USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic fields and mansions of Middlesex > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
UNIVERSITY
OF
TORONTO
VELUTARBOR
0
Presented to The Library of the University of Toronto
T.C. Clarke, Esq.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historicfieldsma00drakuoft
.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
OLD LANDMARKS
AND
.
HISTORIC
£
PERSONAGES
OF
BOSTON.
One Volume.
12mo. With 100 Illustrations.
$ 3.00.
*** Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price by the Pub- lishers, JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., Boston.
5
1
HISTORIC
FIELDS AND MANSIONS
OF
MIDDLESEX.
BY SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE. /11
Illustrated.
"We take no note of time But from its loss. To give it then a tongue Is wise in man."
BOSTON : JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & Co. 1874.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, BY JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
F 72
MTD7
611154 4.7.55
UNIVERSITY PRESS : WELCH, BIGELOW, & Co., CAMBRIDGE.
INVITATION TO THE READER.
T THIS is neither a county history nor a relation of con- secutive events, but a series of historic-colloquial ram- bles among the memorable places of Old Middlesex. Arn in arm we thread the Colonial highways, reading history, recounting traditions, and discussing men and events with much freedom, - challenging as we go the dwellings of former- generations to yield up their secrets, not indeed to reproduce spectres, but living objects, - rehabilitating the Old and arraying it beside the New. At parting I shall hope you will have no cause to regret our companionship.
Our saunterings are chiefly in those ways made famous by the earliest warlike events of the Revolution, pausing, incidentally, to trace the almost obliterated vestiges of the siege, with pictures of the camps and portraits of the char- acters, civil and military, of the time, considered as men and not as gods.
History of battles or campaigns should, as I think, ena- ble the student to go upon the ground, and with book in hand follow the movements of contending armies as they actually occurred. As much as has been written of the eleven months' campaign for the possession of Boston, I have not found any modern author who has brought his · narrative of the military operations and topography into correspondence, and in so far as this may be accounted a deficiency, have endeavored to supply it. Foremost, also, . among my motives is the knowledge that the exigencies
iv
INVITATION TO THE READER.
of commerce or of overflowing population are changing the face of Nature beyond all power of recognition. With pen and pencil I seek to establish some slight memorials on which the future ' explorer may lean a little as he takes up and brings forward the chain.
At this day the ancient shire, our subject, exerts a weighty influence in the nation. She contributes a Vice- President, Cabinet Minister, Senator, and three of the eleven Representatives to which the State is entitled in its councils. Who have been her children in the past will appear as we proceed.
The map which is joined to this volume is of great rarity, and is now, by the kindness of Dr. Wheatland of Salem, for the first time reproduced in exact fac-simile. With its help we discover the appearance of Colonial Bos- ton and its environs of a century ago. It may be con- sulted with confidence. The view from the Navy-Yard, showing Bunker Hill previous to the erection of the mon- ument, is from a painting by Mrs. Hannah Armstrong, née Crowninshield. Cradock's Plantation House is from a photo- graph by Wilkinson of Medford, taken before important alterations had impaired much of its antique character. In- man House is from a negative by Warren of Cambridge.
I trust these pages may bear to the many friends to whom I am under obligations the evidence of the faithful- ness of my endeavors to portray what has seemed most worthy in Old New England Life.
"Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield ; The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore, Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar."
MELROSE, October 29, 1873.
CONTENTS.
· CHAPTER I.
THE GATEWAY OF OLD MIDDLESEX.
Environs of Boston. - Charles River. - History of the Bridges. - Lemuel Cox. - Charlestown in the Olden Time. - John Harvard. - The Night Surprise at Doncaster. - William Rainsborrow. -- Robert Sedgwick. - Nathaniel Gorham. - Washington and Hancock .- Jedediah Morse. - Anecdote of Dr. Gardiner. - Samuel F. B. Morse. - His first Telegraph. - Charlotte Cushman's Home. - Her début in England 1
CHAPTER II. .
AN HOUR IN THE GOVERNMENT DOCKYARD.
