri- 
 cans, — not Virginians, nor New-Yorkers, nor Texans. Each of them is a 
 man without a State, without a city, but with all centred in the Republic. 
 Among them are veterans of Mexico and the South, and former officers of 
 garrisons in Alaska and Arizona, and along the Atlantic seaboard for a. 
 thousand miles. They are here this year ; next year they may be at Fort 
 Jefferson, or among the Texan lagoons, or back on the Columbia River. 
 The child that is born at Alcatraz cuts his teeth at Fortress Monroe, learns 
 his letters at Fort Marion, wears his^first boots below New Orleans, and 
 mounts his first pony in the South Park of Colorado. There is small space 
 for local attachments to grow. Meanwhile the officers, transplanted from 
 one sea-girt, rock-walled fortress to another a thousand leagues away, lose 
 their sectional pre-dispositions, and become United-States men, and, second- 
 arily, Fourth-Artillery men, or Tenth-Infantry men, or what not. One can 
 imagine them, in their snug quarters under the ramparts, discussing the ' 
 defence of Fort McHenry, or the siege of Mexico, or repeating traditions 
 of the Legion of the West and the wars among the Everglades. Then- 
 children, the curly-headed cherubs now romping across the parade-ground, 
 or peeping through the sally-port, when they grow old and gray, and com- 
 mand American posts on Hudson's Bay or the Bay of Campeachy, under a 
 flag of a hundred stars, may tell their legends of the War of the Great 
 Rebellion, with Grant and Sherman and Sheridan as their demi-gods, and 
 the Fourth Artillery as their vengeful Spartans. 
 
 Regardless of the opinions which military and naval persons may enter- 
 tain about this bristling fastness, the peaceful literati who densely populate 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 2T3 
 
 the adjacent towns have looked upon this scene with varying minds. In 
 Dominie Brown's ancient poems of the harbor, this ^apostrophe scintil- 
 lates : — 
 
 " Of George's Isle ; oh, muse, now speak, 
 Whose lofty southern shore 
 Secures a ship from whirlwinds bleak, 
 Until the storm is o'er. 
 
 " When the poor sailor, wet and cold, 
 And with fatigue opprest ; 
 This happy island does behold, 
 He happy feels and blest." 
 
 In Hovey's " Causerie," there is a funny account of "a solitary soldier 
 who stands guard down at the end of the sandbar that makes the tip end 
 of the island that Fort Warren stands upon. Sailing by, the other day, 
 Causeur was commenting on the uselessness of keeping a man standing 
 there broiling in the hot sun, with nothing whatever to do but lug his mus- 
 ket up and down the beach. ' Nothing to do ! ' exclaimed his companion. 
 ' Don't you suppose he's got to protect government property ? Just let a 
 clam stick his head up anywhere, and he'd shoot it off quicker'n scat. 
 Government property's got to be protected, I tell you.' " 
 
 In a different mood of Concordian objurgation, when passing Fort War- 
 ren, Tljoxeau anathematized it as " a bungling contrivance. Wolfe sailed 
 by the strongest fort in North America, in the dark, and took it. . . . All 
 the great seaports are in a boxing attitude ; and you must sail prudently 
 between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of 
 their breasts." 
 
 After poetic pathos, and broad fun, and crusty philosophy, we may be 
 refreshed by Howells's kindly picture of the two Boston forts : " of the air 
 of soft repose that hangs about each ; of that exquisite military neatness 
 which distinguishes them ; of the green, thick turf covering the escarp- 
 ments ; of the great guns loafing on the crests of the ramparts, and looking 
 out over the water sleepily ; of the sentries pacing slowly up and down, 
 with their gleaming muskets." 
 
 Once more, how daintily Charles Dudley Warner touches the popular 
 sentiment with regard to the locality, saying: " What a beautiful harbor it 
 is, everybody says, with its irregularly indented shores, and its islands ! 
 The day is simply delicious when we get away from the unozoned air 
 of thejajid; The sky is cloudless, and the water sparkles like the top of 
 a glass of champagne. We intend, by and by, to sit down and look at it for 
 half a day, basking in the sunshine and pleasing ourselves with the shifting 
 and dancing of the waves. Now we are busy running about from side to 
 
214 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 side, to see the islands, — Governor's, Castle, Long, Deer, and the others. 
 When, at length, we find Fort Warren, it is not nearly so grim and gloomy 
 as we had expected, and is rather a pleasure-place than a prison in appear- 
 ance. We are conscious, however, of a patriotic emotion, as we pass its 
 green turf and peeping guns." 
 
 Fort Warren is perhaps the most interesting object in the lower harbor, 
 — not so much, indeed, for what it has been, or is, as for what it represents, 
 and may be. There is no other garrison of the United-States Army in the 
 Commonwealth ; and no other point so insures the se curity o f the Yankee 
 metropolis. At present, it is regarded mainly as a notable object in the sail 
 down the harbor ; and has a keen interest for thousands of people who pass 
 the summer in its vicinity, and nightly hear its evening guns, and see the 
 splendid garrison-flag sink downward, flaming in the last rays of the setting 
 sun. Here and there among these are gray old citizens, prosperous mer- 
 chants, or professional men of Boston, who start up involuntarily as the 
 blare of the fort-bugles-^oats across Nantasket Roads, remembering long- 
 past echoesof the same wild melodies on the red plains of Virginia or 
 among the jungles of Louisiana. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK Of BOSTON JI ARBOR. 2 I 5 
 
 &jje SttrkBeaten Bretoster Mantis. 
 
 THE LIGHT-HOUSE. -THE MIDDLE AND OUTER BREWSTERS. — THE GRAVES. 
 — THE OUTER ISLANDS. 
 
 UT at the mouth of Boston Harbor, between the main ship- 
 channel and Broad Sound, is a group of seven picturesque 
 rocky islands, called the Brewsters, and nearly two miles 
 in length from north to south. Near them are many sub- 
 merged rocks and ledges, some of which are full of peril 
 to mariners, while others are famous as fishing-grounds. 
 Here, indeed, one may realize, the year round, what Charles 
 Kingsley meant, when he said : " New England is, in winter at least, the 
 saddest country, — all brown grass, ice-polished rocks sticking up through 
 the copes, cedar scrub, low swampy shores, — an iron land which only 
 iron people could have settled in. The people must have been heroes to 
 make what they have of it." 
 
 Scientific persons have stated that this group of sea-swept rocks is the 
 debris and foundations of an ancient island, larger than any now in the har- 
 bor, which once occupied this area, and has been destroyed by the storms 
 of immemorial ages. They received their name about the year 1621, in 
 honor of the famous Elder Brewster, at whose house in Scrooby the primi- 
 tive Pilgrim church used to meet, before its flight to Holland and then to 
 America. He was for years the only preacher and teacher at Plymouth, 
 and enjoyed the highest respect among his austere brethren. The islands 
 were granted to Hull in 1641 ; and eleven years later to Leverett (afterwards 
 Governor of Massachusetts), in compensation for money which his patriotic 
 father put " into the common stocke in the beginning of this plantation." 
 Somewhat later the General Court restored them to Hull, giving Major 
 Leverett a better and less inaccessible domain; and in 1686 manner Coomes 
 of Hull sold the entire archipelago to John Loring, for ^4. It would seem 
 that Mr. Loring got the worst of such a bargain. 
 
 Charles Dudley Warner says that " these outer islands look cold and 
 wind-swept even in summer, and have a hardness of outline which is very 
 far from the aspect of summer isles in summer seas. . . . Upon the low 
 [adjacent] shore-line, which lies blinking in the mid-day sun, the waves of 
 history have beaten for two centuries and a half, and romance has had time 
 to grow there." Here, on the stern outer guards of the metropolis, amid 
 the wild wash of the waves, one may read with understanding Stedman's 
 
2l6 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 magnificent "The Lord's Day Gale," and comprehend its thrilling re- 
 frain : — 
 
 " New England ! New England ! 
 
 Thou lovest well thine ocean main ! 
 
 It spreadeth its locks among thy rocks, 
 
 And long against thy heart hath lain ; 
 
 Thy ships upon its bosom ride, 
 
 And feel the heaving of its tide ; 
 
 To thee its secret speech is plain." 
 
 The Great Brewster, the innermost island, is mainly composed of a lofty 
 and conspicuous bluff, half of which has been eaten away by the sea. It 
 covers about twenty-five acres, and has a stone wharf, a bit of ancient ruin, 
 and the summer-villa of the Hon. Benjamin Dean. A contented family 
 lives on the island throughout the entire year. Further encroachments of 
 the waves have been checked by a noble sea-wall, built by the United States, 
 at great cost. The projection of Little Hill has been nearly worn away by 
 the sea, and now contains only an acre and a half. Rich grass and clover 
 cover the bluff, and columbines and other dainty flowers thrive. The view 
 from the crest is very impressive, and gives a bird's-eye prospect of these 
 rocky islets. A curving gravelly ridge, ij miles long, and covered at high 
 tide, runs thence to the Bug Light ; and a short bar, which may be traversed 
 at low water, leads to the Light-House Island. The Great Brewster was 
 bought by the city of Boston in 1848, for $4,000; and the part which lies 
 about the sea-wall pertains to the United States. Mr. Dean has leased the 
 island from the city, and spends parts of his summers here. 
 
 The Bug Light stands on the end of the long bar which runs out from 
 the Great Brewster, rising from the water at low tide like a great wall, and 
 sometimes traversed by pedestrians along its entire distance. It is a snug- 
 little house, on heavy iron supports, like stilts, and sustains a fixed red 
 light, visible for seven miles. It was built in 1856, to warn vessels against 
 the dangerous Harding's Ledge, which lies off Point Allerton. One of the 
 best studies which Halsall has painted represents this picturesque beacon, 
 in the midst of the roaring sea. At one time, when shepherds followed 
 their calling on these islands, a large flock of sheep were driven out on 
 the bar by excited dogs, and kept there, huddled together in terror, until the 
 rising tide drowned them all. The Light-House Island, once known as 
 the Little Brewster, or Beacon Island, is a trifle over eight miles from Bos- 
 ton, and about 1^ miles north of Point Allerton, across the main ship 
 channel. As early as the year 1679 there was some kind of a beacon on 
 the Great Brewster; for Dankers and Sluyter, the Dutch Labadist envoys, 
 said that they observed one on the highest of the islands, twelve miles from 
 Boston, which could be seen from a great distance. In 17 13 the Bostonians 
 
A'/JVG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 2 1 J 
 
 BOSTON LIGHT. 
 
218 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 began to hold town-meetings about establishing a beacon at the mouth of 
 the harbor, since its want " hath been a great discouragement to navigation, 
 by the loss of the lives and estates of several of His Majesties Subjects." 
 The General Court ordered its construction, and provided that all vessels 
 coming in from abroad, or clearing therefor, should pay a penny a ton 
 towards the cost. This was in the first year of King George I.'s reign. 
 Hull granted the island for this purpose, "being censable that it will be a 
 genarall benifit to Trade ; " and the light-house was built, at a cost of 
 .£2,386. The first keeper of the light was George Worthylake, who was 
 drowned while sailing up to town, with his wife and daughter, in 1718. All 
 three' were buried on Copp's Hill; and Benjamin Franklin, then a North- 
 End lad, wrote a doleful poem describing their fate, and entitled " The 
 Light-House Tragedy." 
 
 About the middle of the last century an ingenious system of guarding 
 the port was devised, whereby the men stationed at the light-house should 
 signal to Castle Island the approach of suspicious or hostile vessels by 
 hoisting and lowering the Union Jack. If the number of these unwelcome 
 craft reached four, the Castle alarmed the town, and then the flaming torches 
 on Beacon Hill called in the country yeomanry. In this manner Boston 
 was given six hours in which to parade her train-bands and man her bat- 
 teries. 
 
 There was hot fighting hereabouts in the summer of 1775. Major Vose, 
 of Heath's Continental regiment, landed here from whale-boats, under the 
 fire of the British frigates and barges, and took seven prisoners, besides 
 burning the barn on the Great Brewster, and partly destroying the light- 
 house. Another and more serious attack was made a few days later, by 
 Major Tupper and 300 Continentals, who stormed the little redoubt, killing 
 and wounding 12 men, and capturing 2 cannon, 33 marines, and a party of 
 carpenters. But the tide went out, and left their boats high and dry; and 
 several good American soldiers were lost in fighting the man-of-war barges 
 which pounced down upon them. At last they got afloat, and rushed across 
 the channel to Hull, covered by the fire of the Yankee guns there, which 
 sank one of the hostile barges. In general orders, Washington commended 
 Tupper's men for " their gallant and soldier-like behavior ; " and Col. Barre 
 rose in the British Parliament, to complain that "they burn even the light 
 house, under the nose of the fleet, and carry off the men sent to repair it." 
 The light-house built in 1716 was repaired in 1757, after a fire, and stood 
 until 1776, when it was blown up by the retreating British marines, having 
 been held by them for three months after the evacuation of Boston. The 
 present structure was erected in 1783, and is 98 feet above the sea-level. 
 
 The island is not so grim as it appears from the channel, whence it 
 appears foreshortened. There are three acres of ground, with a neat vege- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 2I 9 
 
 table-garden ; and it is a brisk little walk from the light-house to the house 
 where the keepers and their families live, or to the wharf where boats make 
 landing. The light-keeper, a veteran of the Mexican wars, keeps his snug 
 principality with military order and precision, and has a profound and loving 
 admiration for the great night-signal which seems the raison d'etre of the 
 island. The lantern is a very costly piece of French workmanship, con- 
 taining 336 pieces of glass, and protected from the weather by great windows 
 of thick and clear plate-glass. Nothing can be allowed to dim this outer 
 window; and the snow, driving against it on winter nights, must be fre-. 
 quently cleared 
 away, so that 
 the brilliant 
 beams may 
 shine out unim- 
 peded. The 
 light is a re- 
 volving one, 
 and is visible 
 for sixteen 
 miles in clear 
 weather. Near 
 the light-house 
 is a great steam 
 fog-horn, whose 
 dismal bellow- 
 ings warn the 
 mariners for 
 leagues off- 
 shore, in thick 
 weather. The 
 
 ancient minute-gun, which this more powerful appliance has superseded, rusts 
 bv the shore. Occasionally the wharf is visited by a swarm of boarding-house 
 runners, in long-boats, who dash out thence upon foreign vessels entering 
 the Roads, to lure the sailors to their dens in the North End. These are 
 the stuff that pirates are made of, — bronzed and scarred fellows, with sinis- 
 ter faces, and language which the Puritans would have hung them for. 
 
 Hence the shapely pilot-boats are seen, cruising out and in, and towards 
 the capes, and in their fair symmetry meriting the eulogy given by Capt. 
 Basil Hall, of the Royal Navy: "Our ingenious friends, the Americans, 
 have contrived a set of pilot-boats which are the delight of every sailor. . . . 
 They are truly ' water-witches ; ' for, while they look so delicate and fragile 
 that one feels at first as if the most moderate breeze must brush them from 
 
 On the Outer Brewster. 
 
220 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the face of the ocean, and scatter to the winds all their gay drapery, they 
 can and do defy, as a matter of habit and choice, the most furious gales with 
 which the rugged seaboard of America is visited in February and March." 
 
 The Middle Brewster is a high and rocky islet, with about ten acres- of 
 arable soil hidden behind its cliffs ; and the groups of fishermen's red- 
 roofed houses, and the tall white summer-house of Mr. Augustus Russ, 
 perched on the highest point, make a pleasant picture amid the surrounding 
 desolation. Forty years ago there were no houses on the rock ; but subse- 
 quently a small colony of fishermen settled here, by their favorite fishing- 
 grounds, and not without occasional chances at wrecking. Here, also, the 
 patrician yachtsmen and other guests enjoy ease with dignity during the 
 dog-days, and are entertained with free hospitality in the Russ villa. 
 The snug little steamer Galatea is used by the proprietor in making trips 
 to and from his island-home. Halsall, the marine-painter, has spent many 
 months here : and often visits the locality in the most inclement winter 
 season, as well as during the lovely summer days, finding true artistic values 
 in all views of the sea at this close angle. Notman, the photographer, has 
 spent two seasons on this secluded islet, attracted by the peculiar grandeur 
 of the scenery, which has been likened to parts of the rocky coast of Corn- 
 wall. Only a single fisherman now lives here, and the houses of his former 
 companions have been endowed with enough of piazzas and dormer-windows 
 to make them available as summer-cottages. On the southerly side is the 
 only good landing, made by removing the surface-rocks, and leaving a bit 
 of beach, sheltered by an outlying reef. The narrow and rather difficult 
 passage between the Middle and Outer Brewsters is known as the Flying 
 Place, and foams like a caldron when a heavy sea is on. In 1828 the brig 
 Jachiu, bound in from St. Martha, with a full cargo, got tangled among 
 these rocks in midwinter, and was wrecked on the Middle Brewster, with 
 loss of life. 
 
