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3 W Place 3 C r o S l a / a P / a CHARLES/MGH t NORTH STATION i END 1 B y 1 l o n B 0 3 r a e H t l C l v u a a S m e l n l b t r r S id d l g y t e S A reclaimed/re-found half mile Sites to visit 7 Littoral Way - A riverside walkway leads to residential Boston to Watertown and converted the Charles The banks of the Charles River between the Museum 1 Charles River Bridge - Ferry traffic between Boston Charlestown. A linear public art project by Ross Miller, River Basin into a body of fresh water. The 8-acre of Science and Boston Harbor were once heavily and Charlestown grew in spite of winter ice. In 1786, a the Littoral Way includes graphics, paving designs and park built on the dam was replaced by the Museum industrialized with a landscape of railyards, polluted bridge replaced the ferry, connecting the North End lighting that wind through the I-93 structural piers. of Science beginning in 1951. drainage ditches, wharf warehouses, and no walking and Charlestown. Bridge builders were permitted to 8 Middlesex Canal - In 1804, Middlesex Canal bp Lechmere Canal - The Lechmere Point settlement access to the river. Dubbed the “Lost Half Mile ” by the charge tolls, with £200 paid annually to Harvard for 40 between Lowell and Boston passed through the Miller’s and canal was developed in the 19th century. Massachusetts Department of Conservation and years to offset the lost income from the ferry. The River. Horses pulled boats to a tidewater lock, and a Cambridge’s urban renewal program transformed Recreation, the construction of the Central Artery’s bridge was replaced in 1900 by the bridge you see long cable under the river acted as a guide that was this obsolete industrial waterway with walkways and Zakim Bridge and its ramps high above the river today, which also carried the Charlestown elevated pulled up by boatsmen so they could drag canal boats a fountain-centered park surrounded by new buildings, brought an opportunity for a new riverfront, with railway until 1975. by hand across the river into Boston’s Canal Street. The including the CambridgeSide Galleria. The park 40 acres of new parks, a skate park, two housing 2 Warren Bridge - An extension of Beverly Street, this canal was closed in 1851. contains a 1986 bronze sculpture called the Tower of towers, and the U.S. headquarters for the Education bridge was chartered in 1828 with tolls allowed for six 9 North Bank Bridge - This 690-foot-long bridge with East Cambridge Faces, designed to capture the First company. years. It was a direct competitor to the adjacent Charles complicated geometry crosses the rail lines and diverse culture of East Cambridge. The reclaimed Half Mile is the site of a beautiful new River Bridge and quickly threatened to become toll-free. Miller’s River between Paul Revere and North Point Owners of the older bridge hired Daniel Webster to sue walking facility: the North Bank Bridge, a 690-foot Parks. It links, for the first time, the walkways along About WalkBoston pathway that curves under the Zakim Bridge and for their exclusive rights to the crossing. The lawsuit the Charles in Cambridge to Charlestown, the Mystic reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Warren over the MBTA commuter rails that used to be an River and Boston Harbor. The bridge was designed by WalkBoston makes walking safer and easier in Bridge owners prevailed. The bridge was removed in 1962. impassable barrier. The bridge is one of three that Greenman-Pederson, Carol R. Johnson Associates, Massachusetts to encourage better health, a cleaner 3 Charles River Dam & Locks - Completed in 1978 are planned. The second will be a walkway attached Ammann & Whitney, and Stantec. environment and vibrant communities. Our educa - where the Warren Bridge once crossed, the Charles River to the MBTA rail bridge over the river into North bk Charles River Skate Park - The Charles River tion and advocacy programs give voice to people to Dam has three locks that can be crossed by pedestrians. Station. The third, a South Bank Bridge, will connect Conservancy championed the large-scale skate park make their communities more walkable. We develop The dam fixes the level of the water on the river, and Charles River walkways along the Boston side of the under construction beneath the ramps of the Zakim and implement innovative programs that address pumps river water into the harbor when rain or snowmelt river to the HarborWalk in a richly historic and highly Bridge. The park incorporates elements from unique social and physical barriers to walking . visited area. could flood the Basin. The locks are in frequent use by skate-spots throughout greater Boston for skaters of all boats traveling between the harbor and the river. levels, along with seating for spectators. 4 Paul Revere Park - This 5-acre park stands where bl North Point - Cambridge’s 60-acre North Point Thank you members/sponsors Area history Revere was thought to have watched for lanterns – neighborhood, extending north of the Miller’s River, “one if by land, and two if by sea.” The park includes includes a shared-use path through the park that links Racewalker English explorer John Smith came to this river in 1614, mosaic art commemorating his actions, a large grassy with the riverfront trails. North Point Park opened in mapped it and presented it to King James I, who oval, an ampitheatre for performances, a fenced-in 2007 and occupies an 8.5-acre site featuring small named the river after his son Charles. The vast river playground for children, and a pier with fish-cleaning islands, bridges and kayaking canals. and mud flats surrounded half of the peninsula stations overlooking Boston Harbor. bm Nashua Street Park - Across the river from North Striders HNTB where Boston was settled. Tidal waters pushed up to 5 Five Beacons Sculpture - Five perforated stainless Point Park is the Nashua Street Park, with water views Eaton Vance HYM Investment Watertown and drained back into the harbor at a steel columns by artist Ross Miller were installed in of the Zakim Bridge, a six-foot misting sculpture, granite Massport MassDevelopment narrow throat between Charlestown and the North 2012 under the Zakim Bridge. The columns are lit from stairway to the water’s edge, and fiber-optic lighting. It Robinson & Cole Millennium Partners End. The first ferry across the Charles River began inside and outside, and occupy the outdoor room was previously a helicopter landing pad and parking lot. Trinity Financial New Balance operating in 1630 and was awarded to financially formed by the multi-lane highway deck above. bn Green Line Viaduct - This 1910 concrete and mason - NStar strapped Harvard College in 1640. Harvard used tolls Reclaimed granite seawall blocks frame the space. ry arch bridge carries the MBTA Green Line over the Strollers Partners HealthCare as income for 145 years, starting at two pence per 6 Miller’s River - A tiny estuary between the Zakim river. The only remaining elevated section of the Green Boston Society of Sasaki person and six pence per pig. Bridge and the rail lines is the remnant of an oyster- Line, the viaduct was constructed to take streetcar Architects Stantec filled expanse of water that extended to Sullivan lines off the Craigie Bridge by connecting to multiple Colliers International TEC Engineering Square and into East Cambridge. The river was gradually streetcar lines in Cambridge and Somerville. DLA Piper The Collaborative filled as nearby industries, including slaughterhouses, bo Science Park - The Craigie Bridge, in front of the Eastern Bank Tufts Medical Center making massachusetts more walkable used it as a dumping ground. The stench and health Science Museum and parallel to the Lechmere Viaduct, Fay, Spofford & Thorndike Vanasse Hangen Brustlin impacts led to Massachusetts’ first anti-pollution covers the original basin dam. Built in 1910, the dam Goody, Clancy & Assoc. Zipcar 45 School Street | Boston MA 02108 | 617.367.9255 | www.walkboston.org environmental laws based on public health. stabilized the water level of the Charles River from HMFH Architects Text: Bob Sloane Design: NinaGarfinkle.com Editing: Ken Krause & Ann Hershfang