Origin of Charlestown Navy-Yard. - Wapping. - Nicholson and the Constitution. - Commandants of the Yard. - Constitution and Java. - Commodore Hull. - George Claghorn. - The Park of Artillery. - Cannon in the Revolution. - Compared with Woolwich. - Naval Bat- tle in Boston Harbor. - Anecdotes of Lord Nelson. - Tribute to Algiers. - Hopkins. -. Paul Jones. - Projectiles. - Invention of the Anchor. - The Dry-Dock. - Josiah Barker. - Captain Dewey and the Constitution's Figure-Head. - Famous Ships built here. - Launch of the Merrimac. - Masts, Sheathing, and Conductors. - The Origin of "U. S."- Iron Clads. - Landing of Sir William Howe. - Area of the Yard. - The Naval Institute
26
CHAPTER III.
BUNKER HILL AND THE MONUMENT.
Coup d'œil from the Hill. - British Regiments in the Battle. - Their Arms, Dress, and Colors. - Anecdotes of the Royal Welsh. - Losses and Incidents of the Battle. - Lords Rawdon and Harris. - John
.
vi
CONTENTS.
Coffin. - Admiral Graves. - Generals Small, Burgoyne, and Pigot. - Trumbull's Painting. - The Command. - American Officers engaged. -- Putnam's Exertions. - The Redoubt. - Other Intrenchiments. - Vestiges of the Works. - Singular Powers of American Officers. - Fall of Warren. - The Slaughter. - History of the Monuments. - Bunker Hill Proper and Works. - Middlesex Canal . . 52
CHAPTER IV.
THE CONTINENTAL TRENCHES.
Military Roads in 1775. - Mount Benedict. - General Lee at the Outpost. - Morgan's Rifles. - Burning of the Ursuline Convent. - Governor Winthrop and Ten Hills. - Robert Temple. - Redoubts at Ten Hills. - General Sullivan. - Samuel Jaques. - Winter Hill fortified. - View of Sullivan's Camp and Fort. - Scammell, Wilkinson, Burr, and Arnold. - Anecdote of Vanderlyn, the Painter. - Dearborn at Monmouth. - Hessian Encampment. - Will Yankees fight ?
83
CHAPTER V. THE OLD WAYSIDE MILL.
Its History and Description. - A Colonial Magazine. - Removal of the Powder by General Gage. - Washington and the Powder Scarcity. - Expedients to supply the Army. - A Legend of the Powder House . 110
CHAPTER VI.
THE PLANTATION AT MYSTIC SIDE.
The Royall Mansion and Family. - Flight of Colonel Royall. - John Stark occupies the House. -- Anecdotes of Stark. - Bennington and its Results. - Prisoners brought to Boston. - The Bennington Guns. -- Lee and Sullivan at Colonel Royall's. - Hobgoblin Hall. - Taverns and Travel in former Times. - Old Medford and its Inns. - Shipbuild- ing. - John Brooks at Bemis's Heights. - Governor Cradock's Planta- tion-House. - Political Coup d'état by the Massachusetts Company. - Cradock's Agents. - Reflections . 119
CHAPTER VII. LEE'S HEADQUARTERS AND VICINITY.
Lee's Headquarters. - Was he a Traitor ? - Anecdotes of the General. - The Surprise at Baskingridge. - Meeting of Washington and Lee at Monmouth. - Lee's Will and Death. - Works on Prospect Hill de-
vii
CONTENTS.
scribed. - General Greene's Command. - Washington's Opinion of Greene. - Retires from the Army embarrassed. - Eli Whitney. - How the Provincials mounted Artillery. - Their Resources in this Arm. - Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery. - Small-Arms. - Putnam's Flag- Raising. - Deacon Whitcomb. - Colonel Wesson. - Union Standard hoisted. - Quarters of Burgoyne's Troops. - Appearance of British and Hessians. - Mutinous Conduct of Prisoners. - They are transferred to Rutland. - They march to Virginia. - Horrible Domestic Tragedy. - Remains of the Old Defences . 141
CHAPTER VIII.
OLD CHARLESTOWN ROAD, LECHMERE'S POINT, AND PUTNAM'S HEADQUARTERS.
Executions in Middlesex. - Site of the Gibbet. - Works on Cobble Hill. - Sketches of Colonel Knox. - He brings Battering Train from Crown Point. - Mrs. Knox. - Joseph Barrell. - His Mansion-House. - McLean Asylum. - Miller's River. - Lechmere's Point. - Access to in 1775. - Fortification of. - Bombardment of Boston. - The Evacua- tion. - Career and Fate of Mike Martin. - Cambridge Lines described. Ralph Inman's. - Captain John Linzee's" Courtship. - Putnam at Inman's. - Anecdotes of Putnam. - Margaret Fuller. - Allston and his Works . 169
CHAPTER IX.