 About ten years ago the Middle Brewster was owned by three fisher- 
 men in undivided thirds, and their rights were bought up by Mr. Russ. A 
 small corner still belongs to one of these toilers by the sea ; and the re- 
 mainder pertains to the above-mentioned gentleman, who reserves this 
 marine park, enwalled by the Atlantic, for his summer home. Here the 
 long sunny days glide away very peacefully, while the great fleets pass in 
 and out through the adjacent channel, each with its own story of distant 
 
 seas. 
 
 " Yon deep bark goes O happy ship, 
 
 Where Traffic blows To rise and dip, 
 
 From lands of sun to lands of snows : With the blue crystal at your lip ! 
 
 This happier one, O happy crew, 
 
 Its course is run My heart with you 
 
 From lands of snow to lands of sun. Sails, and sails, and sings anew ! " 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 22 I 
 
 The view from the flagstaff, on the highest point of the island, includes 
 a vast horizon of sea, with the rugged adjacent islands, the inland hills of 
 Saugus and the Middlesex Fells, and the crowded highway of nations close 
 at hand. The geological structure of these islands is very interesting to 
 scientific persons ; since it has no affinity with that of the contiguous main- 
 land, but represents, with its dark granites and porphyries, a totally differ- 
 ent epoch of the building of the world. 
 
 The Outer Brewster is a pile of frowning rocks, enclosing several acres 
 of fertile soil, in which is a fine spring of fresh water. Dr. Shurtleff says 
 that " this island is one of the most romantic places near Boston, far 
 surpassing Nahant in its wild rocks, chasms, caves, and overhanging 
 cliffs." Several attempts have been made to use the rocks of the Outer 
 Brewster for building purposes ; and a massive little edifice on City 
 Square, Charlestown, is walled 
 with this sea-soaked material. 
 There is a pond on the island, 
 attaining, in rainy weather, 
 very respectable dimensions. 
 
 The right-hand side of r-' ' ^ i|l^ll§|W IJf 
 
 the western cove has a '"> JlllSlp^'%^ $pi 
 
 singular rock -forma- 
 tion, called the Pul- 
 pit, from which the 
 Rev. East Wind de- 
 livers very powerful 
 addresses. In the 
 northern cove are the 
 remains of the un- 
 finished canal, cut 
 through the rock by 
 the late Gen. Austin, with some wild idea of forming an artificial harbor. 
 It once had a gate at its entrance, and made a tight and secure little dock. 
 Mr. T. Dean's description is the best ever written of it: "In truth, it is 
 a noble island. Its jutting rocks and cavernous recesses were now invisi- 
 ble ; but its grand position and imposing front, as it stood darkly revealed 
 against the cloudy sky, seemed to give it a heroic charm. The ocean- 
 waves approaching Boston here meet the foremost champion of the port. 
 Majestic and alone it stands forth on the ' perilous edge of battle when 
 it rages,' and sternly encounters the maddened billows which seek another 
 prey. Even now the seas came stealing along its rugged side, making 
 a line of white, again and again bursting into spray as they met some 
 vexatious rock. We neared the canal. This is a deep fissure extending 
 
 WwiSTul^^tfy. OffrtteG-f^VES- 
 
222 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 across the eastern part of the island. The northerly end forms a long, 
 deep, aisle-like gap in the Brewster, with sufficient depth of water, when the 
 tide is up, to float quite a craft well within the limits of the island. On the 
 seaward side of the entrance, rugged, isolated rocks break somewhat 
 the force of the seas ; but, in a troublous time, they seem only to fret and 
 aggravate the jealous waves. It was not without difficulty that we found 
 the entrance ; but at last we entered safely, and rowed slowly up the watery 
 path of the canal. The sound of the waves diminished as we advanced ; 
 and when at last our skiff gently touched the shore within the walls of rock 
 that had opened to receive us, the grating of her bow upon the shingle was 
 the only sound we heard. Stepping ashore, we gazed about us. Here, at 
 the end of inland navigation, the canal expanded into a little cove, favored 
 with water only at the higher stages of the tide, and having a ribbon of 
 shingly beach. The stillness was oppressive. We were on the leeward 
 side of the island, where the wind came shorn of its strength, down low 
 between the lofty walls of rock. No trees were nigh, to rustle in the breeze, 
 nor grasses tall to bend and sigh. Even the sound of the waves at the 
 entrance of the canal seemed to the ear like the far-off murmur heard in 
 ocean-shells. The softly-heaving bosom of the water, the breathing of the 
 Titanic sea, apparent even here, alone relieved the death-like stillness." 
 
 When Gen. Austin owned the island, about the year 1840, and took from 
 it the stone used in macadamizing the Warren Bridge, there were two or 
 three inhabitants here, with six head of cattle and fifty sheep. The house 
 was afterwards burnt by rowdies from Boston. About the year 1861 a fish- 
 erman named Jeffers came to this solitary islet, with his wife and children, 
 and built a rude dwelling near the rocky lines of House Beach. On a ter- 
 rible November night, as he was trying to get to his home, in a dory, with 
 two men from the Middle Brewster, the frail craft was wrecked near the 
 mouth of the canal, and Jeffers and one of his companions sank in the 
 roaring sea. The stricken widow soon afterwards left the island, and their 
 house was burned down. This is the most inaccessible island in the Massa- 
 chusetts archipelago, and many lives have been lost in trying to land upon 
 it. There is no shelter nor anchorage ; and occasionally, after a long 
 storm, the fishermen find on its rocks fragments of decks and masts, the 
 only memorials of all-destroying wrecks. This lonely and legend-haunted 
 rock has been called the home of the East Wind, that worst of scourges in 
 winter and spring, and most delightful of blessings in summer. Often during 
 the scalding days of July and August the Outer-Brewster zephyrs go troop- 
 ing up the harbor, bearing life and refreshment through all the town, and 
 dispelling its muggy vapors and exhalations. 
 
 The Shag (or Egg) Rocks are a group of formidable ledges, rising from 
 the waves south of Brewsters, and very dangerous to mariners, many of 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 223 
 
 whom have lost their lives here. "At midnight, on the 3d of November, 
 1861, the ship Montana, laden with a rich cargo, and bearing many human 
 
 lives, struck on the 
 Shag Rocks. . . . The 
 forward part of the 
 vessel jammed in 
 
 Villa of Augustus Russ, Esq., on the Middle Brewster. 
 
 among the rocks, and held fast : the stern was in deep water. There was 
 a driving snowstorm when she struck, and it was very cold. The wretched 
 
224 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 passengers, who at one time were safe on the inhospitable rocks, were per- 
 suaded that the vessel would hold together, and, impelled by the piercing 
 cold, returned to the ship, and were lost. 1 ' At seven in the morning the 
 vessel broke in two ; and 25 of her crew and passengers, including several 
 women and children, were drowned. Their bodies were thrown up on 
 Light-House Island days afterwards. Thirteen persons clung to the rocks 
 until the next day, when they were gallantly rescued by Samuel James of 
 Hull, in a small dory, and placed on board a pilot-boat. Many other disas- 
 ters have happened on these rocky fangs, but none so terrible as this. On 
 a stormy March night of 1861 the schooner Enterp}ise drove in on to the 
 Egg Rocks, and was very quickly broken in pieces. Some years earlier a 
 rich French merchantman struck here in a gale, and was utterly destroyed 
 with her crew. 
 
 On the night of January 31, 1882, the Fanny Pike of Calais struck here 
 during a terrific north-east snow-storm. A very heavy sea was running; but 
 the crew succeeded in getting on the rocks, where they lay for ten hours, 
 after which they were heroically rescued by Bates and Bailey, the light- 
 house keepers, and Charles Pochaska of the Middle Brewster. These 
 gallant rescuers received diplomas and rewards from the Massachusetts 
 Humane Society. 
 
 The Graves are a group of black and frowning ledges, north-east of the 
 Brewsters, in the sea, and entirely swept by the surf during heavy weather. 
 They are marked by a huge whistling buoy, whose mechanism is such, that 
 the waves which rock it to and fro drive the air through a narrow space at 
 the top, making a sound that can be heard for miles. It is indescribably 
 weird and mournful, varying in compass from a vast sigh, almost too vague 
 to locate, but pervading all the adjacent sea, to a long and blood-chilling 
 moan, or a wild and long-drawn shriek. It is as if all the dead men whose 
 lives have been drowned out of them on these gloomy ledges, still haunted 
 the scene, with articulate wailings. Yet, on a still day, light yachts run out 
 around the rocks, and touch the great buoy. 
 
 The Graves were named in honor of Thomas Graves, who came over in 
 command of the Talbot, the vice-admiral of Winthrop's fleet. Afterwards, 
 in 1643-44, he commanded the Trial, the first large vessel built in Boston, 
 in her long voyages to Bilboa and Malaga. The Trial was built by Nehe- 
 miah Bourne, who, after some years' residence at Boston, returned to Eng- 
 land, and became rear-admiral in the Parliament's navy. Shurtleff says that 
 the Graves were named for the British Admiral Graves, who made himself 
 so disagreeable to our American ports during the Revolution, and is said to 
 have touched these rocks. This cannot be accurate, however ; for they bear 
 their present name on the chart made in 1689, nearly a century earlier. The 
 fishermen on the adjacent islands believe that the resemblance of the rocks 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HA R BOA'. 
 
 225 
 
 to tombstones, rising in somewhat regular forms from the sea, and whitened 
 by layers of limestone, has given reason for the name. 
 
 Outside of Point Allerton, about two miles, is the dreaded Harding's 
 Ledge, which was anciently known as Conny Hasset Rock, and remains one 
 of the most formidable dangers of the Bay. It becomes partly bare at low 
 water, and is marked by an immense bell-buoy. The new bell is forty feet 
 above the water, and its deep pealing is heard at a great distance. Among 
 the most serious losses which this black Harding's Ledge has inflicted on 
 our commerce was that of a great ship which was wrecked here, 
 
 with serious V loss of life, some years ago. In 1876 a large iron 
 
 steamshiD also \ struck on this grim 
 
 — rock. Only a year 
 
 or two 
 
 ago the 
 
 %l"^S?x;^^^: ■ .-— Govern- 
 
 v& &<?.<**&. 
 
 A Calf-Island Woman spearing Flounders. 
 
 or Cony, laden with pig-iron and kerosene, missed stays, and struck the 
 Ledge so plumply that she went down almost instantly, leaving only her 
 upper masts in sight. 
 
 The mournful peal of the bell breaks through the gray solitudes with 
 that strange pathetic harmony which Lucy Larcom has thus described : — 
 
 : The vessels are sunk in the mist ; 
 And hist ! 
 Through the veil of the air 
 
 Throbs a sound, 
 Like a wail of despair, 
 That dies into stillness profound. 
 
 All muffled in gray is the sea ; 
 Not a tree 
 Sees its neighbor beside 
 
 Or before ; 
 And across the blank tide, 
 Hark 1 that sob of an echo once more." 
 
 Calf Island is just north of the Great Brewster, and was anciently 
 known as the North Brewster. It covers ten acres, and has several small 
 houses and a lonely grave. Nature has not been lavish here; but her kind- 
 lier touch appears in a pretty grove of wild cherry-trees, and artists find 
 
226 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 here a great variety of choice subjects for studies. Among the rugged 
 ledges of basalt which front the surf, there are several pretty bits of beach 
 where landing may be made. In years not long past, sometimes, of a pleas- 
 ant summer Sunday, scores of boats, dories, and yachts would make a rush 
 from the city to this sequestered spot, and their crews would congregate in 
 a dense circular crowd on the greensward. From the general scattering 
 apparent if the harbor-police boat approached, it was evident that these 
 summer-tourists were not on the best terms with the law ; and the general 
 belief is, that the art of pugilism had here a favored shrine. A half-dozen 
 
 Lobsterman's House, Calf Island. 
 
 lobstermen and their families now live on the island, under the paternal and 
 eccentric sway of Captain Turner. 
 
 About a hundred feet northward, and accessible hence at low tide, rises 
 the barren rock of Little Calf Island, fringed with weedy ledges. To the 
 north is the narrow strait of Hypocrite Passage, through which small boats 
 frequently run. 
 
 Green Island is the most northerly of the group, and has a small area 
 of grassy earth in a great bowl of rock, and a long and gravelly South Point. 
 When Samuel Choate, mariner, had reached his fiftieth year, in 1845, ne 
 settled on this islet, hardly larger than a vessel's deck, and built a rude hut, 
 where he lived for twenty years, subsisting mainly on fish and muscles. 
 During the famous storm of 185 1, this maritime hermit was taken off by 
 a pilot-boat, for his fast-anchored deck was submerged by the furious tide; 
 and in 1865, old and feeble, he was removed to a charitable home. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 227 
 
 CLIFFS ON THE OUTER BREWSTER, AT LOW TIDE. 
 
 This group of gaunt and jagged rocks, each with its bit of history, but 
 mainly endowed with tragic interest, are the remotest outer guards of the 
 western St. Botolph's Town, and around them flows the swelling tide of her 
 
228 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 great commerce. Myriads of weary mariners have welcomed them with 
 joy, sailing inward from far-distant seas. Standing upon their strong bul- 
 
 On the Middle Brewster. 
 
 warks, you may hear the bands playing in summer plaisance at Hull, the 
 distant bugles of Fort Warren, and the ghostly murmurings of the Graves ; 
 and 
 
 " Hark to the sailor, singing as he rocks, 
 A mote upon the mighty ocean swell." 
 
 The Bug Light 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 229 
 
 Bits of harbor PHstors- 
 
 HISTORIC VIGNETTES. — OLD-TIME EXCURSIONS. — ART AND LITERATURE.— 
 BOSTON'S COMMERCE. 
 
 ,ONG ago Peter Peregrine (the celebrated Dr. E. C. 
 Wines) wrote thus : " The sea-view of Boston, which 
 I had the opportunity of contemplating as we passed 
 down the bay, is superb. I can recall but two simi- 
 lar views — those of Genoa and of Naples — worthy 
 of being compared with it. And while, in some 
 points of the comparison, the superior beauty of the 
 latter must be confessed by all, there are others in 
 which the Boston view indubitably surpasses them. 
 The almost innumerable green and fertile islands, sown broadcast over the 
 surface of the bay, constitute a feature in the prospect, to which neither of 
 the views referred to furnishes any parallel. . . . The number of islands 
 reminded me of the Cyclades, though it must be confessed, that, in their 
 appearance, nothing could well be more dissimilar than those of the .Egean 
 Sea and Massachusetts Bay." In a similar but more temperate vein, N. P. 
 Willis remarks that Boston Harbor has been likened to the Bay of Naples ; 
 and charitably adds that "it may be mentioned in the same day." We have 
 also the testimony of a cultivated gentleman from Southern Italy, that 
 paragon of lands of beauty; for Raffaelle Capobianco, the priest of the 
 Neapolitan frigate Urania, described "the wonderful and picturesque bay" 
 of Boston, as his fine old Bourbon man-of-war ascended its island-mazes, 
 amid salutes from all the batteries. He especially admired Bunker-Hill 
 Monument, which, he said, was " commenced by the celebrated engineer, 
 O'Donnell Webster, under the presidency of the famous Lafayette." 
 
 When the Abbe Robin, a chaplain in Rochambeau's army, sailed into 
 the harbor, he wrote : " A favorable breeze sprang up, and brought us safely 
 into the roadstead of Boston. In this roadstead, studded with pleasant 
 islands, we saw, over the trees on the west, the houses rising ampitheatre- 
 like, and forming along the hillsides a semicircle of nearly half a league : 
 this was the town of Boston." 
 
