Way To Charlestown
Posted by: 
Shorelander
N 42° 22.583 W 071° 07.194
19T E 325469 N 4693743
A series of markers describing traveling across the Colony.
Waymark Code: WM9Z7
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 04/05/2006
Views: 51
These markers is located in the eastern section of Cambridge Common along Massachusetts Avenue. The tercentenary marker is located on the north side of a small brick building up against the street, and reads:
"Washington Street, Somerville, and Kirkland and Brattle Streets, Cambridge, 'skirting marshes and river,' follow the old Indian trail from Charlestown to Watertown. Along this way in 1636 went the Reverend Thomas Hooker and his congregation on their exodus from Cambridge to Hartford in Connecticut."
While Kirkland Street no longer meets Cambridge Common, at one point it did, thus making the description on the plaque more sensible. Nearby are two other bronze plaques, both from the Cambridge Historical Commission. One shows a map and reads, "The Patriot militia passed here as they marched eastward to the Battle of Bunker Hill - June 16, 1775."
The other plaque has a similar map and reads:
"Cambridge, the first capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony, was founded by Governor Thomas Dudley in 1630 and named Newtowne.
'This is one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures with many handsome contrived streets. The inhabitants, most of them, are very rich, having many hundred acres of land poled in with general fence, which secures all their weaker cattle from the wild beasts.' - William Wood, New England Prospect, 1633"
Agency Responsible for Placement: Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission
Year Placed: 1930
County: Middlesex
City/Town Name: Cambridge
Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Not listed
Relevant Web Site: Not listed
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