A DAY AT HARVARD.
Old Cambridge. - An Episcopal See contemplated. - Dr. Apthorp. - Burgoyne's Quarters. - Dana Mansion. - David Phips. - General Gookin. - First Observatory at Harvard. - Gore Hall and the College Library. - Father Rale's Dictionary. - His cruel Fate. - The Presi- dent's House. - Distinguished Occupants. - Willard. - Kirkland. - Quincy. - Everett. - Increase Mather and Witchcraft. - Thomas Dud- ley. - Topography. - Bradish's Tavern. - First Church. - Old Court- House and Jail. - Laws and Usages of the Colonists. - Dane Hall. - Only two Attorneys in Massachusetts . 195
CHAPTER X. A DAY AT HARVARD, CONTINUED.
Founding and Account of First College Buildings. - College Press. -- Stephen Daye. - Samuel Greene. - Portraits in Massachusetts Hall. - College Lotteries. - Governor Bernard. - The Quadrangle. - College
viii
CONTENTS.
Customs. - The Clubs. - Commencement. - Dress of Students. - Ox- ford Caps. - George Downing. - Class of 1763. - Outbreaks of the Students. - The American Lines 221
CHAPTER XI.
CAMBRIDGE CAMP.
Early Military Organization by the Colony. - Soldier of 1630. - A. Troop in 1675. - The Bayonet invented. - Formation of a Provincial Army. - Cambridge Common. - The Continental Parades. -- Arrauge- ment of the Army. - Its Condition in July, 1775. - Want of Distin- guishing Colors. - Attempts to uniform. - Army Headquarters. - Jonathan Hastings. - Explanation of the word "Yankee." - Captain Benedict Arnold. - Committee of Safety. - General Ward. - His In- trepidity in Shays's Rebellion. - Warren en route to Bunker Hill. - Professor Pearson. - Abiel Holmes. - O. W. Holmes. - Lines to Old . 245 Ironsides
CHAPTER XII.
CAMBRIDGE COMMON AND LANDMARKS.
Dr. Waterhouse. - Inoculation. - Siege Cannon. - Whitefield's Elm. - The Washington Elm. - The Haunted House. - Important Crises in Washington's Career. - Visits the Old South Church. - New England Church Architecture. - Christ Church. - Occupied by. Troops. - The Ancient Burial-Place. - Judge Trowbridge. - Old Brattle House. - Thomas Brattle. - General Mifflin. - Judge Story. - W. W. Story .- The Windmill. - Jonathan Belcher. - Benjamin Church's Treachery 264
CHAPTER XIII.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY.
Visit to Mr. Longfellow. - Colonel John Vassall. - Colonel John Glover. - Washington takes Possession. - His personal Appearance, Habits, and Dress. - Continental Uniform. - Peale's Portrait. - Order of March 17, 1776. - The General's Military Family. - His Pugnacity. - Chi- rography of his Generals. - Monmouth again. - Anecdotes. - " Lord"
. Stirling and Lady Kitty. - Lafayette and his Family. - French Generals in our Service. - Washington's, Napoleon's, and Wellington's Orders. - Councils of War. - Arrival of Mrs. Washington. - The Household. - Formation of the Body-Guard. - Caleb Gibbs. - Na- thaniel Tracy. - Andrew Craigie. - Talleyrand and Prince Edward. - Jared Sparks and other Occupants. - Longfellow becomes an Inmate
289
.
ix
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
OLD TORY ROW AND BEYOND.
Sewall Mansion. - Jonathan and John. - General Riedesel. - Prisoners of War in 1777. - How the German Flags were saved. - Judge Lee. - Thomas Fayerweather. - Governor Gerry's. -- Thomas Oliver. - Polit- ical Craft. - The Gerrymander. - Dr. Lowell. - James Russell Lowell. - Speculations. - Caroline Gilman 313
CHAPTER XV.
MOUNT AUBURN TO NONANTUM BRIDGE.
Thoughts. - The Tower. - Père la Chaise. - Dr. Jacob Bigelow. - Indifference which old Cemeteries experience. - Funeral Rites. - Duration of Bones. - The Chapel and Statuary. - The Origin of Mount Auburn. - Fresh Pond. - A Refuge on the Day of Lexington. - Nat Wyeth's Expedition to the Pacific. - The Ice-Traffic. - Fred- erick Tudor. - Richardson's Tavern. - Cock-Fighting. - Old Water- town Graveyard. - Rev. George Phillips. - Provincial Congress. - Rev. William Gordon. - Edes's Printing-Office. - Sign of Mr. Wilkes. - John Cook's and the Colony Notes. - Thomas Prentice. - Joseph Ward. - Michael Jackson. - Nonantum Hill. - General Hull. - The Apostle Eliot 326
CHAPTER XVI. LECHMERE'S POINT TO LEXINGTON.