 More than two centuries before these wise priests sailed up through 
 Nantasket Roads, and in the very dawn of its history, the saints took pos- 
 session of Massachusetts Bay and its inner harbor; and on the most ancient 
 maps this broad expanse of water bore their names, emblazoned across the 
 
23O KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 uncertain space between Cape Cod and the mainland. On Fernando Co- 
 lumbus's map, dated 1527, Massachusetts Bay is called the Bay of St. 
 Antonio. Apolonius's Antwerp map of the New World, dated 1566, calls it 
 the Bay of St. Christoval (and Cape Cod is Cape de Trafalgar). On Hood's 
 map, of 1592, it is the Bay of San Christoforo. Twenty years later the 
 Dutch explorers named Boston Harbor, Fox Haven, in honor of one of 
 their ships, the Little Fox ; and about the same time Champlain called it 
 the River du Guast, and Captain John Smith named it the Charles River. 
 In 1608 Champlain's little French ship anchored off Noddle's Island; and 
 he thus described the country: "We observed many smokes along the shore, 
 and many Savages running up to see us. Sieur de Monts sent two or three 
 men in a canoe to them, to whom he gave some knives and paternosters to 
 present to them; with which they were greatly pleased, and danced several 
 times in acknowledgment. We could not ascertain the name of their chief, 
 as we did not know their language. All along the shore there is a great 
 deal of land cleared up and planted with Indian corn. The country is very 
 pleasant and agreeable, and there is no lack of fine trees. ... As we con- 
 tinued our course, large numbers came to us in canoes from the islands and 
 mainland." This visit of Champlain is neatly described by a local anti- 
 quary: "When they left the harbor of Boston, the islands and mainland were 
 swarming with the native population. The Indians were, naturally enough, 
 intensely interested in this visit of the little French barque. It may have 
 been the first that had ever made its appearance in the Bay. Its size was 
 many times greater than any water-craft of their own. Spreading its white 
 wings, and gliding silently away without oarsmen, it filled them with surprise 
 and admiration. The whole population was astir. The cornfields and 
 fishing-stations were deserted. Every canoe was manned, and a flotilla of 
 their tiny craft came to attend, honor, and speed the parting guests ; experi- 
 encing, doubtless, a sense of relief that they were going, and filled with a 
 painful curiosity to know the meaning of this mysterious visit." 
 
 Capt. John Smith says of his Charles River: "They find that faire chan- 
 nell to divide itselfe into so many faire branches as to make forty or fifty 
 pleasant islands within that excellent Bay. . . . We found the people in 
 those parts verie kinde ; but in their furie no lesse valiant. For, upon a 
 quarrell wee had with one of them, hee onely with three others crossed the 
 harbor of Ouonahassit [Cohasset] to certaine rocks whereby wee must passe, 
 and there let flie their arrowes for our shot, till we were out of danger." 
 
 During the next decade, several parties of adventurers sailed into the 
 harbor, seeking locations for new colonies on this virgin soil. Standish 
 reconnoitred the coast in 1621 ; Weston's men came to Weymouth in 1622; 
 exiles from Plymouth founded Hull in 1622; and Morton's scapegrace 
 colony of Merry-Mount began in 1625. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 2T,l 
 
 Many a vessel had sailed into the harbor, from the time of Thorwald 
 to that of Champlain and Standish ; but the arrival which was great with 
 destiny for these shores occurred in the beautiful late summer of 1630, 
 when Governor Winthrop's fleet sailed in, coming around from Salem. The 
 picturesque high-sterned vessels, almost Elizabethan in their antique models 
 and rich quaint decorations, with abundance of flags fluttering from their 
 low masts, and scores of fierce little four-pound cannon protruding from 
 their port-holes, made a brave show as they sailed up the harbor, while the 
 rich flush of a July day rested on the embowered islands and the graceful 
 hills of Shawmut. Foremost rode the admiral-ship, Lady Arbella, of 350 
 
 The Old Tewksbury House, Point Shirley. 
 
 tons, with 28 guns, and in all points well equipped ; next came the vice- 
 admiral, the Talbot, with the remaining vessels closing in behind. 
 
 Mr. Beecher once said that " God seems to have picked out the hardest 
 territory on the globe for the Puritans to inhabit. He placed them on the 
 sterile soil of New England, and told them to show what they could do ; 
 and they have shown it to the world." At first they took a grave view of 
 this dispensation ; and Cotton Mather himself reported that Boston, " the 
 Metropolis of the whole English Empire . . . was at first proverbially called 
 Lost-Town, for the mean and sad circumstances of it." Ship after ship 
 ascended the Bay, each with its precious cargo of immigrants, self-exiled 
 
232 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 for conscience' sake, and finding joy in freedom, even on a rugged and 
 empty continent. The sentiment is clearly set forth in " Margaret Smith 's 
 Journal:" "As we passed the small wooded islands, which make the bay 
 very pleasant, and entered close upon the town, and saw the houses and 
 orchards, and meadows, and the hills beyond covered with a great growth 
 of wood, my brother, lifting up both of his hands, cried out, ' How goodly 
 are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy habitations, O Israel!' and for my part I 
 did weep for joy and thankfulness of heart, that God had brought us safely 
 to so fair a haven." 
 
 If, on the one hand, Dummer's words describing the Massachusetts land 
 as " bare creation " were doubtless true, the compensation was set forth, 
 and the victory assured, by Stoughton's expression, " God sifted a whole 
 nition that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness." Even 
 saintly Herbert wrote that, — 
 
 " Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, 
 Ready to pass to the 'Merican strand." 
 
 One of the most homely and pathetic scenes of this exodus is that por- 
 trayed in " The Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour in New 
 England," where the women of Boston are shown in the act of digging 
 clams on the harbor-flats, "where they daily gathered their Families food 
 with much heavenly discourse of the provision Christ had formerly made 
 for many thousands of His followers in the wildernesse." 
 
 In 1633 Wood wrote the following good description of Boston Harbor, 
 in his " New-England Prospect : " " This harbour is made by a great company 
 of islands, whose high cliffs should cut the boisterous seas ; yet may easily 
 deceive any unskilful pilot; presenting many fair openings and broad 
 sounds, which afford too shallow water for ships, though navigable for boats, 
 and pinnaces. It is a safe and pleasant harbour within, having but one com- 
 mon and safe entrance, and that not very broad; there scarce being room 
 for three ships to come in board and board at a time ; but being once in, 
 these is room for the anchorage of 500 ships. The seamen having spent 
 their old store of wood and water, may here have fresh supplies from the 
 adjacent islands, with good timber to repair their weather-beaten ships." 
 
 The Indians still visited the harbor to see the wonders of the new civ- 
 ilization, and the author of "Naomi " represents their canoes as continually 
 flitting up and clown among the islands. Josselyn, the delightful gossip, 
 thus describes (in 1638) one of their sea-boats: "We had the sight of an 
 Indian pinnace sailing by us, made of birch-bark, sewed together with the 
 roots of spruce and white cedar (drawn out into threads), with a deck, and 
 trimmed with sails top and top-gallant very sumptuously." 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON JJ ARBOR. 
 
 233 
 
 When the fleet lay in the Roads, in 1636, the Rev. Hugh Peters enter- 
 tained the sailors with most edifying sermons. Peters was the successor 
 of Roger Williams in the First Church at Salem, and in after-years became 
 more famous as a colonel in Cromwell's Parliamentary army. He grievously 
 insulted King Charles I., who lay at the time a prisoner under sentence of 
 death, and after the Restoration was executed in the Tower of London. 
 
 In 1643 Capt. Carman's ship came into the Roads, amid great rejoicings. 
 She had been attacked by a Turkish corsair, of 26 guns and 200 men, off 
 the Canary Islands, and escaped only after a very desperate battle. A hun- 
 dred of the Saracen pirates boarded her at one time ; but half of them were 
 driven into the sea, and the rest fled back to their own decks. 
 
 In 1652-55 several ships entered the port, bearing sad exiles, sent hither 
 by Cromwell's order, to be sold as slaves. They were Irishmen and Scots, 
 captured by the victorious Parliamentary armies 
 (many of them at the battle of Dunbar), and torn 
 from their homes to encounter the grievous 
 hardships of servitude. 
 
 The terrible witchcraft troubles, which deso- 
 lated the Massachusetts towns, did not spare 
 the harbor of Boston. After Thomas Jones's 
 wife had been executed as a witch, he resolved 
 to fly from such a cruel country, and went 
 on board the ship Welcome, then at anchor 
 in the stream. " The weather was calm, 
 yet the ship fell to rolling, and so deep it 
 was feared she would founder. Great 
 weight was placed on one side to trim her, 
 and she would heel over on the other side. 
 
 The County Court was then in session, and, hearing that the husband of 
 the executed witch was on board, sent officers to arrest him. No sooner 
 was the warrant shown, than the rolling of the ship began to stop; and 
 after the man was in prison it moved no more." Other supernatural ter- 
 rors stalked abroad in the harbor. Weird corpse lights were seen, dancing 
 along the heights of Governor's Island; ghastly human forms walked on 
 the waves beyond the Castle ; and mysterious voices were heard mingling 
 with the night-winds. 
 
 " I write the wonders of the Christian Religion, flying from the deprava- 
 tions of Europe, to the American Strand," — says worthy Cotton Mather, in 
 Homeric vein, at the beginning of his " Magnalia Christi Americana;" and 
 in the chapter headed " Pietas in Patriam," he describes the gathering of the 
 great colonial fleet in Nantasket Roads, in 1690, when 32 vessels and 2,000 
 men were assembled there, and Sir William Phipps sailed away at their 
 
 Governor Winthrop. 
 
234 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 head in the ship Six Friends, 44 guns, to take Quebec, the western citadel 
 of the abomination of Rome. But, after much hard fighting, Phipps re- 
 turned to Boston with the remnants of his discomfited fleet, and publicly 
 said, " The things which befell me on this expedition are too deep to be 
 dived into." 
 
 Numberless unfortunates were driven into this port during the early- 
 days, and found the grim Puritans most sympathetic and helpful. In simple 
 language, the old records tell many a plaintive story : " There are lately 
 arrived fifteen French families, with a religious Protestant minister, who are 
 in all — men, women, and children — more than fourscore souls, and are 
 
 The Police- Boat, Boston Harbor. 
 
 such as fled from France for religion's sake ; and by their long passage at 
 sea their doctor and twelve men are dead, and by other inconveniences the 
 living are reduced to great sickness and poverty, and therefore objects of a 
 true Christian charity. Also, fifty persons — men, women, and children — 
 which were by the cruelty of the Spaniards driven off from Elutheria (an 
 island of the Bohemiahs), naked and in distress." Sometimes the compas- 
 sion of the townsmen took a singular turn, as when a cargo of negroes, 
 mostly women and children, torn from the coasts of Madagascar, were 
 brought into port more dead than alive. These, as it is recorded, "were 
 sold as slaves to magistrates, ministers, and people of distinction." Proba- 
 
KING'S flAA'DHOOK OF HOSI'OA' HARBOR. 
 
 235 
 
 bly their descendants, sable or part bleached, are now not without honor in 
 Anderson Street. 
 
 In 171 1 Nantasket Roads saw a more splendid sight than it ever had 
 before, when the vast armada of Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker anchored 
 there for several weeks. The fleet was composed of 15 men-of-war and 6 
 store-ships, with 40 transports and 7,000 soldiers, many of them Marlbor- 
 ough's veterans ; and the troops were landed, and encamped on the harbor 
 islands. In July the expedition sailed away, filled with high hopes of the 
 conquest of Canada; but when it reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
 a terrible storm broke over it, and several transports and 1,000 soldiers 
 
 The Fire- Department Boat, Boston Harbor. 
 
 were lost. The pious Franco-Canadian Catholics saw in this disaster the 
 hand of God, as the Puritans also referred the destruction of the Due 
 d'Anville's fleet to the same agency ; and Queen Elizabeth's Episcopalians 
 likewise recognized a similar impartial Providence in the loss of the Span- 
 ish Armada. 
 
 Bennett, in 1740, thus describes the harbor and its islands: "At the 
 entrance of the bay there are several rocks of great magnitude, the tops of 
 which appeared considerably above the surface of the water at the time of 
 our passing by them. There are also about a dozen little islands all in view 
 as we approach the town, some of which are as fine farms as any in the 
 whole country. This town has a good natural security, in my opinion; for 
 
236 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 there is great plenty of rocks and shoals, which are not easy to be avoided 
 by strangers to the coasts ; and there is but one safe channel to approach the 
 harbor, and that so narrow that three ships can hardly sail through abreast; 
 but within the harbor there is room enough for five hundred sail to lie at 
 anchor." 
 
 In 1745 a body of 2,000 French prisoners from Louisburg were brought 
 into Boston, where they were held in captivity for some time, and then sent 
 to France. Three years later another singular company came into port 
 from Louisburg and Quebec. These were the people of New England,, 
 many hundreds in number, who had been torn from their homes, and led into 
 captivity in the northern forests and fortresses of Canada. They were now 
 coming home with great joy. In 1775 several ships entered the Roads 
 laden with Acadians, the gentle and pious peasantry whom the Provincial 
 generals had driven from their homes, into a weary and perpetual banish- 
 ment. Here might have been Evangeline herself, sadly gazing upon the 
 sharp black rocks of Massachusetts Bay. In 1758 came the grandest fleet 
 which Boston Harbor had ever seen, when Sir Jeffrey Amherst, a veteran 
 of Fontenoy, and conqueror of Louisburg, brought in his great expedition. 
 He landed 4,500 choice British soldiers, who marched hence to Albany and 
 Montreal. 
 
 In 1768 two Irish regiments and twelve men-of-war from Halifax entered 
 the Roads, where they were put in order of battle, and sailed up the harbor, 
 with cannon run out and loaded, to overawe rebellious Boston. The Conti- 
 nental lines which surrounded Boston in the landward towns were continued 
 on blue water by the minute-men of the sea, the gallant privateers of Mar- 
 blehead and other ports. When a royal frigate approached, these marine 
 militia crowded on canvas, and fled into the adjacent coves ; but when a 
 transport or troop-ship appeared, they bore down on her, with the pine-tree 
 flag waving saucily from the fore, and their little batteries of 6-pounders 
 barking. Many a rich prize was taken thus, and others were even cut out 
 of the harbor, and borne off to Yankee ports. A royal brig, heavily laden 
 with provisions and artillery, and with 3,000 muskets and 2,000 broadswords 
 in her cargo, fortunately ran the gauntlet of the Massachusetts fleet, and 
 anchored in Nantasket Roads ; but a particularly audacious Plymouth pri- 
 vateer cut her out, and escaped to sea with the prize, although pursued hotly 
 by several British men-of-war. The Lee of Marblehead captured four in- 
 bound British vessels in a single week of December, 1775; one of which, 
 the Nancy, laden with artillery, ammunition, and intrenching-tools, became 
 almost the salvation of Washington's ill-equipped army. In April, 1776, the 
 Hancock captured in the Bay a British brig from Cork, laden with pro- 
 visions, and another from the Azores, deeply freighted with wine and fruit. 
 Later, she took the Scottish brigantine Peggy, 8 guns ; and during the year 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 237 
 
 forty vessels surrendered to the gallant little Hancock. Some of these 
 were armed, and carried valuable cargoes. On Sunday, March 17, 1776, the 
 great British fleet dropped clown the harbor from Boston and Charlestown, 
 and anchored in Nantasket Roads, where it remained for ten days. On 
 board were 1 1,000 soldiers and sailors, 1,019 self-exiled Bostonians (includ- 
 ins 102 civil officers and 18 clergymen), and 105 loyalists from the country 
 towns. It was a beaten and dejected army, and a worried fleet; but the 
 saddest feature was this great company of Boston emigres, who preferred 
 their king to their native land, and departed into perpetual exile. How 
 
 Dm the Jerusalem Road. 
 
 their tears must have flowed as the familiar islands dropped astern, one by 
 one, and the Puritan spires faded away in the west, and the noble crests of 
 the Blue Hills sank beneath the horizon ! 
 
 When the fleet sailed away, Commodore Banks with the Milford, 50, 
 and several other war-vessels, remained to blockade the port. Mrs. Adams 
 wrote that "the Milford frigate rides triumphant in our bay, taking vessels 
 every day, and no Colony or Continental vessel has yet attempted to hinder 
 her. She mounts but twenty-eight guns, and is one of the fastest sailers in 
 the British navy. They complain we have not weighty metal enough, and I 
 suppose truly." The day came for this last remnant of hostile occupation 
 
238' KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON //ARBOR. 
 
 to be removed, when Gen. Lincoln's Continentals and coast-guards suddenly 
 opened a simultaneous fire on the fleet from half a dozen headlands and 
 islands, and knocked many a great splinter out of the natty frigates. The 
 crashing broadsides of British iron did not silence the Massachusetts guns ; 
 and the whole squadron, from high-decked flag-ship down to little tender, 
 were soon fain to spread their towering canvas, and fly away to sea. 
 
