Charlestown
Charlestown is the oldest Neighborhood in Boston. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusetts, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor. Engineer Thomas Graves, one of its early settlers, laid out Charlestown in 1629 in the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. Charlestown was the site of Battle of Bunker Hill. Throughout the 1960s until the mid-1990s, Charlestown was infamous for its Irish Mob presence. Charlestown’s McLaughlin Brothers were involved in a gang war with neighboring Somerville’s Winter Hill Gang, during the Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s. In the late 1980s, however, Charlestown underwent a massive gentrification process similar to that of the South End. Charlestown proximity to downtown and its colonial, red-brick, row-house housing stock, similar to that of Beacon Hill, many upper-middle-class professionals moved to the neighborhood. In the late 1990s, additional gentrification took place, similar to that in neighboring Somerville. Today the neighborhood is a mix of young professionals, upper-middle and middle-class residents, housing projects, and a large working-class Irish-American demographic and culture that is still predominant.
Charlestown’s streets are lined with townhouses and workers cottages, as well as modern condominiums that are either newly constructed or converted from historic buildings. The Navy Yard and the adjacent harbor front is home to many condos and offices, as well as numerous businesses, Mass General Hospital, and of course an Urban National Park. All agree that it is convenient to take public transportation or Harbor Ferry to downtown Boston.
Key Neighborhood facts
Public Transportation
Orange Line-Bunker Community College and Sullivan
Bus Lines like 93
Ferry Lines from Charlestown to Long Wharf
Shopping
CVS, Whole Foods, Charlestown ACE hardware
Landmarks
Bunker Hill Monument and historic Charlestown Navy Yard
Dog Parks
Paul Revere Park
Farmers Markets
Charlestown Farmer Market June 21st to Oct 25th on Wed 2-7pm
Main and Austin Streets
Schools
Bunker Hill Community College
MGH Institute of Health Professions
Springfield College Boston Campus
Public Schools
Harvard-Kent elementary
Warren-prescott Elementary School
Clarence R Edwards Middle School
Clarence R Edwards Middle School