Discovery of Gage's Plans. - American Preparations for War. - British Reconnaissance. - Colonel Smith lands at Lechmere's Point. - His March. - The Country alarmed. - Philip d'Auvergne. - Pitcairn ar- rives at Lexington Green. - Who is responsible ?- Topography. - Battle Monument. - Disposition of the Dead. - The Clark House. - Hancock and Adams. - Dorothy Q. - The Battle of Lexington in England . 354
CHAPTER XVII. LEXINGTON TO CONCORD.
The Approach to Concord. - The Wayside. - Hawthorne. - A. Bronson Alcott. - Louisa. - May. - R. W. Emerson. - Thoreau. - Concord on the Day of Invasion. - Ephraim Jones and John Pitcairn. - Colonel Archibald Campbell. - 71st Highlanders. - Anecdote of Simon Fraser. - Mill Pond. - Timothy Wheeler's Ruse-de-guerre. - The Hill Bury- ing-Ground. - The Slave's Epitaph . 371
x
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE RETREAT FROM CONCORD.
The Battle Monument. - The two Graves. - Position of the Americans. - The Old Manse. - Hawthorne's Study. - The Old House over the Way. - The Troops retreat. - John Brooks attacks them. - A Rout described. - A Percy to the Rescue. - The Royal Artillery. - Old Munroe Tavern. - Anxiety in Boston. - Warren and Heath take Part. - Action in Menotomy. - Eliphalet Downer's Duel. - His Escape from a British Prison. - The Slaughter at Jason Russell's. - Incidents. -Percy escapes. - Contemporary Accounts of the Battle. - Monu- ments at Acton and Arlington 386
CHAPTER XIX.
A FRAGMENT OF KING PHILIP'S WAR.
South Sudbury. - Outbreak of Philip's War. - Measures in the Colony. - Marlborough attacked. - Descent on Sudbury. - Defeat and Death of Captain Wadsworth. - Wadsworth Monument. - Relics of Philip. - The Wayside Inn. - Ancient Taverns vs. Modern Hotels. - The Interior of the Wayside. - Early Post-Routes in New England. - Jour- ney of Madam Knight in 1704 . 410
CHAPTER XX. THE HOME OF RUMFORD.
Birthplace of Count Rumford. - His Early Life. - The Old Shop near Boston Stone. - Rumford's Marriage, Arrest, and Flight. - Bequest to Harvard College. - Portrait of the Count. - Thomas Graves, the Admiral 427
HELIOTYPE ILLUSTRATIONS.
OLD WAYSIDE MILL, SOMERVILLE
Frontispiece
ROYALL MANSION, MEDFORD
.
Page 119
PLANTATION HOUSE, MYSTIC SIDE
133
GENERAL LEE'S HEADQUARTERS, SOMERVILLE
141
INMAN HOUSE, CAMBRIDGEPORT .
187
GENERAL BURGOYNE'S RESIDENCE, CAMBRIDGE
197
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE
206
ANCIENT COLLEGE BUILDINGS, CAMBRIDGE
224
PROVINCIAL HEADQUARTERS, CAMBRIDGE .
255
CHRIST CHURCH AND OLD BURIAL-GROUND, CAMBRIDGE
274
GOVERNOR BELCHER'S, CAMBRIDGE
285
LONGFELLOW'S HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE
300
ELMWOOD (J. R. LOWELL'S), CAMBRIDGE
317
GENERAL HULL'S, NEWTONVILLE
351
-
LEXINGTON GREEN IN 1775 (Drawing of the Time)
.
360
CLARK'S HOUSE, LEXINGTON
369
BATTLE MONUMENT, CONCORD
387
THE OLD MANSE, CONCORD
390
JASON RUSSELL'S, ARLINGTON
401
THE HOME OF COUNT RUMFORD, WOBURN
MAP OF BOSTON AND ENVIRONS, 1775.
427
>
ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD.
BELCHER ARMS .