 On the day after the first anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, the 
 Massachusetts brig Defence, 18 guns, captured the transport John and 
 George, 6 guns, and 120 men, off the mouth of the harbor. In the same 
 week the American privateers captured the transport Arabella, in the same 
 locality, with 200 British soldiers on board. This conquest was the result 
 of a hard naval battle, during which Major Menzies and 18 men were killed. 
 Only the day after Campbell's Highlanders were captured off Long-Island 
 Head, another transport ran into the harbor, with 112 fine Scottish soldiers 
 on- board. When she was alongside the light-house a privateer-schooner 
 pounced upon her, and led the unhappy plaidies into Boston. 
 
 In 1779 the celebrated Penobscot expedition rendezvoused here, and lay 
 in the Roads for several days. The French fleet and army had declined to 
 attack the British stronghold at Castine ; and so Massachusetts collected 
 here her whole naval strength, — 19 armed vessels, with 324 guns, and 20 
 transports, with 1,300 soldiers. None of these snug little Yankee frigates 
 ever saw the harbor again ; for a British squadron pounced upon them as 
 they lay off Castine, and destroyed the entire outfit. 
 
 When the French fleet lay in the harbor, in 1778, blockaded by Lord 
 Howe's powerful squadron, Gov. John Hancock gave the officers a grand 
 breakfast at his stately house on Beacon Hill ; and they returned the com- 
 pliment by a banquet on their flag-ship, at which Madam Hancock was a 
 strangely honored guest. " As the wife of His Excellency was seated at 
 the table, on which was spread an elegant collation, on board the vessel of 
 the French commander, he requested her to ring a small bell which he 
 handed her. She did so. This was the preconcerted signal for a general 
 salute from all the guns of the fleet. She was startled alike out of her offi- 
 cial dignity and personal propriety by the deafening peal of artillery that 
 ensued." For three months the vast line-of-battle ships lay at anchor here ; 
 and Massachusetts called out nine regiments of militia to aid in defending 
 them against the British armada outside. 
 
 Once a clipper-schooner, laden down with powder for the use of our 
 armies, attempted to run the blockade. She had been ingeniously disguised 
 as a rough and dirty coaster, with torn sails and littered deck, and all her 
 men out of sight; and her shrewd captain carried on the following dialogue 
 with the commander of the cruiser that overhauled him : — ■ 
 
 " Heave to, you Yankee ! " cried the English officer from the quar- 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 239 
 
 ter-deck. " Why the devil didn't you do so when I fired a shot across your 
 bows ? " 
 
 " Didn't know what you were arter," called out a slovenly-looking indi- 
 vidual at the helm; "didn't think you was goin' to fire right into our little 
 schooner, that wa'n't a-goin' to do you no harm." 
 
 "What schooner is that?" called the amused officer. 
 
 "Pretty Sally j named for my wife, to hum." 
 
 " Where do you hail from ? " 
 
 " Taunton, good Lord "J " 
 
 " What's your own name ? " 
 
 Sea-View, from Atlantic Hill, Nantasket. 
 
 " Captin Silas Slocom ; and I ain't ashamed of that name, nohow nor 
 nowheres." 
 
 " What sort of a cargo have you got aboard ? " 
 
 " Long-faced gentry — there's a critter grunting now; barn-yard fowls — 
 didn't you hear that one crow jest now? long sarse and short sarse ; and 
 near abouts a bar'l o' potatoes I got down East." 
 
 " Well, strike : why don't you strike ? " 
 
 " Strike, hey ? I ain't got nobody to strike, 'less I strike brother Jona- 
 than, and I guess he'd strike back ; I just struck little Fidelle, and knocked 
 him overboard, plaguy clumsy-like it was, and our Sally'll be all-fired sorry, 
 I kin tell ye; and if ye don't want no more of me, I'll be gettin' along, for 
 it's e'ena'most night now." 
 
240 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 " This is a poor, harmless kind of fellow," said the British officers in 
 council, "carrying home provisions to keep his family from starving. He 
 really isn't worth taking, and it would do us no good and him a great deal 
 of harm if we brought him aboard and sunk his old rattle-trap." The naval 
 commander sung out, " Heave ahead there, old fellow ! and don't let us 
 catch you again, or it'll be the worse for you." Off went the clipper up the 
 harbor, and soon moored alongside the wharf at Boston, with her precious 
 cargo. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1780 that a formidable naval battle occurred 
 off Boston Light, when the British 50-gun ship Sagittaire pounced on a 
 French convoy bound inward from Newport to Boston. The frigate which 
 guarded the little fleet carried but 32 guns; yet it boldly attacked the hostile 
 ship, while the merchantmen, laden with spars and naval stores, bore away 
 up the harbor. Three French men-of-war lay off Castle Island, but they 
 made no attempt to aid their overmatched sister-ship, and the battle went 
 on for over an hour, while the sacred height of Beacon Hill was covered 
 with Bostonians, watching the combat with spy-glasses. At last the roar 
 of artillery ceased, and the French flag descended from the mast-head of 
 the Magicienne ; and, during the subsequent hours of that beautiful morn- 
 ing, the rigging of the two vessels was repaired, and the dead sailors were 
 thrown into the Light-house Roads. Some hours later the French fleet 
 made sail, and chased the British frigate and her prize to Halifax, whence 
 they returned empty-handed, ten days later. 
 
 In 1781 the French army which had fought so gallantly for us in the 
 Southern campaigns marched into Boston, in grand state : the Bourbonnais 
 Regiment, uniformed in white and gold ; the Soissonnais Grenadiers, in 
 white, red, and pink, with waving plumes, commanded by Count Segur, 
 afterwards a peer of France, whose Memoirs are so well-known ; the Saint- 
 onge Regiment, in white and blue, led by Count de Custine and the Prince de 
 Broglie, both of whom were guillotined during the French Revolution ; the 
 four battalions of the Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, in white, red, and gold, 
 led by Count de Deux-Ponts, afterwards made famous at the battle of Ho- 
 henlinden ; Lauzun's famous Legion, whose chivalric leader was afterwards 
 guillotined ; the Royal Artillery, in blue and red, most of whose soldiers 
 remained with Washington to besiege New York ; the Engineer Corps, in 
 blue and gray; and other brilliant companies, with bands of music, white 
 lily-flags, and all the paraphernalia of old-time warriors. Among the leaders 
 were Viomenil, who was slain afterwards, while defending the Tuileries ; 
 the Chevalier de Lameth, who became a soldier of the Empire ; the Marquis 
 de Champcenetz ; the Count de Dumas ; Berthier, afterwards a marshal 
 under Napoleon; and many other famous nobles and warriors. It has 
 been reported also that Bernadotte, afterwards king of Sweden, was a 
 
A'AVe/W HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 24 r 
 
 soldier in this army. The young Marquis of Talleyrand-Perigord marched 
 as a volunteer among the Grenadiers. This martial host embarked on the 
 French fleet in the Roads. There lay the Triomphant, Couronne, and Due 
 de Bourgogfie, all 80-gun ships ; the Hercule, Souverain, Neptune, Bourgogne, 
 Northumberland, Bravo, and Citoyen, all 74-gun ships-of-the-line ; and the 
 frigates Amazone and Nereide. On Christmas Eve, 1781, this splendid 
 little army left the harbor, when the French fleet, ten vessels in all, mount- 
 ing 754 g uns > P u t to sea, headed by the Triomphant. 
 
 In the summer of 1782 the British frigate Albemarle cruised in the Bay, 
 
 A Coaling-Station on the Nantasket- Beach Railroad. 
 
 and made sad havoc with the coasting-vessels ; although its commander, 
 Nelson (who afterwards became the most illustrious of English admirals), 
 was as lenient as his instructions would allow, and often released the unfor- 
 tunate little sloops and schooners that were brought under his guns. 
 Pleasant stories are still extant, in the Old Colony, of Lord Nelson's courtesy 
 and kindliness. 
 
 In 1787, 1788, and 1789, the harbor of Boston was the winter-quarters of 
 the French fleets in the Western Atlantic, since there they were safe from 
 the fearful hurricanes of the West Indies. In the latter year, the same in 
 which Washington visited Boston and was snubbed by Gov. Hancock, the 
 
242 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 French vessels in the harbor were the line-of-battle ships Leopard and 
 Patriot, with several frigates ; and the British man-of-war Penelope lay in 
 the roads at the same time. 
 
 During the Revolutionary War, the harbor was a nest of saucy priva- 
 teers, of which this port alone had 365 sail, by which many hundreds of 
 British vessels were captured. Among these were such strangely named 
 craft as the Sturdy Beggar, C/t arming Sally, American Tartar, Reprisal, 
 Viper, Lizard, and True Blue. The State of Massachusetts also had ten 
 well-armed war-ships, which cruised very effectively on the outer seas. In 
 the War of 1812 Boston sent out many privateers, roaming the Atlantic 
 in search of British merchantmen or small cruisers. If the main channel 
 was blockaded, these gallant little war-ships would scurry out Broad Sound, 
 or creep through Shirley Gut, and run for the Capes, with all sail set. 
 Oftentimes they lurked in the lee of the islands until propitious gales had 
 driven the blockaders out of sight, and then away they went : 
 
 " A randy dandy, dandy, oh ! 
 And a whet of ale and brandy, oh ! 
 A rumbelow, and seaward, ho ! 
 And cheer, my merrymen, all, oh!" 
 
 The port was blockaded during nearly all the time of the War of 1812-15, 
 but the American frigates ran in and out without much difficulty. Among 
 those who thus escaped the British fleet were the United States, President, 
 Congress, Hor7iet, Frolic, John Adams, Argus, Nautilus, Rattlesnake, and 
 Siren. The Constitution passed in and out seven times. It was from the 
 Roads that the Constitution, 44, sailed, in August, 1812, on the cruise which 
 resulted in her capture of the British frigate Guerriere, 49, after a most 
 spirited naval battle, commemorated in the song beginning: — 
 
 " I often have been told 
 
 That the British seamen bold 
 Could beat the tars of France neat and handy, O ! 
 
 But they never found their match, 
 
 Till the Yankees did them catch, 
 For the Yankee tars for fighting are the dandy, O 1 
 
 " Oh, the Guerriere so bold, 
 
 On the foaming ocean rolled, 
 Commanded by proud Dacres the grandee, O I 
 
 With as choice a British crew 
 
 As a rammer ever drew, 
 They could beat the Frenchmen two to one so handy, O!'' 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 243 
 
 The British had laughed enough at a navy which they said was composed 
 of "half a dozen of fir frigates with bits of striped bunting tied to their 
 mast-heads;" and so soon Capt. Hull was able (o announce the capture of 
 the Guerriere, dating his despatch, " Off Boston Light. 1 ' 
 
 During a considerable part of theWarof 181 2, guard-boats were stationed 
 here every night, with rockets, which they were to send up in the event of 
 the approach of hostile ships. In case of such an alarm, the reserve forces 
 encamped at South Boston were to be hurried into the forts, with field 
 artillery ; and the frigates in the inner harbor were to bear down on the 
 
 L. 
 
 View across Hull Bay, from Peddock's Island. 
 
 channel. Fortunately the rockets were not needed, and the liveliest night 
 in Boston Harbor is still to come. 
 
 The Navy Club of Harvard College commemorated a tradition that one 
 day during the War of 181 2 the senior class was enjoying a sail in the 
 lower harbor, when their little craft was pounced upon and captured by 
 the boats of one of the British blockaders. After a brief captivity, the 
 pining lads were set free, and returned to Cambridge with their love of 
 adventure thrown far in abeyance. For thirty years or more thereafter, 
 the Navy Club sailed down the harbor on every recurring Artillery-Election 
 
244 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 day, but His Britannic Majesty's mariners troubled them no more. The 
 Lord High Admiral of Harvard was always the young gentleman who had 
 the most friends in his class and the most enemies in the Faculty, and who 
 had been suspended at least once. 
 
 Here the Indepettdence, 74, the flag-ship of the Mediterranean squadron, 
 with the Erie, Chippewa, and Lynx, set sail, under command of stout old 
 Bainbridge, in 1815, on tne expedition against Algiers and the Barbary 
 powers. One of the strangest tragedies of the harbor was the destruction 
 of the Canton Packet in 1817. This fine ship was about to sail to the East 
 Indies, with a valuable cargo and $400,000 in specie ; and on the day before 
 
 Scene near Nantasket. 
 
 departure her negro steward demanded permission to go ashore, to enjoy 
 the revels of Artillery-Election day. This privilege was denied him, and he 
 secured a novel revenge. When the crew were ashore, he fired a pistol into 
 the casks of gunpowder which composed a part of the cargo, and blew 
 up the ship, losing his own misanthropic life in the general ruin. The 
 explosion alarmed the whole town, and garbled traditions of the blacka- 
 moor's achievement were narrated for half a century afterwards. 
 
 In 1844 the harbor was frozen over to Castle Island, and thence nearly 
 to Broad Sound, with huge fields of ice choked up in the lower channels. 
 Tents and booths were set up on the level icy plain; fast horses made their 
 best time on this novel race-course ; and thousands of skaters glided hither 
 and thither, in every direction. Many vessels were blockaded, and among 
 them the Cunard steamship Britannia ; and to effect their release the mer- 
 chants of Boston paid the ice-cutters of Fresh Pond $15,000 to cut a canal 
 
AVJVG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 245 
 
 of great length, 150 feet wide, down which the Britannia moved to the 
 distant sea, escorted by cheering crowds. The work took 500 men three 
 days. 
 
 When the Massachusetts volunteers were embarking here for the south- 
 ern sea-board, during the Secession War, many a ship passed down the 
 harbor, laden with the pride of the State, — its brave and patriotic young 
 men, bound for the insurrectionary cities. In dreary November of 1862, the 
 50th and 51st Massachusetts Regiments sailed from Boston, the one for New 
 Orleans, the other for Newbern. In May and June, 1863, the 54th and 55th 
 Regiments, both of them composed of negroes, sailed from the harbor for 
 
 Distant View of Atlantic Hill. 
 
 the Carolina coast, where the first-named won immortal fame by its charge 
 on Fort Wagner. There was much suffering here during the long October 
 storm of 1863, when the 3d, 5th, and 8th nine-months Regiments, and the 
 43d, 44th, 45th, and 46th Regiments of Massachusetts volunteers lay in 
 transports in the Roads, waiting for a chance to get to sea. At last they 
 sailed away, and clown to Newbern, where the Carolinas welcomed them 
 with blander skies, which have now for well-nigh twenty years arched over 
 the graves of many of their number. 
 
 Turning from these more serious concerns to study the chief uses for 
 the harbor, as far as the average Bostonian goes, we find that the custom of 
 sailing down these blue reaches for pleasure has come down to us from the 
 very heart of the Puritan days. As far back as July, 1687, Judge Sewall 
 came down the harbor with a party " to Alderton's Point, and with our Boat 
 beyond, quite out of the Massachusetts Bay, and there catch'd fresh Cod." 
 Throughout the Provincial period, other parties of grave gentlemen are 
 
246 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 occasionally seen indulging in the same exciting but apostolic pursuit; and 
 perhaps, although the worship of Nature had not then come into vogue, 
 they sometimes looked with a kindly eye on the grandeur of the sea and 
 sky. In a letter written nearly a century ago, this passage appears: "The 
 gentlemen, sometimes by themselves, and sometimes in company with 
 ladies, spend the day partly on the water and partly on some of the islands 
 in this very delightful harbor." In the Massachusetts Historical Society's 
 volume for 1810, it is said that the islands were at that time much resorted 
 to by pleasure-parties from the towns on the main, who went down in small 
 sailboats, and had quiet family and society picnics by the water-side. 
 
