Walking The Edge

Tracing Boston's Colonial Shoreline

Labor Day

Since our route will be along the colonial shoreline, it is critical we walk a precise path to keep our colonial feet dry. We'll need a map and a good compass.

Magnetic compasses point to magnetic north which generally is not the north pole. The difference between magnetic north and true north is called the declination. For example, Philadelphia has a declination of 12.4° W so that you would have to add 12.4 degrees to a reading from a magnetic compass to get going in the right direction. In Boston, the current declination is 15.9° W.

The declination changes over time and navigation will bed based on a map drawn in 1722. The National Geophysical Data Center offers data for declinations only as far back as 1750 when the declination in Boston is believed to be 7.6° W. We'll have to go with that.

More information about Earth's magnetism can be found at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov

Suggested Reading

Purchase Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston by author Nancy Seasholes from our Amazon bookstore. Purchase Walking Tours of Boston's Made Land by author Nancy Seasholes from our Amazon bookstore. Purchase Mapping Boston by authors Alex Krieger and David Cobb from our Amazon bookstore.

Browse more selections from the land development section of our Amazon bookstore.

The annual Big Foot walking tour 5-hour Labor Day event.

This year, travel back in time and walk in the footsteps of colonial Bostonians as we trace the original shoreline of the Shawmut peninsula. As early as 1641, Boston began to reshape itself by filling in coves and tidal flats along the harbor. The process continued over three centuries such that today's downtown Boston is double in size.

The earliest surviving map of Boston was drawn by Captain John Bonner in 1722. Starting from the Neck, we will push modern Boston aside and walk through 18th century by tracing the outline of the Bonner Map.

A shipwright and navigator, Captain Bonner (1662-1726) was noted to be “very skillful and ingenious, especially in navigation, drawing, etc, and one of the best acquainted with the coats of North America of any of his time.”

His well-known map of Boston, in addition to the great detail of Boston's waterfront, documented 42 streets, 36 lanes, 22 alleys, and 3,000 homes (a third which were brick) for the colonial town of nearly 12,000 people.

The original measured 17 by 23.5 inches and was engraved by Francis Dewing, who allegedly supplemented his income with a counterfeiting operation.

The Town of Boston in New England. Drawing By Captain John Bonner 1722.

Through the original South End, along a bustling colonial waterfront, and around the trimount, explore the geography of colonial Boston and its notable buildings, wharves, bridges, and mills. Come experience the culture and learn of the politics, economy, and beliefs of early Americans in Boston.

In 1709, Oliver Noyes and his associates were granted the right to build a wharf with a sufficient common sewer from Andrew Faneuil's corner to low-water mark, to be the width of King Street. Boston Pier at 1,604 feet was the longest wharf in Boston and easily seen on the Bonner map. The width of Long Wharf allowed for the construction of shops and warehouses such that the Bonner map shows the north side occupied by a continuous line of buildings.

It was on this wharf in 1768 with the arrival of British troops that Samuel Adams decided America must be independent.

Birds-eye view of Boston. Engraving by James Turner c. 1740. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Put on your tricorne hat and visit a time when steeples defined the Boston skyline, animals grazed the pastures near South Station, the Back Bay was wet, and few wanted to live on Beacon Hill. From the malt shop of Samuel Adams to the swimming hole of a young Ben Franklin, take in the sights of the ships, the smells the rope walks and the tastes of oysters and chocolate along the causeway.

The Big Foot tour is offered only once annually and features a different theme designed and researched by the guides each year. Get out this Labor Day and see what makes Boston By Foot tours so unique.