PAGE
285
BELCHER (Portrait) 285
BUNKER HILL FROM THE NAVY-YARD, ABOUT 1826 26
BUNKER HILL MONUMENT . 52
BRITISH FLAG CAPTURED AT YORKTOWN 54
BRATTLE ARMS
281
BROKEN GRAVESTONE
276
.
CANNON AND CARRIAGE USED BEFORE BOSTON
·
153
CANNON DISMANTLED . 83
CHARLESTOWN NAVY-YARD IN 1873 36
1858 ..
38
CHAUNCY ARMS
208
.
FLAG OF WASHINGTON'S LIFE-GUARD 308
FLAG OF MORGAN'S RIFLES 87
FORT ON COBBLE HILL
172
GOOKIN ARMS .
200
GORE HALL, 1873 202
GREAT HARRY
35
HARVARD COLLEGE LOTTERY TICKET (Fac-simile of an Original) .
227
HARVARD'S MONUMENT
11
HESSIAN FLAG
106
KING PHILIP (from an old Print) 414
. LEXINGTON MONUMENT
362
LOWELL ARMS
322
MOUNT AUBURN GATEWAY
326
MOUNT AUBURN CHAPEL
335
xiv
ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD.
NIX'S MATE . 170
QUADRANGLE HARVARD COLLEGE 231
SEWALL-RIEDESEL MANSION
313
SION OF THE WAYSIDE INN
421
SMITH, CAPTAIN JOHN . 3
STANCH AND STRONG . 39
TROPHIES OF BENNINGTON 1
URSULINE CONVENT IN RUINS 91
WASHINGTON STATUE (BALL'S) 295
WENDELL ARMS . 255
WASHINGTON ELM, 1873 267
WILLARD ARMS
207
CHAPTER I.
THE GATEWAY OF OLD MIDDLESEX.
" A sup of New England's Aire is better than a whole draught of Old England's Ale."
T HE charming belt of country around Boston is full of in- ·terest to Americans. It is diversified with every feature that can make a landscape attractive. Town clasps hands with town until the girdle is complete where Nahant and Nantasket sit with their feet in the Atlantic. The whole region may be compared to one vast park, where nature has wrought in savage grandeur what art has subdued into a series of delightful pictures. No one portion of the zone may claim precedence. There is the same shifting panorama visible from every rugged height that never fails to delight soul and sense. We can liken these suburban abodes to nothing but a string of precious gems flung around the neck of Old Boston.
Nor is this all. Whoever cherishes the memory of brave deeds - and who does not ?- will find here the arena in which the colonial stripling suddenly sprang erect, and planted a blow full in the front of the old insular gladiator, - a blow that made him reel with the shock to his very centre. It was here the
1
A
2
HISTORIC FIELDS AND MANSIONS OF MIDDLESEX.
people of the "Old Thirteen " first acted together as one nation, and here the separate streams of their existence united in one mighty flood. The girdle is not the less interesting that it rests on the ramparts of the Revolution.
It is in a great measure true that what is nearest to us we know the least about, and that we ignorantly pass over scenes every day, not a whit less interesting than those by which we are attracted to countries beyond the seas. An invitation to a pilgrimage among the familiar objects which may be viewed from the city steeples, while it may not be comparable to a tour in the environs of London or of Paris, will not, our word for it, fail to supply us with materials for reflection and entertain- ment. Let us beguile the way with glances at the interior home- life of our English ancestors, while inspecting the memorials they have left behind. Their habitations yet stand by the wayside, and if dumb to others, will not altogether refuse their secrets to such as seek them in the light of historic truth. We shall not fill these old halls with lamentations for a greatness that is departed never to return, but remember always that there is a living present into which our lives are framed, and by which the civilization of what we may call the old régime may be tested. Where we have advanced, we need not fear the ordeal ; where we have not advanced, we need not fear to avow it.
We suppose ourselves at the water-side, a wayfarer by the old bridge leading to Charlestown, with the tide rippling against the wooden piers beneath our feet, and the blue sky above call- ing us afield. The shores are bristling with masts which gleam like so many polished conductors and cast their long wavy shadows aslant the watery mirror. Behind these, houses rise, tier over tier, mass against mass, from which, as if dis- dainful of such company, the granite obelisk springs out, and higher yet, a landmark on the sea, a Pharos of liberty on the shore.