 The first steamboat in the harbor was the Massachusetts, a Philadelphia- 
 built vessel, which made several trips to Salem, and one to Hingham in 
 1816. On July 4 the Daily Advertiser noted that she took a party of 
 excursionists " to sail about the islands in this harbor." But the people 
 fought shy of this new method of travel, and the enterprise resulted in a 
 heavy loss. The next winter she was wrecked on the North-Carolina coast. 
 In 1818 the Eagle ran as an excursion-boat in Boston Harbor. Many were 
 the vessels, large and small, that succeeded them ; until now, when every 
 variety of pleasure-craft that goes by. steam is found here, from the huge 
 Empire State, carrying thousands of passengers daily on its interminable 
 decks, to the wasp-like little steam launches which skim up and down among 
 the islands. The Secession War caused a partial suspension of the excur- 
 sion business ; for the best of the steamboats were sent away into the 
 Southern seas as despatch-boats, and for other warlike uses. But now the 
 fleet is larger than ever, and all its resources are taxed to the uttermost. 
 The company whose boats run to the beach has 100 officers, and carries 
 80,000 excursionists a week, at a cost of $1,000 a day. Another company 
 has two steamers, running several times daily, down Broad Sound and 
 around outside to the Point of Pines, near the head of Revere Beach. 
 Other lines run to Downer Landing and Hingham ; to Long Island and 
 Winthrop ; to Nahant ; to points on the coast of the Bay, etc. The Carni- 
 val of Boston is two months long, and is enacted on the waters to the 
 eastward. 
 
 Among the excursionists have been many very notable persons, who 
 have recorded their impressions in varying phrases. Harriet Martineau, in 
 her " Western Travel," took this practical view of the seaward suburbs : 
 " The scenery of Massachusetts Bay is a treasure which Boston possesses 
 over and above what is enjoyed by her sister cities of the East. New York 
 has a host of beauties about her, it is true, — the North River, Hoboken, 
 and Staten Island; but there is something in the singularity of Nahant, 
 and the wild beauty of Cape Ann, more captivating than the crowded, fully 
 appropriated beauties around New York. In summer and autumn, when 
 
A'/NG'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 247 
 
 the Southerners, who cannot afford to board, are panting and sickening in 
 the glare, among sands and swamps, the poorest of the citizens of Massa- 
 chusetts may refresh himself amidst the sea-breezes on the bright promon- 
 tories or cool caverns of his native shore." Another famous Englishwoman, 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montague, gave us this pretty little vignette: "In 
 returning through the harbor of Boston from Nahant, we were full of 
 admiration of its scenery : the many lovely islands with which it is beauti- 
 fully studded, and the superb view of Boston itself, so nobly surmounted 
 by its crown-like State House, enchanted us." 
 
 Here, too, among these green Hesperides, over-arched with a sky fairer 
 even than "the tempest-proof pavilions of the deep Italian air," many of 
 the foremost American artists have found their inspiration. Allston's calm 
 and saintly eyes have rested upon them with satisfaction ; Copley and Stuart 
 often surveyed the blue harbor from the Boston hills ; Hunt, Norton, and 
 
 View toward Boston, from Old Fort, Point Shirley. 
 
 Foxcroft Cole have found many of their best scenes between Long Wharf 
 and Point Allerton ; and the younger marine-painters, Halsall, Lansil, 
 Webber, and others, discover abundant material here for many beautiful 
 pictures. The venerable George L. Brown, whom the Romans called " The 
 American Claude," lived until recently in South Boston, where his studio 
 overlooked the Bay ; and he painted the scene outspread before him with 
 a brush dipped in Venetian sunsets. Some of his harbor-pictures needed 
 only the insertion of two or three gondolas and the inevitable Salute domes 
 to pass for scenes on the Lagoon. He was right in doing so ; for the vivid 
 coloring is equal in both the eastward-facing ports, Venice and Boston, 
 although with us somewhat harder and clearer. Here Dante could have 
 found that rare vagation which he called il tremolar della marina, as well 
 as in the seas off Pisa or Ravenna. Certainly one of the most impressive 
 of modern historical paintings is Halsall's " Arrival of Governor Winthrop's 
 Colony in Boston Harbor," depicting in glowing colors the scene which the 
 poet describes in the ballad of " The Lady Arbella : " — 
 
248 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 " The low islands part, as an opening door, 
 And they glide in and anchor in sight of the shore ; 
 Where the wild flower's fragrance, the strawberry's scent, 
 With the music of song-bird and billow is blent." 
 
 Nor have the poets of New England remained uninfluenced by the 
 charms of the " lovely innermost nook of Massachusetts Bay." This ele- 
 ment appears most strongly in the works of Longfellow, many of whose 
 poems were written near the rocks of Nahant, where he watched the white 
 caps, the flying birds, the distant sails, — 
 
 " Till my soul is full of longing 
 For the secret of the sea, 
 And the heart of the great ocean 
 Sends a thrilling pulse through me." 
 
 Whittier gives his deepest study and sweetest songs to the Merrimac 
 and the coasts of Newbury and Hampton, but has found grace to paint this 
 pretty picture of Boston Harbor : — 
 
 " Broad in the sunshine stretched away, 
 With its capes and islands, the turquoise bay ; 
 And over water and dusk of pines 
 Blue hills lifted their faint outlines." 
 
 No nobler naval song has ever been written than Holmes's " Ay, tear 
 her tattered ensign down ! " and many another ballad, like " The Wasp and 
 the Hornet" and "The Steamboat," and many a breezy allusion in his other 
 poems, attest the inspiration of the adjacent narrow seas. Who does not 
 remember the last verse of his "Boston Tea Party"? — 
 
 ' ' The waters of the rebel bay 
 
 Have kept their tea-leaf savor. 
 Our old North-Enders in their spray 
 Still taste a Hyson flavor." 
 
 Lowell is the viking of the poets. He finds inextinguishable joy in 
 donning a tarpaulin suit, and sailing down through the island-passages, and 
 far out into the Bay, in one of the swift pilot-boats which cruise between the 
 capes of Massachusetts. The voice of the northern sea is heard even in 
 "Sir Launfal;" it breaks, now and then, into the rural " Biglow Papers;" 
 it throbs grandly through the " Commemoration Ode ; " and in the Appledore 
 poems and "The Voyage to Vinland" the wild rush of whitening waves is 
 heard. As far back as 1S42, while at Nantasket, Lowell wrote his "Siren- 
 song-." 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 249 
 
 Dana, one of the foremost poets of a half-century ago, whose " Buc- 
 caneer" is one of our classics, had his beautiful rural home on the North 
 Shore, within view of Boston Light. In previous pages we have seen 
 Thoreau wandering down Nantaskei Beach, and Stoddard lingering on the 
 Hingham wharves, and the author of "America" enjoying summer rest at 
 Hull. 
 
 Hawthorne was for years officially connected with the harbor and its 
 commerce, and spent many a day on its blue expanses, and among its sea- 
 browned mariners. Dr. Loring tells a quaint story of the great author's 
 life here : " An attempt on the part of a rough and overbearing sea-captain 
 to interfere with his business as an inspector of the customs in charge of 
 his ship was met with such a terrific uprising of spiritual and physical wrath 
 that the dismayed captain fled up the wharf, and took 
 refuge at the feet of him who sat at the receipt of 
 customs, inquiring, with a sailor's emotions and a 
 sailor's tongue, ' What, in God's name, have you 
 sent on board my ship as an inspector?'" 
 
 Daniel Webster made many journeys down the 
 harbor, on the way to his beloved home on the 
 Marshfield coast, and acknowledged the deep and 
 controlling power which the adjacent seas 
 exercised over his spirit. In one of his let- 
 ters, written from a great distance, he 
 breaks, through his prolonged sentences 
 about contemporary diplomacy and state- 
 craft, with the passionate cry, '• Oh, the sea, 
 the sea ! — and Marshfield ! " 
 
 John Lothrop Motley was familiar with every cove and islet inside of 
 Point Allerton, especially to the southward of the ship-channel; and his 
 early novel of "Merry-Mount " is incomparably the best description of the 
 strange people on the islands and headlands in the ante-colonial days. 
 The elder Henry James has a beautiful gray-stone villa at Nahant, where 
 his son, the author of so many charming international stories, has often 
 spent many of his summer months. Mr. Howells has given many a cheery 
 day to the overflowing life of Nantasket, which he has described with 
 inimitable pleasantry and appreciation. 
 
 But, whatever may have been its incidental interest in other ways, the 
 chief value of Boston Harbor to America is found in its intimate connection 
 with commerce and the navy. The naval constructor who searched the 
 Yankee harbors for a site on which to build a navy-yard must have borne in 
 mind Admiral Montague's declaration that " God Almighty made Noddle's 
 Island on purpose for a dockyard; " for he reported that " Boston, from the 
 
250 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 natural strength of its situation, the great number of ship-carpenters in its 
 vicinity, and of its seamen, must always remain a building-place, and a place 
 of rendezvous for our navy of the first importance ; while the rise of tide, 
 eleven feet, would greatly lessen the expense of emptying a dock. . . . The 
 outer harbor of President and Nantasket Roads affords a large and safe 
 haven for large fleets from the weather ; and the inner harbor, safe from 
 winds, freshets, and enemy, could be securely fortified at an easy expense." 
 The first vessel built at the new navy-yard was the sloop-of-war Frolic (in 
 1813), whose broadsides made mournful music for many a British craft. In 
 1 81 5 the three-decker Independence, 74, was launched, amid great rejoicings. 
 After so many years, she has retired into peaceful repose as receiving-ship 
 of the Mare-Island Navy Yard in California. The Constitution and Argus 
 were built at adjacent private yards. The Argus fought many gallant 
 
 battles on the Tripolitan 
 coast and in the War of 
 181 2, and was at last 
 captured in. the English 
 Channel, by H. B. M. 
 brig Pelican, in 18 13. 
 In 1826 the War- 
 ren was launched 
 here, and soon af- 
 terwards sailed to 
 the Far East, where 
 she did memorable 
 service against the Greek 
 pirates in the yEgean Sea. 
 
 The Ecll-Buoy 
 
 The next year the handsome sloop-of-war Falmouth was built here. 
 Among other war-vessels launched at Charlestown were the Cyane, Por- 
 poise, Ply ino7ith, Marion, Alligator, Boxer, Bainbridge, Erie, Princeton, 
 and the line-of-battle ship Vermont. At this yard were built (in 1842 and 
 1S54, respectively) the famous w T ar-ships Czunberland and Merrimac. 
 After years of service in foreign seas, the two vessels met in deadly 
 conflict, off Fortress Monroe ; and the Cumberland sank, amid the horror 
 of the whole naval world. In 1858, from the upper ship-house, the historic 
 war steamship Hartford, Admiral Farragut's favorite flag-ship, was launched. 
 During the Secession War many famous vessels were built at the Navy 
 Yard, including the iron-clads Monadnock, A T ahant, IVausett, A r antuchet, 
 Canonicus, Casco, Chimo, Shawnee, Squando, and Suncook. Of the thirty 
 other frigates built here during the same period, and, as it were, born into 
 Boston Harbor, the most notable were the Wachusett, which captured the 
 rebel gunboat Florida j the Htnon, whose fatal wreck is still remembered; 
 
CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD. 
 
252 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 the Tallapoosa, Winooski, Ashuelot, and Housatonic. Thirty steamers and 
 numerous sailing-vessels besides were refitted here for naval purposes. 
 Most of these were prizes, captured by the blockading squadrons off the 
 Southern ports. Among them was the formidable rebel ram Atlanta. 
 
 The receiving-ship, lying off the yard, is the famous old frigate Wabash, 
 which won many a hard knock during the Secession War. Beyond here 
 are the vast dry-dock, rolling-mill, brass-works, rope-walk, barracks, gun- 
 park, and battery of thirty cannon. Here rest the remains of the huge 
 double-turreted iron-clad Miantonomoh ; and in one of the ship-houses the 
 ancient three-decker Virginia has stood on the stocks for more than half 
 a century. In the stream, towards Chelsea, lie the decaying old war-ships 
 Ohio, Iowa, and Connecticut. 
 
 The maritime enterprise of Boston began early. It was but a year after 
 the founding of the colony, that Gov. Winthrop launched the barque Bless- 
 ing of the Bay ; and in 1635 the ship Seafort, 400 tons, was built. At first, 
 the price of passage from London to Boston was £$ ; and goods were 
 freighted at ^4 a ton. Winthrop's colonists came over under this schedule. 
 The average time of passage was sixty days. The first trading-vessels 
 went to the Indian country for corn, and presently Dutch ships began to 
 come in heavily laden. A profitable commerce sprang up with the Dutch 
 and Swedish towns on the Delaware and Hudson ; with Fayal and Madeira, 
 and the Isle of Sable. Ships came in continually from England: there 
 were 298 of them that arrived in the first ten years, bringing 21,200 pas- 
 sengers, from whom descended the chief New-England families of to-day. 
 Lord Bellomont reported, in 1698, that the town owned 194 sailing-craft, 
 adding, " I believe I may venture to say that there are more good vessels 
 belonging to the town of Boston than to all Scotland and Ireland." In 1738 
 there were 41 topsail vessels built here. 
 
 For many decades Massachusetts was the Holland of America, the 
 headquarters of the carrying-trade by sea; and Boston had fully 500 sail 
 of vessels, excluding fishing and coasting craft. The commerce with Brit- 
 ain, the Dutch colonies, Surinam and Martinique, was large and lucrative. 
 As early as 1720 the royal customs officers reported an average of 24,000 
 tons of shipping as clearing from Boston yearly. After the Revolution an 
 active trade sprung up between this port and the Isles of France, China, 
 and India; and many a neat little ship of 300 tons started hence on the long 
 voyage, with supercargoes from the then rising families of Derby, Shaw, 
 Perkins, and Silsbee. The Columbia sailed in 1787, and discovered the 
 famous Oregon river which still bears her name ; exchanged her cargo of 
 Yankee wares for otter-furs brought in by the Indians; called at the Sand- 
 wich Islands; visited Canton, where her furs were exchanged for tea; and 
 in 1790 sailed up Boston Harbor, firing Federal salutes. She was attended 
 
AYA(/'.V HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 '53 
 
 in this great voyage by the 90-ton sloop Washington, the first vessel of her 
 class to circumnavigate the earth. The brig Hope then sailed for the North- 
 west Coast and China, and in her voyage discovered the Marquesas Islands. 
 In 1790 the arrivals from abroad at this port numbered 455 vessels, exclu- 
 sive of 1,200 sail of coasters; and in a single day as many as 70 vessels 
 left the harbor, bound for all parts of the globe. Most of these Indiamen 
 were well armed, and had officers of naval grades, and large crews, compe- 
 tent to protect their cargoes, which were usually valued at several hundred 
 thousand dollars. In the words of the time, these gallant little frigates were 
 "prepared to fight their way for rich cargoes." In the East they were an- 
 noyed by Chinese and Malay pirates; in the Mediterranean, by Barbary 
 corsairs ; and on the high seas everywhere by British and French frigates 
 and letters-of-marque. Their voyages were through such vast distances that 
 they had need to be 
 prepared for all man- 
 ner of receptions. 
 Many were the Bos- 
 ton ships that round- 
 ed Cape Horn; trad- 
 ed their Yankee car- 
 goes for otter-furs 
 and other products 
 of the North-west 
 Coast ; sold them in 
 China for teas and 
 silks; crossed to 
 Valparaiso, and left 
 parts of these pre- 
 cious goods in exchange for copper ; carried the metal to England ; and 
 finally felt the waters of Nantasket Roads ripple along their keels, with each 
 supercargo rejoicing in a profit of a quarter of a million dollars made for 
 the owners out of the venturesome voyage. 
 
 At last the Napoleonic decrees and the War of 181 2 came, inflicting 
 severe blows on this flourishing commerce. Not only were there licensed 
 buccaneers on the ocean, but even the home-port was closed by hostile 
 war-fleets. Occasionally a swift Boston Indiaman would dash through the 
 blockaders, and enter the harbor safely, deep-laden with silks and teas from 
 Canton. In this manner the Rambler, Jacob Jones, and Kamaahmaah 
 escaped the Grampus and Glendower, British frigates which were watching 
 for them in the Bay. They went up through the islands, firing salutes from 
 their batteries, and waking the echoes of the Blue Hills with guns that had 
 roared in the China seas, or off the Polynesian coral-reefs. 
 
 At the Harbor's Mouth. 
 
254 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 The Cunard Line of ocean steamships was founded in 1840, and for 
 eight years Boston was their only American port. Here came in, bi-weekly, 
 the Unicorn, Britannia, Acadia, Caledonia, and other Cunarders, — awk- 
 ward paddle-wheel boats, largely filled up with coal-bunkers. Twice (in 
 1844 and 1857) the harbor was frozen up; and each time the citizens had 
 long canals cut through the ice, down to Nantasket Roads. 
 
