Copp's Hill is an elevation in the historic North End of Boston, Massachusetts. It is bordered by Hull Street, Charter Street and Snow Hill Street. The hill takes its name from William Copp, a shoemaker who lived nearby. [1] Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a stop on the Freedom Trail.
Like all of the Shawmut Peninsula, the hill was Algonquian territory before the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first English settlers to the hill arrived in the 1630s and built a windmill atop the hill to grind grain.
Founded by the town of Boston in 1659, Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the second oldest burying ground in the city. The cemetery's boundaries were extended several times, and the grounds contain the remains of many notable Bostonians in the thousands of graves and 272 tombs.
Among the Bostonians buried here are the original owner, William Copp, his children, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Robert Newman, John Pulling, (the patriots who placed the signal lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere's midnight ride to Lexington and Concord), Prince Hall (the father of Black Freemasonry), and many unmarked graves of the African Americans who lived in the "New Guinea" community at the foot of the hill. The cemetery was not an official stop on the Freedom Trail when it was created in 1951, but it has since been added and is much-frequented by tourists and photographers.
During the Revolutionary War, the British used the hill to train artillery onto Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill. For several years starting in 1806, soil was taken from the top of Copp's Hill to increase the available building land by filling the Mill Pond. This removal reduced the height of the hill by about 7 feet (about 2 meters).
Across Hull street from the Copp's Hill Burying Ground is an extremely narrow four-story spite house built shortly after the Civil War. Only 10.4 feet (3.2 m) wide at its widest point, the house is reported by the Boston Globe as having the "uncontested distinction of being the narrowest house in Boston."
Copp's Hill is the highest point in the North End and is the third highest hill in Boston after Beacon Hill and Fort Hill. As such, Copp's Hill provides a view of numerous local landmarks. The Old North Church stands at one end of Hull Street. In the opposite direction, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge and the TD Garden are visible not far away. Over local rooftops the upper levels of Custom House Tower, One International Place, and other buildings in the Financial District can be glimpsed. Beyond the other side of the hill, across the Charles River in Charlestown, the USS Constitution and the USS Cassin Young may be seen docked at Boston Navy Yard with the Bunker Hill Monument in the distance.
The Leonard P. ZakimBunker Hill Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge completed in 2003 across the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a replacement for the Charlestown High Bridge, an older truss bridge constructed in the 1950s.
Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its earliest settlers, during the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Charlestown High Bridge spanned the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts and was part of I-93/US 1 at the north end of the Central Artery.
The North End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the city's oldest residential community, having been inhabited since it was colonized in the 1630s. It is only 0.36 square miles (0.93 km2), yet the neighborhood has nearly one hundred establishments and a variety of tourist attractions. It is known for its Italian American population and Italian restaurants.
The Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. It is the burial location of Revolutionary War-era patriots, including Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre, and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. The cemetery has 2,345 grave-markers, but historians estimate that as many as 5,000 people are buried in it. The cemetery is adjacent to Park Street Church, behind the Boston Athenæum and immediately across from Suffolk University Law School. It is a site on Boston's Freedom Trail. The cemetery's Egyptian revival gate and fence were designed by architect Isaiah Rogers (1800–1869), who designed an identical gate for Newport's Touro Cemetery.
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) path through Boston that passes by 16 locations significant to the history of the United States. It winds from Boston Common in downtown Boston, to the Old North Church in the North End and the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Stops along the trail include simple explanatory ground markers, graveyards, notable churches and buildings, and a historic naval frigate. Most of the sites are free or suggest donations, although the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House, and the Paul Revere House charge admission. The Freedom Trail is overseen by the City of Boston's Freedom Trail Commission and is supported in part by grants from various non-profit organizations and foundations, private philanthropy, and Boston National Historical Park.
The Boston National Historical Park is an association of sites that showcase Boston's role in the American Revolution and other parts of history. It was designated a national park on October 1, 1974. Seven of the eight sites are connected by the Freedom Trail, a walking tour of downtown Boston. All eight properties are National Historic Landmarks.
King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despite its name, the graveyard pre-dates the adjacent King's Chapel ; it is not affiliated with that or any other church.
The Charlestown Bridge, officially named the William Felton "Bill" Russell Bridge, is located in Boston and spans the Charles River. As the river's easternmost crossing, the bridge connects the neighborhoods of Charlestown and the North End. The bridge carries a portion of the Freedom Trail linking to the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. To the north of the bridge, Route 99 begins and the street becomes New Rutherford Avenue.
The Leverett Circle Connector Bridge is a 1.7 mile-long highway bridge over the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, carrying two lanes each of northbound and southbound traffic. It connects to Interstate 93 (I-93) at the northern end and splits at the southern end, providing direct access to both Storrow Drive and Leverett Circle in Boston. Going northbound, there is also a fork which provides access to the City Square Tunnel under Charlestown to proceed on U.S. Route 1 (US 1) northbound via the Tobin Bridge.
Edmund Hartt (1744-1824) was a master carpenter and owned the shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts where USS Constitution was constructed in 1797. The shipyard was located in the North End of Boston, near the location of the present Coast Guard base. He also built USS Boston (1799), USS Argus (1803), and USS Independence (1814).
The Skinny House is an extremely narrow four-story house at 44 Hull Street in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is reported by the Boston Globe as having the "uncontested distinction of being the narrowest house in Boston." According to the executive director of the Boston Landmarks Commission, "In a city where there are many narrow lots, this far exceeds the norm. ... As far as we know, it is the narrowest house in Boston." According to local legend, it was built as a spite house.
The Charles River Dam is a flood control structure on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, located just downstream of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, near Lovejoy Wharf, on the former location of the Warren Bridge.
Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a historic cemetery in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1659, it was originally named "North Burying Ground", and was the city's second cemetery.
The Phipps Street Burying Ground is a historic cemetery on Phipps Street in Charlestown, now a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
Boston Harborwalk is a public walkway that follows the edge of piers, wharves, beaches, and shoreline around Boston Harbor. When fully completed it will extend a distance of 47 miles (76 km) from East Boston to the Neponset River.
Paul Revere Park is a five-acre (2.0 ha) park located on the Charles River in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The park was the first park to open along the "Lost Half Mile" of the Charles River as mitigation for the taking of planned parkland for the construction of the Big Dig. The park runs along the Charles River between the Freedom Trail on North Washington Street and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge. The park features a large oval-shaped lawn, an informal performance area, and a playground.