The Charles, to which Longfellow has dedicated some charm- ing lines, though not actually seen by Smith, retained the name with which he christened it. It was a shrewd guess in the
3
THE GATEWAY OF OLD MIDDLESEX.
bold navigator, that the numerous islands he saw in the bay indicated the estuary of a great river penetrating the interior. It is a curious feature of the map which Smith made of the. coast of New England in 1614, that the names of Plymouth, Boston, Cambridge, and many other towns not settled until long afterwards, should be there laid down. Smith's map was the first on which the name of New England appeared.
. In the pavement of St. Sepulchre, London, is Smith's tomb- stone. The inscription, except the three Turk's heads, is totally effaced, but the church authorities have promised to have it renewed as given by Stow.
The subject of bridging the river from the old ferry-way at Hudson's Point to the opposite shore - which is here of about the same breadth
as the Thames at
London Bridge -- was agitated as early as 1712, or more than seventy years before its final accomplish-
ment. In 1720 the attempt was renewed, but while the utility of a bridge was conceded, it was not considered a practicable under- taking. After the Revolution the CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. project was again revived, and a man was found equal to the occasion. An ingenious shipwright, named Lemuel Cox, was then living at Medford, who insisted that the enterprise was feasible. Some alleged that the channel of the river was too deep, that the ice would destroy the structure, and that it would obstruct navigation ; while by far the greater number
4
HISTORIC FIELDS AND MANSIONS OF MIDDLESEX.
rejected the idea altogether as chimerical. But Cox persevered. He brought the influential and enterprising to his views ; a charter was obtained, and this energetic and skilful mechanic saw the bridge he had so dexterously planned in his brain be- come a reality. Captain John Stone, of Concord, Mass., was the architect of this bridge. His epitaph in the old burying- ground there says he was a man of good natural abilities, which seemed to be adorned with modern virtues and Christian graces. He died in 1791.
The opening of the structure upon the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, and only eleven years after that event, attracted upwards of twenty thousand spectators. The day was ushered in by a discharge of thirteen cannon from the opposite heights of Breed's Hill, Charlestown, and Copp's Hill, Boston, accompanied by repeated peals from the bells of Christ Church. At one o'clock, P. M., the proprietors assembled in the State House for the purpose of conducting the several branches of the Legislature over the bridge. The procession, which included not only the public officials, but almost every individual of prominence in the community, moved from State Street, amid a salute from the Castle, and upon its arrival at the bridge the attendant companies of artillery formed two lines to the right and left, through which the cortege passed on to the middle of. the bridge, where it halted. The Presi- dent of the Corporation, Thomas Russell, then advanced alone, and directed Mr. Cox to fix the draw for the passage of the company, which was immediately done. The procession con- tinued its march to Breed's Hill, where two tables, each three hundred and twenty feet long, had been laid, at which eight hundred guests sat down and prolonged the festivities until evening.
When built, this was the longest bridge in the world, and, except the abutments, was entirely of wood. Until West Boston Bridge was constructed, in 1793, it yielded a splendid return to the proprietors ; but the latter surpassed it not only in length, but in beauty of architecture, and, with the cause- way on the Cambridge side, formed a beautiful drive or prom-
5
THE GATEWAY OF OLD MIDDLESEX.
enade of about two miles in extent. It also lessened the dis- tance from Cambridge to Boston more than a mile. In 1828 Warren Bridge was opened, but not without serious opposition from the proprietors of the old avenue ; and the two bridges might not inaptly have served some native poet for a colloquy as famous as that of the rival " Brigs of Ayr."
" Nae langer thrifty citizens an' douce Meet owre a pint, or in the Council-house ; But staumrel, corky-headed, graceless Gentry, The herryment and ruin of the country; Men three-parts made by Tailors and by Barbers,
Wha' waste your well hain'd gear on d-d new Brigs and Harbours !"
The ferry, which was the original mode of transit between · the two peninsulas, was established in 1635, and five years later was granted to Harvard College. To compensate for the loss of the income from this source when Charles River Bridge was built, the proprietors were required to pay £ 200 per annum to the University, and in 1792 the same sum was imposed on the West Boston Bridge Corporation.
Two handbills, each embellished with a rude woodcut of the bridge, were printed on the occasion of the opening, in 1786. One was from the "Charlestown Press "; the other was printed by "E. Russell, Boston, next door to Dr. Haskins', near Liberty Pole."* From the broadside (as it was then called), published at the request and for the benefit of the directors and friends of this "grand and almost unparalleled undertaking," we present the following extract : -
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.