Charlestown (Boston)
Charlestown | ||
---|---|---|
Bird's eye view of Boston , Charlestown, Massachusetts and Bunker Hill between 1890 and 1910. |
||
Location in Massachusetts | ||
|
||
Basic data | ||
Foundation : | 1628 | |
State : | United States | |
State : | Massachusetts | |
County : | Suffolk County | |
Coordinates : | 42 ° 23 ′ N , 71 ° 4 ′ W | |
Time zone : | Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 ) | |
Postal code : | 02129 | |
Area code : | +1 617, 857 | |
Website : | www.charlestownonline.net |
Charlestown , a borough of Boston since 1874 , was founded in 1628 and was the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . The city is located in northeastern Boston on a peninsula that extends southeast between the Charles River and Mystic River .
The geographic extent of Charlestown has changed dramatically since its colonial roots. Landfill measures have extended Boston into the Back Bay , leveling hills, and expanding Charlestown by removing the narrow Charlestown Neck (Charlestowner Isthmus) that connected the northwest end of the Charlestown Peninsula to the mainland.
Attractions
Bunker Hill Monument
The Bunker Hill Monument is dedicated to the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 on the Charlestowner Peninsula . Bunker Hill was near the northwest end of the peninsula, by the Charlestown Isthmus and a mile from the Charles River. The battle actually took place on Breed's Hill , which overlooks the harbor and town and is only 400 yards (365.8 m) from the end of the peninsula. The city, including the quays and shipyards, was destroyed by cannon fire during the battle.
USS Constitution
The world's oldest warship still in active service, the frigate USS Constitution , is located in the old naval yard ( Charlestown Navy Yard ) and can be viewed there. It is now used for representative purposes of the US Navy .
Sacco and Vanzetti
On the night of August 22nd to 23rd, 1927, Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed on the electric chair in Charlestown State Prison. The two workers who immigrated from Italy were accused of participating in a robbery and were sentenced to death in a trial that is still controversial to this day. In 1977 they were posthumously rehabilitated by the Massachusetts governor.
sons and daughters of the town
- Samuel Whittemore (1696–1793), farmer and soldier
- Nathaniel Gorham (1738–1796), politician
- Francis Dana (1743–1811), lawyer and politician
- Thomas Welsh (1752–1831), medic
- Thaddeus Mason Harris (1768–1842), librarian and minister
- James Frothingham (1786–1864), painter
- Samuel FB Morse (1791–1872), inventor and professor of painting, sculpture and drawing
- Daniel Pierce Thompson (1795-1868), politician, writer and judge, the Secretary of State of Vermont was
- Albert Gallatin Blanchard (1810–1891), Brigadier General in the Confederate Army in the Civil War
- Carl Adami (1834–1900), opera singer, tenor
- William Mellody (1884-1919), boxer
- "White Trash" Rob Lind ( Blood for Blood , Ramallah )
- Matt Grzelcyk (born 1994), ice hockey player
In art
- The thriller The Town by Ben Affleck is set in Charlestown. Overlays at the beginning of the film claim that there is an unusual tradition of bank robbery in Charlestown that is passed down from generation to generation. Some sentences in the film's plot also refer to it.