 In 1844 Train's Liverpool packets began their voyages, which were 
 made regularly once a month for many years. These were handsome Med- 
 ford and East-Boston ships, and formed a large fleet. The same firm which 
 founded this line now runs the Warren Line of steamships. Another class 
 of vessels made the long voyages to Riga, Cronstadt, and other Russian 
 ports; carrying sugar and cotton, and bringing back hemp and iron. This 
 trade began as early as 1783, and continued for three-quarters of a century. 
 
 In 1855 the commerce of Boston had reached its height, and 541,644 
 tons of shipping were owned here. The rise of New York as a centre of 
 commerce, the unwise local legislation of Massachusetts, and the depre- 
 dations of rebel privateers, seriously injured the sea-trade of Boston. In 
 1879-80 even the Cunarders were withdrawn from this port. In 1869 not a 
 single steamer sailed from Boston to Europe direct. Of late years the cur- 
 rent of commerce has changed, and now the sailings of steamships for 
 Europe average more than one a day. In 1880 there were 196 steamships 
 from Boston to Liverpool alone, upwards of 40 each to Glasgow and Lon- 
 don, and 37 to Hull and West Hartlepool. Various new branches of com- 
 merce have arisen under these new conditions. In 1875 the first shipment 
 of cattle was made to England, and this trade now amounts to $10,000,000 
 a year. Low rates in freighting cotton hence have caused its export value 
 to rise from $135,000 in 1870 to over $7,000,000 in 1881. The total value of 
 Boston's exports in 1850 was $7,000,000; in 1881 it had risen to $72,000,000. 
 The great merchants and railway strategists of the port claim that it has bet- 
 ter terminal facilities than any other American city ; and are firm in the faith 
 that it will never occupy a relative position lower than its present one, that 
 of second port of the United States. Between 1869 and 1881 inclusive the 
 foreign vessels entering the port brought in upwards of a quarter of a mil- 
 lion of immigrants. Now such enormous steamships as the Parisian and 
 the Hooper frequently enter the harbor, — vessels so huge that all the mem- 
 bers of Gov. Winthrop's colony could be carried upon one of them, and yet 
 its decks would be lonely. Professor Mitchell reported that Boston has the 
 best harbor in the world, perfectly land-locked, and shielded from heavy 
 winds, and possessing many advantages, besides being a day's sail nearer 
 Europe than New York is. There is, therefore, great reason to hope that 
 Nantasket Roads may become an avenue of nations, the portal of a grander 
 Venice of the West, the kindly rival of the New-York Narrows. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 255 
 
 Many years ago, in an attempt to break a galling blockade by British 
 men-of-war, the great naval battle took place between the Chesapeake and 
 Shannon, on June 1, 1813, which resulted in one of the best ships of the 
 American navy being conquered and carried away within sight of Boston 
 Light. 
 
 While the Shannon, 38, Capt. Broke, had been cruising off Boston 
 Harbor, her crew received careful drilling and practice in target-firing, and 
 reached a high and efficient state of discipline. The U. S. frigate Chesa- 
 peake, 38, Capt. Lawrence, lay in port, and Broke sent in a manly challenge 
 for her to come out and fight; but, before this missive reached its destina- 
 tion, the American ship was already standing out to sea. The Shannon had 
 330 men and 52 guns (firing a broadside of 550 pounds); the Chesapeake 
 had 379 men and 50 guns (542 pounds in a broadside). The crew of the 
 American vessel were, however, unpractised, half-drilled, and dissatisfied 
 on account of not receiving prize-money due. At one o'clock the Chesa- 
 peake rounded Boston Light, and stood off after her antagonist. About 
 four hours later she hauled up, nearly off Marblehead, and soon opened 
 fire on the approaching American. The action immediately became very 
 hot, and broadside after broadside roared from either ship, at close quarters. 
 In the first six minutes the Chesapeake suffered terribly in men and mate- 
 rial ; the decks were almost hidden by flying splinters, hammocks, and other 
 debris; Lieut. Ludlow had fallen ; and Capt. Lawrence, mortally wounded 
 by Lieut. Law of the British marines, had been carried below, exclaiming, 
 " Don't give up the ship ! " Twelve minutes after the first gun was fired, 
 Capt. Broke boarded the Chesapeake, followed by 20 men ; and after some 
 hot fighting with scattered parties of American sailors and marines (the 
 Portuguese and other foreigners who composed a part of the crew having 
 fled between decks), the stars and stripes were hauled down. 
 
 The battle lasted just fifteen minutes, during which the Chesapeake was 
 struck by 362 cannon-shot, and lost 61 men killed and 85 wounded ; and 
 the Shannon received 158 cannon-shot, and lost 83 men in killed and 
 wounded. Capt. Broke, who had been severely wounded, was made a baro- 
 net; and the chief American officers, Lawrence and Ludlow, were buried at 
 Halifax with military honors. The hills and headlands from Hull to Mar- 
 blehead had been covered by thousands upon thousands of spectators of 
 this mighty naval duel ; and when the British flag was seen rising through 
 the cannon-smoke to the mast-head of the Chesapeake, a profound grief 
 took possession of the assembled multitudes, who had never doubted that 
 the gallant Lawrence would bring the Britisher captive into Boston Bay. 
 Not long after the close of the war, of which this was so sad an episode, 
 new departments of commerce came into existence ; and it was but a few 
 years before steam-vessels appeared in the Bay. 
 
256 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 After glancing briefly at a few historic, naval, and commercial facts, let 
 us take a purely contemplative view, in the little poem on Boston Harbor, 
 written by Robert Southey, once Poet-laureate of England. The lines 
 record, in placid Lake-country measures, the descriptions qf the scene given 
 to Southey by his Boston friend George Ticknor. 
 
 i{ Scattered within the peaceful bay 
 
 Many a fair isle and islet lay, 
 And rocks and banks which threatened there 
 
 No peril to the mariner. 
 The shores which bent around were gay 
 With maizols, and with pastures green, 
 And rails and hedge-row trees between 
 
 And fields for harvest white, 
 And dwellings sprinkled up and down; 
 And round about the clustered town, 
 
 Which rose in sunshine bright, 
 Was many a sheltered garden spot, 
 And many a sunny orchard plot, 
 
 And bowers which might invite 
 The studious man to take his seat 
 Within their quiet, cool retreat, 
 
 When noon was at its height. 
 No heart that was at ease, I ween, 
 Could gaze on that surrounding scene 
 
 Without a calm delight." 
 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson shall have the last and highest word in this 
 chapter of mosaics and fragments : — 
 
 '■ The rocky nook with its hill-tops three 
 Looked eastward from the farms, 
 
 And twice each day the flowing sea 
 Took Boston in its arms ; 
 The men of yore were stout and poor, 
 And sailed for bread to every shore. 
 
 : The waves that rocked them on the deep 
 
 To them their secret told : 
 Said the winds that sung the lads to sleep, 
 ' Like us be free and bold ! ' 
 The honest waves refuse to slaves 
 The empire of the ocean caves." 
 
 The Outer Reefs. 
 
KING'S /I AX J) HOOK OF BOSTON //AA7>'OA' 
 
 '■S7 
 
 3Eirursions in iHassadjttsetts -Bag* 
 
 THE EMPIRE STATE. — PROVINCETOWN AND THE ISLES OF SHOALS.— 
 THE MAGNIFICENT TRIP. 
 
 NE of the chief factors in the summer pleasure of 
 Boston is the immense three-decked steamer Empire 
 State, of 1,700 tons, with a length of 320 feet, and 80 
 feet beam, and spacious and beautiful saloons, dining- 
 rooms, promenade-decks, and other luxurious appurte- 
 nances, besides the more important items of a hull of 
 almost imperishable live-oak, new boilers, a highly dis- 
 ciplined crew, and a vigilant and veteran captain. The 
 
 hours of sailing are so arranged that people who live within forty or fifty miles 
 
 of Boston ma)- breakfast at home, take a sea-voyage of a hundred miles, and 
 
 have supper at home, all on the same da}-. The expense of the journey is 
 
 much reduced by the commutation of 
 
 rates on the suburban railways. The 
 
 trips to the North Shore, the Shoals, the 
 
 Merrimac River, Provincetown, 
 
 Highland Light, and the Fishing 
 
 Grounds, take all day ; the steamer 
 
 leaving at 10 A.M., and returning 
 
 by 7 p.m. The fare is one dol- 
 lar. The voyage in the Bay takes 
 
 from 2.30 to 5.30 p.m. ; and the 
 
 moonlight excursions take from 8 
 
 to 10.45 P - M - > the fare on each of 
 
 these two being fifty cents. The 
 
 boat does not go out unless the 
 
 weather is favorable. Her pier is 
 
 at Battery Wharf (379 Commer- 
 cial Street), on the route of the 
 
 horse-cars to Chelsea Ferry and 
 
 East Boston. So perfect is the 
 
 discipline maintained on the boat 
 
 that disturbances are unknown, 
 
 and many parties of ladies and children go out on the excursions without 
 
 escort, quite secure against annoyance. On the all-day trips dinners are 
 
 Captain J. M. Phillips. 
 
258 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 served on board, with the greatest possible variety of delicacies, at reason- 
 able prices. The chief owners of this huge floating palace are two broth- 
 ers, of Old-Colony extraction, Messrs. E. Burt Phillips (of the American 
 Steam Gauge Co.) and J. M. Phillips, the latter of whom is its captain ; 
 and the business manager is Mr. Harry A. M'Glenen, who is favorably 
 known to the people from his connection with the Boston Theatre. 
 
 The favorite route taken by the Empire State is that which has become 
 widely known as " The Magnificent 
 Trip,' 1 leading down the beautiful 
 harbor, by the three guardian forts, 
 the municipal buildings on Deer 
 Island, Boston Light, and the adja- 
 
 cent rocky islets, and out into the 
 open Bay. Here it passes a long 
 panoramic line of famous summer 
 resorts and cities, — Lynn, with the 
 rocky heights of Saugus and the 
 Middlesex Fells beyond; far-projecting Nahant, with Egg Rock off its 
 northern point; the patrician red-roofed villas and hotels of Swampscott; 
 the gray old legend-haunted towns of Marblehead and Salem, with their 
 spires and towers wreathed with imperishable chaplets of poetry and ro- 
 mance; and the populous coasts of Beverly Farms, Manchester-by-the-Sea, 
 and Magnolia, beloved by artists, with the great Essex woods outlined 
 against the horizon, and the black reef of Norman's Woe in the sea. 
 Next the white houses of Gloucester appear, and in its harbor lie many 
 vessels of America's foremost fishing-fleet. The steamer holds its steady 
 
AVA'G'S J/ANDBOOk' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 259 
 
 way past Eastern Point; around the tall twin granite light-houses on Thach- 
 er's Island; off the granite quarries of Rockport and the summer-hotels of 
 
 Pigeon Cove; and around into Ipswich 
 Bay, to the lovely shores of Annisquam, 
 and within sight of the hills of Newbury. 
 Beyond the compass of this journey 
 are two other trips which the Empire 
 State frequently makes, — one reaching 
 to the mouth of the Merrimac River, 
 famous in the ballads of Whittier and 
 other poets, and in full view of the an- 
 cient sea-city of Newburyport; and the 
 other, passing far beyond this point, and 
 terminating at the Isles of Shoals, 
 those wonderful surf-beaten crags, 
 far out in the ocean, with their great 
 summer-hotels and the well-known 
 cottage of Celia Thaxter. The voy- 
 age across the Bay to Provincetown 
 is full of interest, and attracts many 
 
 Burt Phillips 
 
 people who desire to get well-nigh 
 out of sight of land. After passing 
 the Light, the steamer heads boldly 
 out to sea, with the South and North 
 Shores unfolding on the right and left 
 quarters, and after a time the long low 
 line of outer Cape Cod rises from the 
 level eastern horizon. A landing is 
 made at the quaint old mari- ,„.>- 
 
 time village of Provincetown, V\ 
 
 which has been so long famous ;; • , 
 
 in the annals of New England, »V - 
 
 and has an added interest this '•'> - 
 
 season in being the head-quar- 
 ters of Admiral Cooper and the 
 North-Atlantic squadron, in- 
 cluding the Tennessee, Al- 
 liance, Vandalia, and Enter- 
 prise. Occasionally the vessel 
 passes around Cape Cod to 
 give tourists a view of the cliffs which face the open sea, towards Europe ; 
 and runs down as far as the famous Highland Licrht. 
 
 Harry A. M'Glenen, the Business Manager. 
 
260 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Once a week the Empire State goes out on a fishing-excursion, running 
 out to the Middle Ground, which is between the capes of Massachusetts, 
 about twenty-five miles from Boston Light. The fortunate person who 
 secures the largest fish receives a dollar for each pound of its weight. 
 
 The usual afternoon trip in the Bay is patronized by many thousands of 
 tourists, and affords the best attainable views of the North and South 
 Shores. The course is laid along the outside of Nantasket Beach and the 
 Cohasset shores to Minot's Light, giving an admirable prospect of the 
 
 V'£»/.,:\ii 
 
 MW 
 
 Battery Wharf, Boston. 
 
 hotels, headlands, and villages, and of the great stone light-house, rising 
 directly from the lonely sea. From thence the steamer runs northward 
 nearly to Marblehead Neck, and returns along the North Shore. 
 
 On moonlight evenings the steamer leaves her pier at about eight o'clock, 
 and runs out past Boston Light, and along the front of Nantasket Beach, 
 which is at such times illuminated with bonfires, electric lights, and rockets, 
 and presents a scene of wonderful brilliancy and Oriental weirdness. On 
 the return voyage the saloon is used for dancing, the best of orchestral music 
 being given by the band ; and by eleven o'clock the boat reaches her pier. 
 
KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON JI ARBOR, 
 
 26l 
 
 & &ca=Erqj to tjje lEastfoartf* 
 
 THE EASTERN COAST TO ROCKLAND, BANGOR, AND MOUNT DESERT.— 
 BOSTON AND BANGOR STEAMSHIP COMPANY. 
 
 S early as the year 1823 there was a regular line of 
 steamers between Boston and Bath, and thence to 
 Boothbay, Camden, Belfast, Sedgwick, and Eastport; 
 and ten years later the Boston and Bangor Steamship 
 Company began its operations, its first boat having 
 been the Bangor, which was sent to the Mediterranean 
 in 1842, to carry Mohammedan pilgrims, and after- 
 wards became a Turkish frigate. Soon afterward 
 Captain Memnemon Sanford established a new line 
 between Bangor and Boston; which continued under his name until 1882, 
 with no serious interruption except during the Secession War, when most 
 of its boats were chartered for military puiyjoses. In 1882 the corporate 
 name of the "Sanford Steamship Company" was changed to the "Boston 
 and Bangor Steamship Company," of which Mr. William H. Hill is Presi- 
 dent; Mr. William H. Hill, jun., Treasurer; and Capt. James Littlefield, 
 Superintendent. 
 
 The Penobscot, launched at East Boston in 1S82, is the handsomest and 
 stanchest steamship east of Boston, and has luxurious accommodations for 
 560 first-class passengers, and ample protection against perils of fire or 
 storm. There are spacious saloons, covered with Wilton carpet, and fur- 
 nished in black-walnut; six score of airy state-rooms, besides several bridal 
 suites ; breezy promenade-decks, stairways of polished oak, lines of brilliant 
 chandeliers, and a great variety of ingenious and powerful machinery, for 
 different purposes and emergencies. The wheels are provided with Holland 
 Patent Paddles, which obviate the noise and tremor usually noticed on side- 
 wheel steamers. Boston Harbor is justly proud of this noblest of its 
 children. The Katahdin is a fine steamship of 1,234 tons, built at New 
 York in 1863, at a cost of $250,000, and with engines of 400 horse-power. 
 It has 70 state-rooms and 210 cabin-berths. The Cambridge is a 1500-ton 
 vessel, built at New York in 1867, with accommodations for 450 passen 
 gers, commodious saloons and state-rooms, and an abundance of life-boats. 
 This is also a favorite route to Moosehead Lake and other points in the 
 Maine wilderness which are reached by the afternoon trains from Bangor, 
 and to the mining districts east of Penobscot Bay. A steamship of this 
 
262 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 line leaves Boston every week-day, returning from Bangor the following 
 clay at 1 1 a.m. The captains, pilots, and other officers of the fleet are all 
 old and experienced mariners, familiar with every mile of the coast, and 
 vigilant to a fault. The fares are very low: the rate from Boston to Rock- 
 land and return being but $4.00; to Bangor and return, $6.00; to Moose- 
 head Lake (Mount Kineo House) and return, $12.00; to Bar Harbor and 
 return, $8.50. The wharf is reached by the East-Boston horse-cars. 
 
