border
when land was being claimed in the eary 1800’s, the area to the east of the turnpike was lower and was due to the topography, established itself as a boundary. ebenezer breed’s dam pasture, where drainage could accumulate from the higher grounds, was over the now commandants home (highest point of the yard) and the now ropewalk. when the highway was built, it ran along the western side of ebenezer’s pasture. ropewalk was designed by alexander parris in the mid 1800’s.
coastline in 1630
as recorded before manmade changes occured, filling in coast. members of massachusetts bay company arrived in 1629.
first avenue
created in 1828 to connect the two extremes of the yard.. land had already been filled in. past the road the buildings were oriented along. first ave and the ropewalk along the higher land contour, or the navy yard’s edge, to the west.
(side note: when the commandant’s home was built later on, before the infill, it was on the water and was designed to have a trail that led down to it.)
Main Street
(one of 2 original roads in charlestown, this was called country road)
shipyard park
was for many years a man made inlet that had a timber dock connector at this point. dry dock 1 was there even before it was land. (side note: the docks extend out to the edge of what originally was a tidal flat area. )