earlgreytea68 | Boston Foot Tour: Waterfront (Reply)

Foot Tour 3 of Boston is of the Waterfront, which is an area that today little resembles what it looked like in 1937. In order to get to the starting point, I had to walk by the new-ish Zakim Bridge.

The tour started here:

This is for Kristin and for those people who write “Criminal Minds.” Here is what a Boston street looks like:

Here is what a Boston alley looks like:

And here’s how I knew I was on the Waterfront!

52. Constitution Wharf

Don’t worry, it apparently looked like this in 1937, too: “occupied chiefly by a high brick warehouse which cuts off the harbor view.” Apparently, it used to have “a bas-relief tablet” displaying the launching of the U.S.S. Constitution in 1797. I couldn’t find that, however.

“Lewis’s Wharf,” as the book calls it. Just past here is the “first delightful glimpse of the actual waterfront, with freighters using the same slips as the humble power-boats of small fishermen. Along the quays are marine hardware shops and numerous lunchrooms for sailors. On the hottest summer day, the air has a cool salty tang, becoming definitely fishy as one passes the brief row of fish-markets.”

Er, this is what it looks like there today:

53. T Wharf

I couldn’t find this anywhere. It was apparently “one of the most famous and picturesque fishing piers in the country.” The best I can figure is it’s in the space now occupied by this park:

The book’s description of it is awesome, though, so here you go: “The entrance, obscure and poorly marked, is just beyond the huge brick warehouse of the Quincy Cold Storage Plant. Suddenly the gaudy small trawlers of Italian and Portuguese fishermen appear, outlines against the long, low yellow shed of the pier – a shed with many small-paned windows, which give upon fish-brokerages and small restaurants specializing in New England fish dinners. This is the center of the ‘Little man’s fishing industry,’ for the larger boats go to the modern great Fish Pier at South Boston. Knots of Latin fishermen are always gathered here mending nets, repairing buoys, or baiting lines, and animatedly discussing the weather, the catch, and current prices.”

54. Long Wharf

Yeah, it’s a hotel now. Apparently, it used to reach all the way to the Custom House (which is the clock tower building in the photo below, which I took while standing right in front of the Long Wharf hotel), but even in 1937 it no longer stretched so far.

Apparently, the British left for home from this wharf, on March 17, 1776 (if you are a city of Boston employee, you get this as a holiday, as one of the panoply of holidays only enjoyed by city of Boston workers). Also, in the late eighteenth century it was apparently the center for smuggling in the city, including smuggling for John Hancock.

55. United States Custom House

Built in 1847, this was “among the last monuments of the Greek Revival.” Apparently, it was built with a dome, but the dome is now hidden by the tower that was added in 1915. The book states that the tower “transformed the building into a 500-foot skyscraper and a fitting mausoleum to the era of Greek affectation.” The book compares the tower to the Metropolitan Building in New York. Apparently, there used to be a viewing balcony near the top of the tower. Now, however, the building’s a hotel:

56. India Wharf

Couldn’t find this, either. It’s supposed to be “four piers,” which, in 1937, were the home of the Eastern Steamship Lines, but, prior to that, used to be home to riggers and sail makers. Now, the best I can figure is that it became the New England Aquarium:

57. Rowe’s Wharf

In 1937, this was “a small but busy railroad terminal.” In 1689, Governor Andros was seized and deposed here. And the book doesn’t elaborate further on that particular detail. Now, a hotel, condos, and office space.

Rowe’s Wharf is gorgeous, though, so here are some scenes from it:

Just beyond the sailboats is the airport. That hotel is actually an airport hotel.

Boston’s very gorgeous federal courthouse.

58. Boston Tea Party

In 1937, there was a tablet on this site that “gives the Boston version of the party.” I couldn’t find it. But here’s where the famous tea party happened. On December 16, 1773, this was known as Griffin’s Wharf, and this is where the tea went overboard. And yes, unsurprisingly, it, too, is now a hotel.