"Boston Harbor" Sign

Sign titled, "Boston Harbor."

NPS Photo/MWoods

Quick Facts

Location:

End of Pier 1 facing the harbor

Description

Low-profile wayside that is 42.5 x 24.5 inches. It has a black rectangular base with two rectangular pillars supporting the panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The sign is located at the end of Pier 1 facing the harbor.

Layout

At the top of the sign is a black banner with white text. The text includes the title, “Boston Harbor,” aligned to the left. Aligned to the right in the banner are two columns of two lines of text. The first column of text is “Boston National Historical Park,” followed by “Charlestown Navy Yard.” The second column states “National Park Service,” followed by “U.S. Department of the Interior.” The rest of the panel has a gray background with black text and color images. The top half of the panel is a color painting. To the center right of the image is a cut out of a rowboat from the painting that extends beyond the bottom edge of the painting onto the gray background of the panel. Just underneath the bottom right corner of the painting is a caption. The bottom half of the panel is divided into three columns. The left column has the main text of the panel. A map encompasses the central column. The square map is thinly outlined in black. A thicker black strip goes across the top of the map and includes white text aligned left. Throughout the map are text and numbers. The numbers are printed in white within a black circle. The right column consists of three smaller columns of text that describe the numbered points in the map. Here the numbers are also white in black circles. Ship names are italicized.

Image (Top half of panel)

Color painting of Boston Harbor. To the left of the foreground are two large wooden ships. The far-left ship is docked along the wharf, and the other one is several feet from the dock. Both ships have tall masts that extend beyond the top of the painting. The canvas of the sails are resting on the docked ship, whereas the sails are partially up on the ship to its right. Mariners are visible on the deck of both ships, however they are very small. A large dark building is visible behind these two ships in the background of the left side of the painting. In the center of the painting in the mid-ground are more ships and smaller boats. There is a smaller boat with a sail and a person sitting in it in the center of the painting. A large ship with a dark hull and white sails is behind it. Three sailboats are on the right side of the painting, each sailing in various directions with their sails facing slightly different directions. In the background is the coastline of Boston. Visible is Old North Church’s steeple, which is identified with typed out text and a line pointing to it. The text reads “Old North Church.” The water throughout the painting is dark and shimmering. Just below the right corner of the painting is the text “The Bostonian Society/Old State House.”

A boat just right to the center of the image extends from the painting onto the gray background, as if the boat is being rowed into the painting. A man stands at the bow of the rowboat facing the harbor. He wears a round hat, white shirt, dark vest, and dark trousers. A two men sit on the bench in the center of the boat. The man to the left has his back to the man in the front of the boat, while the other man faces toward the man in the front. The man sitting to the left wears a top hat, a brown jacket, a white shirt, and dark trousers. An oar rests in front of him. The man to the right wears a white shirt and dark trousers. A man sits in the stern of the rowboat and looks to his right. He wears a top hat, a dark vest, a pink shirt, and dark trousers. Oars extend over either side of the boat.

Image Caption

Boston in 1833, as seen from the Charlestown Navy Yard. Note the spire of Old North Church in the North End.

Text (Bottom, Left column)

Since the colonial period, Boston has drawn its livelihood from its harbor and the sea. A center for coastal and foreign trade, Boston developed as one of the principal colonial ports in America. Looking at the harbor and city today, you can see the results of 350 years of change. Yet nestled among the skyscrapers and apartment buildings can be found landmarks familiar to city dwellers more than 200 years ago. The 1723 spire of Old North Church, a beacon for Paul Revere, is still the centerpiece of Boston’s historic North End.

Map (Bottom, Middle column)

The map depicts Boston, Charlestown, and East Boston. Text above the map, in the black strip, reads “Boston Harbor, in 1775 and today. The 1775 land mass is a salmon color. Roads are depicted in a light tan color. Today’s coastline and land mass is illustrated in light tan, surrounding the 1775 land mass. This difference is made clear by labels next to the 1775 coastlines that state “Shoreline in 1775.” Each of the three areas have places of interest marked by either text or text and a number. Boston encompasses the top right quadrant of the map and expands into the center of the map. The top right edge of the map has the text “DOWNTOWN BOSTON.” Below this title to the left is the text “(5) Custom House Tower.” The 5 is located in today’s area of Boston, off the 1775 coastline. Below the Custom House is long thin salmon line that extends to the left to the 1775 coastline. Text marks the end of this line as “Long Wharf.” To the left of this text in the water is a black arrow identifying that the direction of North is to the bottom of the map. A couple streets below the Custom House and slightly to the right is a black dot and the text “Faneuil Hall.” To the right of this text and closer to the right edge of the dark pink land mass is the text “BEACON HILL.” The bottom right portion of the downtown Boston area shows that in 1775 there was a pond in between two small peninsulas, enclosed by a strip of land connecting these two peninsulas. Text on the pond area reads “Mill Pond.” Under the pond and peninsula strip on today’s landmass is a black dot and the text “North Station.” The peninsula to the left is larger and titled “NORTH END.” Here there are two points. In the middle is “(1) Old North Church.” On the water’s edge of the light tan outline for today’s map is a pier with the text “(4) Hartt’s Shipyard.” That is the extent of the text for the Downtown Boston section. On the left side of the image is the edge of East Boston, with the text “EAST BOSTON.” On the light tan outline for today’s map is the text “(6) Logan Airport” with a black arrow beneath it pointing to the left. The final land area is the bottom right portion of the map. In the center of the salmon land mass is the text “CHARLESTOWN.” Below this text towards the bottom border of the map is a point: “(3) Redoubt 1775.” While the shoreline of Charlestown in 1775 is somewhat smooth, today’s shoreline extends beyond this shoreline and includes several piers jutting out into the harbor. The pier furthest to the right has a point “(2) Pier 1 Navy Yard.” Additionally, at this point is a white text box with a black border and black text stating “YOU ARE HERE.” The last remaining text on the map is in the water areas. The water in the upper left portion of the map is labeled “Inner Harbor Channel.” The water between East Boston on the left border of the map and Charlestown is labeled “Mystic River.” The thin stretch of water between today’s coastline of Boston and Charlestown, approximately running horizontal through the middle of the right side of the map and off the edge is labeled “Charles River.”

Map caption (Bottom, Right column, Left)

On April 18, 1775, two lanterns shone in the spire of Old North Church (1), and Paul Revere began his famous ride – in a boat. Ferrying past the British man-of-war Somerset, he crossed from Boston to Charlestown, just to the right of where you now stand. Two months later, British reinforcements landed on the Charlestown shore (2), now the head of Pier 1. The Battle of Bunker Hill began when they marched against Charlestown’s redoubt, now marked by the 1842 monument (3).

Map caption (Bottom, Right column, Middle)

Independence was hard-won and just as hard to keep. Built to defend the young nation’s commerce, USS Constitution launched in October of 1797 from Hartt’s Shipyard (4) in Boston. Appropriately, the site is now a U.S. Coast Guard Station. By mid-century, a new Custom House adorned the head of Long Wharf, proof of the area’s continued importance to overseas trade. Now a quarter-mile inland due to landfill, the Custom House is marked by its clock tower (5), built in 1915.

Map caption (Bottom, Right column, Right)

Boston’s seascape has been changing for centuries. The mud flats of Charlestown gradually disappeared under the docks and asphalt of the navy yard. Developers chopped nearly 60 feet off the summit of Beacon Hill to fill in the Mill Pond in 1824. In East Boston, once an island, Logan Airport (6) stands almost entirely on fill.