Retracing the Steps

Long Wharf Boston Waterfront

It was a beautiful day and I am visualizing beyond these yachts on the historic Long Wharf. The buildings to the right make up Custom House Block built in mid 1800 when much of the harbor became reclaimed land.

Before the backfilling of the land, the base of Long Wharf was at the end of King Street.  Long Wharf extended over a quarter of a mile into Boston Harbor. King Street has been called State Street since the American Revolution and where the State House sits now was the shoreline and King Street began there. Customs House was next door to the State House and a scale house was in the same block.  Sound familiar Virgin Islanders?

I took the ferry from this dock to Salem and glided out the channel on the Nathaniel Bowditch with Logan off the port side and South Boston to starboard. We passed the small islands that make somewhat of a maze on the way out to open sea. It was a short trip, less than an hour.

I have a great great grandfather who joined the US Navy in Boston in 1821 when he was 16 years old. He grew up on Summer Street and after four years of overseas duty, he raised his family in the North End and East Cambridge.  Directories listed him as a mariner. For sure he spent a lot of time on these waters.

In Ghosts in my DNA: Past lives of Boston, I write about his time in Cadiz during an uprising. Launch date October 1st. Thanks so much.

S.A. Beach