 The New Steamship "Penobscot," Boston and Bangor S. S. Co. 
 
 The steamships of this line leave Lincoln's Wharf (after Oct. 1, Fos- 
 ter's Wharf), Boston, aj 5 p.m., and move down the harbor with stateliness 
 and speed, looking down on the many vessels, steamers, coasters, and 
 yachts which flit in and out among the islands on every side. The course 
 is the same which is described on pp. 21-27, down to Deer Island, where 
 it turns to the north-east, and runs out through Broad Sound, into Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, with the ragged and rocky Brewster islands and ledges on 
 the right, and the beaches of Winthrop and Lynn on the left. The hills 
 and islands, villages and summer-hotels, of the North Shore are in sight, — 
 Nahant and Swampscott, Manchester and Magnolia; and the tall stone 
 light-houses on Thacher's Island, off the end of Cape Ann, are passed, 
 close at hand, before the summer sunset comes. The course is laid thence 
 across the Gulf of Maine to Monhegan, whose light cheers the darkness of 
 early morning. At dawn the vessel passes White Head, and enters Penob- 
 scot Bay, with craggy islands on the right, including the famous Dix Island, 
 
A'/NG'S HANDBOOK' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 263 
 
 with whose granite many Government buildings have been constructed. Soon 
 after rounding the picturesque promontory of Owl's Head, the vessel reaches 
 Rockland, where it connects with the Mount-Desert boat. Thence it goes 
 northward up the bay, toward the noble blue mountains, and touches at Cam- 
 den, a sort of maritime North Conway, under the lofty peaks of Megunticook. 
 The next landing (in summer) is at Northport, a famous camp-meeting 
 ground, whose newspaper bears the appropriate name of " The Sea Breeze." 
 Beyond this place of tabernacles, the steamer emerges from the thronging 
 islands of Penobscot Bay, and runs across a lake-like inner harbor, of large 
 proportions, to the handsome little maritime city of Belfast, whose houses 
 rise in imposing lines along the hill at the mouth of the Passagassawaukeag 
 River. This locality was settled in 1770, by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, 
 
 Lincoln's Wharf, Eoston. 
 
 who were driven away by the British troops nine years later. It is eighteen 
 miles from Camden. After leaving Belfast, occasional glimpses of historic 
 old Castine are obtained on the right, across the bay, with its memories and 
 traditions of the Plymouth Pilgrims, Cardinal Richelieu's gay French sol- 
 diers, the wars of D'Aulney and La Tour, the feudal rule of the Baron de 
 St. Castin. the long occupation by garrisons of red-coated British infantry, 
 and the annihilation of a great American fleet by a half-dozen plucky English 
 frigates. At five miles above Belfast, the boat rounds in under the lee of 
 Brigadier Island, and stops at the maritime village of Searsport, on the vast 
 domain once owned by David Sears of Boston. Once more the steamer 
 works out into the bay, with the long Castine peninsula on the eastward. 
 The next stopping-place is Fort Point, with a great summer-hotel looking 
 down across the distant islands and over the blue waters of the upper bay. 
 
264 
 
 KING 'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 Here are the ruins of Fort Povvnal, which was built in 1758 by Governor 
 Pownal of Massachusetts, at the cost of the British Parliament, to defend 
 the entrance to the Penobscot River. Seventeen years later, when Yankee- 
 dom became rebellious, the British frigate Canseau sailed up here; and her 
 blue-jackets destroyed the works and levelled the parapets of the best fort 
 in Maine. 
 
 After leaving Fort Point, the course lies up the famous Penobscot River, 
 whose sources lie hundreds of miles away in the deer-haunted wilderness, 
 among bright lakes where no navigation but that of canoes has yet been 
 attempted. Swinging round through the rapid currents of the Bucksport 
 Narrows, the great vessel advances to the wharf at Bucksport, a beautiful 
 old village of farmers, fishermen, and shipbuilders, famous also among the 
 followers of Wesley for its great East-Maine Conference Seminary. On 
 
 Steamship " Katahdin," Boston and Bangor S. S. Co. 
 
 the opposite shore rise the frowning walls and heavy batteries of Fort Knox, 
 a modern work erected by the Government to seal up the Penobscot River 
 against hostile ships, and protect the vast shipping and lumbering interests 
 of Bangor. 
 
 About five miles above is the landing of Winterport, at the head of 
 winter navigation. The river grows more narrow and sinuous, with pic- 
 turesque highlands near its banks, and the scattered farmhouses of the 
 hardy country-people of Maine. Many vessels are passed in the stream, 
 bound in and out; and the indications of a prosperous commerce increase 
 on every side. A short stop is made at Hampden, which the British fleet 
 captured in 1814, after a most wearisome attempt to catch the flying militia 
 regiments, drawn up here to give battle. The United-States corvette John 
 Adams was, destroyed during this farcical engagement. A few miles beyond, 
 
A'/NG'S IIANDBOOA' OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 265 
 
 the steamer reaches (at about noon) her terminal port, the great lumber 
 metropolis of Bangor, twenty leagues from the sea, and crowning a line of 
 graceful hills with the homes of upwards of twenty thousand people. Here 
 the enterprising tourist may take train for the chief points in central and 
 western Maine and the Maritime Provinces. 
 
 The swift and stanch steamer Mottut Desert (belonging to the Boston 
 and Bangor S. S. Co.) leaves Rockland early in the morning, after the arrival 
 of the boat from Boston, and stretches across Penobscot Bay to the central 
 group of islands, which it traverses through the charming scenery of Fox- 
 Island Thoroughfare, touching at several quaint maritime villages, and giving 
 
 Steamship f ' Cambridge," Boston and Bangor S. S. Co 
 
 noble views of the Camden Mountains, the remote seaward cliffs of Isle au 
 Haut. and the bold peaks of Mount Desert. After crossing Placentia Bay 
 it visits Bass Harbor and South-West Harbor, rounds the bold eastern head- 
 land of Mount Desert, and runs up Frenchman's Bay, by a long line of 
 spray-whitened cliffs and many a costly villa, to Bar Harbor, the eastern 
 Newport, which is reached in time for dinner (the distance being 65 miles). 
 From thence the course extends to the head of the bay, to Sullivan. This 
 trip across Penobscot Bay is one of the most interesting in America, rich 
 in every variety of marine and coast scenery, light-houses and beacons, 
 straits and bays, and grand mountains, with the electric sea-air sweeping 
 over all. The Mount Desert is almost new, and has a wide renown for her 
 speed and her seaworthy qualities. The greater part of her voyage leads 
 
266 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 through a labyrinth of islands and rocks, along narrow passages swept by 
 the salt tides, and across sheltered bays and fiords, giving the greatest 
 imaginable variety of scenic effects, and a journey full of keen interest. 
 The strange little maritime villages at which she stops — like Green's Land- 
 ing and Swan's Island — have great attractions for all who delight in out- 
 oi-i he-way localities, and civilization growing under difficulties of topographv 
 
 and climate; and form a wonderful 
 i 1 ] i| i j contrast to the modern palaces and 
 
 huge hotels of Bar Harbor, 
 with their fashionable com- 
 panies and ceaseless fes- 
 tivities. 
 
 The eastward voyage on 
 these great steamships 
 affords a very refresh- 
 ing change from the 
 summer temperature of 
 Boston and the inland 
 and southern cities, and 
 removes one, in two or 
 three hours, from the 
 torrid zone to the cool 
 air of the ocean, en- 
 riched by the intense 
 vitality which comes 
 pulsing in from the dis- 
 tant plains of the outer Atlantic. To leave behind the heated pavements 
 and walls, the mephitic drainage, and the myriad noises, of the town, and 
 pass out into these vast quiet spaces of the sea, with pure and bracing 
 air on every side, fascinating views, and no care but that relating to the 
 coming dinner-hour, affords a change of scene and of life, which, however 
 brief, is rich in physical and mental benefit; and he must be a very un- 
 reasonable American who could return from such a voyage without feeling 
 himself a better man. 
 
 Foster's Wharf, Boston. 
 
KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 267 
 
 Utctorta's Manti antr tjje Belgian Ikacfjes, 
 
 A NOTABLE BOSTON SHIPPING AND COMMISSION HOUSE. — THE WHITE- 
 STAR LINE. — THE RED-STAR LINE. — OTHER PACKET LINES. 
 
 N a long and honorable career, the firm of C. L. Bartlett & 
 Co., ship-brokers, steamship-agents, and commission-merchants, 
 115 State Street, has won a place among the oldest and most 
 reputable of the Boston shipping-houses. It was founded in 
 1849 by Mr. C. L. Bartlett (whose rural mansion is spoken of 
 on p. 116); and its present head is Mr. Edward A. Adams, who has had 
 many years of experience in dealing with ships and cargoes and seafaring 
 men. This firm enjoys a large and growing maritime business, receiving 
 consignments of vessels and merchandise, chartering and despatching ves- 
 sels, loading and discharging cargoes, collecting freights, making advances 
 on consignments, and in many other ways facilitating the movements of the 
 great commercial mechanism of America and England. A very prominent 
 department of their trade is the purchase and shipment of goods on foreign 
 orders, for which their extensive American and foreign connections, and 
 their long experience in the business, give peculiar advantages. 
 
 Messrs. C. L. Bartlett & Co. are agents for several important lines of 
 steamships and sailing packets, bound outward from the American coast to 
 all parts of the world ; and the rates and accommodations for passengers 
 and freight may be ascertained at their office. Among their packet-lines is 
 the favorite one which runs between Boston and the Azores, that distant 
 oceanic archipelago of perennial beauty, of late years so much visited. 
 
 The same firm also holds the agency of the Atlas Mail Steamship Line, 
 running from New York to Jamaica, Hayti, Porto Rico, Venezuela, Colom- 
 bia, Nicaragua, and the famous ports of the Spanish Main and South 
 Pacific : the steamships to Havana and Mexico ; and the Pacific Mail 
 Steamship Company for California, the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, 
 New Zealand, and Australia. Outside of their ship-brokerage and commis- 
 sion trade, an important branch of the firm's business is in booking passen- 
 gers and freight for Europe, by the famous White-Star and Red-Star Lines. 
 
 The White-Star Line, after ten years of successful operation, has come 
 to be regarded as unsurpassed in speed, safety, and comfort. Their fleet 
 includes the Britannic, Germanic, Adriatic, Celtic, Baltic, and Republic, all 
 of them magnificent British-built vessels, with their luxurious saloons, state- 
 rooms, smoking-rooms, etc., in the centre of the ships, and hence to a 
 
268 
 
 KING'S HANDBOOK OF BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
 remarkable degree free from motion and away from the annoying vibration 
 of the screw. The passage has many times been made in less than 7^ 
 days, and will average about 8 days, to Oueenstown. Notwithstanding this 
 high and uniform rate of speed, safety is insured by a careful following of 
 Lieut. Maury's lane routes, in latitudes free from ice and fog ; by strict and 
 solicitous cautionary orders to the officers ; by perfect discipline on the part 
 of the crews ; and by an ingenious and efficient system of water-tight and 
 fire-proof compartments, with self-closing doors. The grand saloon of 
 these steamers is 75 feet long and 45 feet wide, with windows at the 
 sides ; and the spacious state-rooms are at either end of the saloon, both 
 forward and amidships, and have electric bells and modern conveniences. 
 
 The most serious trouble with the White-Star steamships is, that the 
 voyage is so soon completed ; and as they round into the Cove of Cork, or 
 
 A Steamship of the White-Star Line. 
 
 run up St. George's Channel and into the Mersey, to great Liverpool, the 
 American traveller hardly cares to leave their delightful accommodations, 
 even to seek the towers of Westminster, or the gray walls of Rome. 
 
 The Belgian Royal Mail steamers of the Red-Star Line began to run 
 in 1873; an d their new British-built vessels, the Waesland, Rhynland, and 
 Belgenland, are among the largest and fastest passenger-boats on the At- 
 lantic, with state-rooms and saloons in the centre, where the least motion is 
 felt, and provided with all the modern luxuries of travel. One of the seven 
 Red-Star ships sails from New York (Jersey City) every Saturday, and in ten 
 days runs into the River Scheldt, up which she advances for several hours, 
 by ancient Flushing and the historic islands of Holland, until the vast lace- 
 like spire of Antwerp Cathedral closes the vista on the east. This is much 
 the best way for travellers bound for the Continent ; since it lands them, after 
 a direct voyage, within a few hours' railway ride of Brussels and Paris, and 
 on the grand route by Mechlin and Cologne to Switzerland and Italy. 
 
MACULLAR, PARKER, &> COMPANY. 
 
 XI 
 
 Notctoortlju Boston jFtrms* 
 
 MACULLAR, PARKER, & COMPANV.-JOHN C. PAIGE. — HOGG, BROWN, & TAYLOR. 
 — LEWANDO'S FRENCH DYE-HOUSE. 
 
 MACULLAR, PARKER, & 
 COMPANY'S name must 
 always be included in a list of 
 eminent Boston firms ; for their 
 great clothing and piece-goods 
 establishment at No. 400 Wash- 
 ington Street is one of the most 
 noteworthy examples of pro- 
 gressive and creditable industry 
 to be found in any city* in 
 America. It is only a little 
 more than thirty years ago that 
 the business was started in a 
 very small way; and yet to- 
 day the firm give employment 
 constantly the year round to 
 upwards of 600 hands, men 
 and women, in one of the 
 neatest manufacturing estab- 
 lishments in the world, — one, 
 too, in which all reasonable 
 provision is made for the com- 
 fort and health of all the em- 
 ployes. The magnificent and 
 commodious building fronts on 
 two streets, — on Washington at 
 No. 400, and on Hawley at No. 81. No adequate idea of its size can be 
 had from a view on the street. Only by passing from one end to the other 
 on all the seven floors can the visitor form a correct impression of its 
 magnitude and attractiveness. The floor surface alone amounts to 70,000 
 square feet, including the space occupied for the engines, boilers, pumps, 
 ventilating apparatus, and carpenter's and machinist's shops. The building 
 is used solely for the manufacturing and retailing of clothing, and the im- 
 porting and jobbing of piece-goods. The clothing made is sold at retail 
 only by this firm, and in cut, style, trimmings, finish, and goods ranks equal 
 
 Macullar, Parker, & Company's Entrance. 
 
Xll 
 
 MACULLAR, PARKER, &> COMPANY. 
 
 to that made by the leading merchant-tailors. No person is likely ever to 
 enter into this establishment without being able to find a proper fit in 
 thoroughly trustworthy clothing; and every one who patronizes this firm 
 knows that the "one-price" system is positively invariable under all cir- 
 cumstances. It is 
 the constant aim 
 of Macullar, 
 Parker, & Com- 
 pany to furnish 
 the best and most 
 satisfactory gar- 
 ments that can be 
 furnished for the 
 amount charged 
 for them. It is 
 an inviolable rule 
 of the house to 
 satisfy a person, 
 or else not to take 
 his patronage. 
 No false or mis- 
 leading statement 
 in any particular 
 is ever allowed to 
 be made. People 
 who visit or pat- 
 ronize this firm 
 are never impor- 
 tuned to make 
 purchases, nor is 
 any one ever in- 
 veigled into buy- 
 ing things that 
 are not wanted ; 
 the constant aim 
 being to find out 
 what the people 
 want, and to sup- 
 ply them accord- 
 
 Washington-street Front of Maculla 
 
 & Company 
 
 ingly. The custom department of Macullar, Parker, & Company 
 constitutes the largest merchant-tailoring establishment, and the department 
 for the importing and jobbing of woollens and other piece-goods also forms 
 the foremost house in its line, in New England. 
 
JOIIA C. PAIGE, INSURANCE AGENT. 
 
 JOHN C. PAIGE is the leading' fire-insurance agent in Boston, — doing 
 the largest business, and representing the greatest amount of capital. 
 Moreover, his offices, at 20 Kilby Street, are unsurpassed for their elegance, 
 convenience, and arrangement. Twelve years ago Mr. Paige was recognized 
 by the profession throughout this country as a skilful adjuster of fire-losses, 
 and as an experienced general agent. Duties incident to the Great Fire of 
 1S72 brought him to Boston, where he subsequently decided to establish a 
 local insurance-agency in connection with his general agency business; and 
 to-day, by reason 
 of his great abil- 
 ity, varied experi- 
 ence, e x t r e m e 
 popularity, and in- 
 domitable energy, 
 he has placed 
 himself in the 
 foremost rank of 
 the underwriters 
 in the United 
 States. The com- 
 panies he repre- 
 sents are the 
 " Imperial Fire of 
 London, Eng.," 
 " Northern Assur- 
 ance of London, 
 Eng.," " City of 
 London Fire of 
 London, Eng.," 
 "Orient of Hart- 
 ford Conn." J ohn C ' Pal ° e ' 20 Kilb y street 
 " Hoffman Fire of New York," " Tradesmen's Fire of New York," 
 " Metropole of Paris, France," and the " Reassurances Generales of Paris, 
 France." The gross assets of these companies amount to almost sixty 
 million dollars. This agency's business extends throughout the United 
 States ; for Mr. Paige is the American general agent for the City of London 
 Fire, the Metropole, and the Reassurances Generales companies. In the 
 Boston office are upwards of fifty male and female employes. John C. Paige 
 personally is one of those genial, whole-souled men, with whom it is always 
 a pleasure to do business. " Nothing mean about him," never was more 
 fitly applied to any man ; and this characteristic is evidenced by his every 
 action in public and private life. 
 
XIV 
 
 HOGG, BROWN, c5r= TAYLOR, DRY GOODS. 
 
 HOGG, BROWN, & TAYLOR occupy the large granite building on 
 the north-west corner of Washington Street and Temple Place, including 
 Nos. 477 to 481 Washington Street, and Ncs. 60 to 70 Temple Place. The 
 building is 100 by 84 feet. It has on its four floors and basement a floor 
 surface of about an acre. It was built in 1863-64, expressly for this firm. 
 Its plain and substantial-looking exterior is an indication of the reliable and 
 stanch firm that own and occupy the whole building. In 1857 John Hogg, 
 George B. Brown, and John Taylor, under the firm name of Hogg, Brown, 
 & Taylor, which has ever since remained unchanged, succeeded to the 
 business of Kinmonth & Co., who at that time were everywhere known as 
 
 Hogg, Brown, & Taylor, Corner of Washington Street and Temple Place. 
 
 one of the foremost dry-goods houses in New England. The present firm 
 have not only maintained the reputation of their predecessors, but have 
 constantly advanced ; and to-day they are known as one of the largest and 
 best houses in the dry-goods trade in this country. They are wholesale and 
 retail dealers, as well as extensive importers, of dry goods and all articles 
 usually found in the largest dry-goods establishments. A characteristic 
 feature of this firm is its quiet way of transacting its business. Hardly ever 
 is its advertisement seen : and yet the spacious quarters are crowded at all 
 hours of the day ; for the ladies of Boston and its vicinity know that they can 
 always rely on Hogg, Brown, & Taylor for the best and most fashionable 
 goods at equitable prices. In the building there are about 200 employe's ; 
 and, besides these, many persons are employed elsewhere for making ladies' 
 wear. The death of Mr. Taylor in April, 1875, and the retirement of Mr. 
 Brown in the following July, leaves the present firm consisting of John 
 Hogg, Henry R. Beal, Albert H. Higgins, and Alexander Henderson. 
 
LEWANDO'S FRENCH DYE- HOUSE, BOSTON. 
 
 XV 
 
 LEWANDO'S FRENCH DYE-HOUSE is rapidly becoming one of 
 the best-known and most useful establishments in Boston. The extensive 
 works are at Watertown, Mass., on the banks of the Charles River, and 
 constantly employ upwards of one hundred persons. The apparatus in- 
 cludes many odd pieces of machinery for operating the valuable processes, 
 peculiar alone to this establishment. The chief work is the dyeing and 
 cleansing of every kind of textile fabric. The dyeing is in all colors pro- 
 duced at any dye-house in this country, and is done on piece-goods and 
 garments of every size, shape, or quality. The cleansing is by an exclusive 
 French process known as ; 'dry cleansing," enabling this firm to cleanse all 
 fabrics, dresses, gentlemen's clothes, silks, gloves, laces, ribbons, curtains, 
 
 feathers, shawls, and all 
 similar goods, without in- 
 juring or even taking to 
 pieces the garments. By 
 the processes in use at 
 Lewando's dye-house, the 
 most perfect dyeing and 
 cleansing can be obtained. 
 The managers, too, are most 
 enterprising people, and 
 continually put forth every 
 effort to satisfy their many 
 customers. They make it 
 easy for people to patronize 
 them by having offices not 
 only at Watertown, and at 
 the main office, 17 Temple 
 Place, Boston, but also at 
 270 Westminster Street, 
 Providence; 2 Park Square, 
 Lynn, Mass. ; and 2206 
 
 Lewando's Dye-House, 17 Temple Place. Washington Street High- 
 
 lands, and 33 1 A Broadway, South Boston. Besides having these several 
 offices, they send their wagons to any address to get and return large or 
 small bundles of goods to be cleansed or dyed. A specialty is made of 
 delivering goods exactly at the time promised, and of charging in all cases 
 only the lowest equitable price. The greatest care is taken to avoid the 
 wrong delivery of goods, or the slightest damage to any work. When there 
 is the slightest doubt of obtaining desired results, the patron is plainly told 
 so in advance. Goods are cleansed and dyed for people in every State in 
 the Union ; and pamphlets telling how to send goods can be had free by 
 addressing Lewando's French Dye-House, 17 Temple Place, Boston. 
 
xvi FORBES CO., ALBERTYPES, LITHOGRAPHS, ETC. 
 
 ORBES IMP GRAPH f l CD 
 
 ". X=> i IUl t ■ ; Y ^-^TrT 
 
 HOGRAPHERS. &l -^ R ^ ^J mim ^ B ^f ^ DE.ONSH.W 
 
 R£ ST 
 
 ~B a stq r\f . 
 
RAND, AVERY, &> CO., PRINTERS. 
 
XVlll 
 
 STANDARD RUBBER CO., OF BOSTON. 
 
 "JL: Z ^ ^.^- ^-M'- SJ ^.^. ^.^. ^ 
 
 ™dard 
 Rubber 
 
 ~ OMP'RY. 
 
 cJAMLS S. Comston 
 
 PREST. 
 
 William H.Hill jr. 
 
 TREAS 
 
 A.W.LQUGEE 
 
 AGENT, 
 
RICHARDSON, ////./., <Sr» CO., BANKERS, BOSTON. XIX 
 
 IGMRDSOR 
 
 Si** 
 
 ILIA^O. 
 
 Brokers, Stockbrokers, 
 
 Of- 
 
 MEMBERS of THE 
 BOSTON* NEWYOBK 
 
 Stock Exch^nces. 
 
 SEEKS . R . R ft /r£irr6m,/w/i/u?£/w//f, 
 
 HENRY VVDQDD ! \ ' JMIT/MO/&, fjVASMMTVK 
 
 FRANK E. JAMES. M ^ n WflWP <Vr , • • , 
 
 GEORGE A. FARLOW. ft 40 W AT ^ to J- -l ne ^J T : 
 
 » •:■ t •;* *i* "?• BOSTON. 
 
ILSLEY &* CO., HATTERS AND FURRIERS. 
 
 AAAA^AAAAAAAAsAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA^^s^^/ 
 
 HUNTING, SHOOTING, BOATING* TOURISTS' HATS*CAPS 
 CLERICAL HATS, OPERA FOLDING HATS, LIVERY HATS 
 * COCKADES, 4 THEATRICAL * FANCY DRESS HATS. 
 LADIES RIDING HATS ^FELT HATS OF EVERY COLOR, *•*» 
 
 %<*•>..-«.• - » * » ~ *> • ■* * 
 
WILLIAMS &> EVERETT, PAINTINGS, FRAMES, ETC. xxi 
 
 Aftr/sr/c FRjtMzs /r spjrc/frjirr: ^ 
 
 vao.isyuaB.ft. ■ 
 
XX11 BOSTON AND ALBANY RAILROAD. 
 
 BOSTON AND ALBANY 
 
 OFFICE, 232 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 THROUGH CAR SERVICE. 
 
 BOSTON TO ALBANY AND THE WEST. 
 
 Mail Train — leaving Boston at 5 a.m., is express to South Framingham, 
 and accommodation thence to Albany ; has through coaches Boston to 
 Albany, arriving there at 1.00 p.m. 
 
 Chicago Express — leaving Boston at 8.30 a.m., has through drawing- 
 room car from Boston to Syracuse, N.Y., arriving there at 7.15 p.m., and 
 connecting with through sleeping-cars for Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, 
 Toledo, and Chicago ; also drawing-room car, Boston to Saratoga. 
 
 First New -York Special — leaving Boston at 11 a.m., has drawing- 
 room cars to Springfield, and coaches Springfield to Albany, arriving there 
 at 6 p.m. 
 
 St. Louis and Cincinnati Express — leaves Boston at 3.00 p.m., runs 
 express to Springfield, arriving at 6.00 p.m., and waits there 30 minutes to 
 give passengers time for supper. Has through sleeping-car, Boston to 
 Buffalo, Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincinnati, also Boston to Indianapolis and 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Pacific Express — leaves Boston at 6.00 p.m. Sleeping-car for Roch- 
 ester, Niagara Falls, Detroit, and Chicago : also sleeping-car for Buffalo, 
 Cleveland, Toledo, and Chicago. (Runs daily.) 
 
 Boston to Hartford, New Haven, and New York. 
 
 Train leaving Boston at 8.30 a.m. has coaches without change from 
 Boston to New York, also drawing-room car to Springfield, and Spring- 
 field to New York, arriving at 4.20 p.m. 
 
 First New -York Special Express — leaving Boston at 11 a.m., has 
 coaches and drawing-room car through to New York without change, 
 arriving at 5.45 P.M. 
 
 Second New -York Special Express — leaving Boston at 4.30 p.m., 
 has coaches and drawing-room cars through to New York without change, 
 arriving at 10.30 p.m. This train is limited to six cars, and is one of the 
 fastest trains in the world. 
 
 Night Express — leaving Boston at 10.30 p.m., has sleeping-cars and 
 coaches through to New York, arriving at 6.25 a.m. (Runs daily.) 
 
 WM. BLISS, E. GALLUP, 
 
 President and General Manager. General Passenger Agent, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
FAU. RIVER IJNE, VIA OLD COLONY RAfl.ROA/). xxiii 
 
 »#«> » »i 
 
 G»»«J o »| 
 
 0»0 o »•■«> » »•« o 0»VE> o 
 
 O*. 
 
 :w york 
 
 lOUTH^WESTi 
 
 eJ.F^.K,ENlDRICK, GEN'L SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 Geo, LCoNftoR^GENl pass; AGT. L.H.P/\L|VIEF\,AGT. boston. 
 
 I 
 
XXIV 
 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
 
 JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., Publishers, 
 
 211 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, 
 
 Publish Illustrated and Standard Works, Fine-Art, Architectural and 
 
 Technical Books, and Books in General Literature, Poetry, Essays, 
 
 Biography, etc., and the latest and best works of 
 
 WILLIAM D. HOWELLS, MARK TWAIN, MRS. F. H. BURNETT, 
 
 GEORGE P. LATHROP, WILLIAM WINTER, ROSE TERRY COOKE, 
 
 JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, MRS. C. E. CLEMENT, BLANCHE W. HOWARD, Etc. 
 
 Memorial History of Boston, 
 1 630- 1 880. 
 
 Justin Winsor, Editor; C. F. Jevvett, Super- 
 intendent. Four volumes, quarto. About 2,500 
 pages. Copiously illustrated with maps, fac- 
 similes, portraits, and views. Prepared by seventy 
 writers of acknowledged ability in their several 
 departments, and rendered homogeneous by their 
 sympathetic co-operation and unity of purpose. 
 Among these are Holmes and Whittier, Adams and 
 Winthrop, Hale and Higginson, Palfrey and Put- 
 nam, Gov. Long and Phillips Brooks, Drake and 
 Trumbull, James F. Clarke and A. P. Peabody. 
 
 GUIDE-BOOKS. 
 
 WHITE MOUNTAINS. NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 MARITIME PROVINCES. MIDDLE STATES. 
 
 400 to 500 pages each, bound in flexible red cloth, 
 scores of maps, $1.50 each. 
 
 " Much the best in America." — N.Y. Tribune. 
 
 " Perfect of their kind." — Congregatioualist. 
 
 " Every whit as good as ' Baedeker.' " — inde- 
 pendent. 
 
 " Not to be excelled." — Boston Journal. 
 
 POCKET-GUIDE TO EUROPE. 
 
 1 vol. 32mo. 6 maps. 460 pages. $1.50. 
 " Infinite riches in little room." — N.Y. Mail. 
 
 A LARGE LINE OF 
 
 HELIOTYPE ENGRAVINGS, 
 
 from Masterpieces of Art, printed on fine plate- 
 paper (19 x 24 inches) and sold for 50 cents each. 
 On exhibition in the HELIOTYPE ART GAL- 
 LERY, 213 Tremont Street. 
 Descriptive Catalogues sent free to applicants. 
 
 THE AMERICAN ARCHITECT 
 
 AND BUILDING NEWS. 
 
 A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Architecture, 
 Construction, Decoration, and the Fine Arts. 
 
 Terms — Per year, $7.50, or, if paid in advance, 
 $6.00. For six months, $3.50. For the twelve 
 monthly numbers, $1.75. 
 
 The Round-Robin Series. 
 
 A new series of anonymous novels by the best 
 writers. i6mo. $1.00. Now ready: A Name- 
 less Nobleman, A Lesson in Love, The 
 Georgians, Patty's Perversities, Homoselle, 
 Damen's Ghost, Rosemary and Rue, Madame 
 Lucas, A Tallahassee Girl, Dorothea, The 
 Desmond Hundred, Leone. 
 
 Famous New Books on Travel. 
 
 AMONG THE AZORES. By Lyman H. 
 
 Weeks. 
 A PICKWICKIAN PILGRIMAGE. By J. R. 
 
 G. Hassard. 
 JAPANESE EPISODES. By E. H. House. 
 SOUTH-SEA SKETCHES. By Mrs. M. V. 
 
 Dahlgren. 
 THE TRIP TO ENGLAND. By William 
 
 Winter. 
 BRETON FOLK. By Henry Blackburn. 
 
 Very Popular New Novels. 
 
 A REVEREND IDOL. Seventh Editon. 
 
 A PALADIN OF FINANCE. By E. W. 
 
 Jenkins. 
 IN THE DISTANCE. By G. P. Lathrop. 
 THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT. By 
 
 Mark Twain. 
 AUNT SERENA. By Blanche W. Howard. 
 
 Valuable New Biographies, 
 
 LONGFELLOW. By F. H. Underwood. 
 LOWELL. By F. H. Underwood. 
 EMERSON. By G. W. Cooke. 
 GARFIELD. By B. A. Hinsdale. 
 
 The American- Actor Series. 
 
 EDWIN FORREST. By Lawrence Barrett. 
 THE JEFFERSONS. By William Winter. 
 THE BOOTHS. By Mrs. Asia Booth Clarke. 
 CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN. By Mrs. Clement. 
 MRS. DUFF. By J. N. Ireland. 
 
 Catalogues sent free to all applicants. 
 
9 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 iHm 
 
 m 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 CO 
 
 W ' 
 
ESTABLISHED 1831. 
 
 S. S. Pierce & Co. 
 
 Importers and Grocers, 
 
 Cor. Tremont and Court Sts. 
 
 Boston. 
 
 E are making a Specialty of the 
 Importation of 
 
 Havana Cigars, 
 
 and claim to offer same at lower prices 
 than any house in New England. In 
 support of this claim, we issue a price- 
 list of our entire stock of Cigars, and 
 f invite a comparison of our prices with 
 those of any dealer in the country. 
 
 Catalogues and price-lists of Wine fur- 
 nished on application. 
 
MQOJSW, THE STATIONER OF BOSTON. 
 
 XXV 
 
^lopefllanufaoluilnalo. 
 
 597 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
ABSOLUTELY UNEQUALLED. 
 
 
 Mstvt 
 
 MlttS, FLORENCE &LEEDS, MASS. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 NEW YORK, N.Y. 
 
 WHOLESALE SALESROOMS IN 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
 CINCINNATI, OHIO. 
 
 SOLD BY LEADING DEALERS EVERYWHERE. 
 

 3 
 
 u 
 
 1S 
 
BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 3 9031 01572611 
 
 £S NOT CJHC* 
 
 ►U-i-JTH 
 
■I