• Distribution of Suggested Locations

ALL THESE SITES, WITH ONE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION, ARE WRONG! 1 NEAR LONGWHARF? 2 NEAR OLD NORTHERN AVE. BR.? 3 ATLANTIC & NEW NORTHERN AVE? 4 NEAR EVELYN MOAKLEY BR?   Bridge was not shown on map; sketched in. 5 AT LIVERPOOL WHARF?   Near where I believe it happened. 6 AT CONGRESS & PURCHASE ST.? 7 AT CONGRESS & I=93? 8 AT SUMMER ST.? 9 BOSTON TEA PARTY SHIP & MUSEUM   Not suggested as a possible site. 10 NEAR TYLER & BEACH?

Thanks to someone for overlaying this map on an aerial view of Boston

• All accounts say that the Boston Tea Party occurred on ships tied up at Griffin's Wharf. This is the assumption for all that follows. Substantiated by this participant's account. Another account by Benson Lossing.
• Labaree's The Boston Tea Party pp 121, 130, 133 concurs. The Beaver is first described as "at Griffin's Wharf", and then on p.141, it is described as "anchored nearby".
• This contemporary newspaper account does not name the wharf but makes it clear that the ships "lay" at a wharf as opposed to being at anchor. If the ships had been at anchor (as seems to be the case for Beaver), it would have made the estimation of the probable site much more difficult.
• Modern sites given as that of the BTP range from just west of the Congress St. Bridge to the new Northern Ave. Bridge (Evelyn Moakley Bridge).
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• When was the Griffin's Wharf area in-filled? There are many differing answers to this question. The maps tell a different story.
  • From Boston and the Creation of New Urban Areas, it appears the Griffin's Wharf area was created by filling in 1775 and covered up in 1903.
  • From this excellent Boston: History of the Landfills animated gif, it is shown to have occurred between 1806 and 1843.
  • From this Chinatown/South Cove BostonFamilyHistory.com site, it appears to have occurred after 1835.
  • From Composite Map of Boston (Map 19-0) from Mapping Boston, it appears that the major filling in the area had occurred by 1852. However, other maps from this excellent source, show the wharfs plainly discernible as late as 1891. However, the panoramic map for 1899 (below), showed the areas of our interest to have had significant filling to the ends of the former wharfs. A 1927 map from this source (below) shows the Fort Point Channel essentially as it is today.
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• Was Griffin's Wharf adjacent to Long Wharf? This Library of Congress map places Griffin's Wharf well to the north and adjacent to Long Wharf: Griffin's Wharf per 1775 map of Boston (A new and correct plan of the town of Boston, and provincial camp. Aitken, sculp. by Robert Aitken). A snippet of this map follows.

  I have had T-Wharf given as the site (shown as Minots T on this map), but have not found where this has been taken seriously as a site. T-Wharf grew to the length of Long Wharf, and with filling became an independent wharf. It no longer exists other than as a lump on the northern edge of Long Wharf (in line with S. Market Street.) See Boston-L post discussing T-Wharf. This area is shown as location number one on the "Distribution of Suggested Locations" map, above. Griffin's Wharf as shown on this map is some distance away from the other contemporary sites given for Griffin's Wharf. I have seen no modern reference to this as the site of the Griffin's Wharf or that of the Boston Tea Party. I have found no other map to substantiate this site. Neither of these will be considered further in this discussion.

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• Was Griffin's Wharf an extension of Summer Street? Another Library of Congress map, Griffin's Wharf per 1776 map of Boston (A plan of the town of Boston and its environs, with the lines, batteries, and incampments of the British and American armies) by Sir Thomas Hyde Page shows Griffin's Wharf as an extension of Summer Street. A snippet of this map follows:

  This area is shown as location number 9 on the "Distribution of Suggested Locations" map, above. I have not found another map to substantiate this location. The position plotted in the NPS Boston handbook (below) could possibly be a compromise position between this map and the 1769 and 1777 maps. The map is noticeably less detailed (almost a schematic or diagram) than the 1769 and 1777 maps (snippets below), to which I have given greater credence.

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• Was Griffin's Wharf near Tyler and Beech Streets? To add somewhat to the confusion, there is an historical marker relating to Phyllis Wheatley that refers to Griffin's wharf as "nearby", but located some distance from what appears to be the most likely site for Griffin's Wharf. We will see below that the most probable location of Griffin's wharf was south of modern Atlantic Ave. east of Congress St. and slightly east of Pearl St.
  • Phillis Wheatley Landing Site historical marker (fourth from bottom of page).
  • MapQuest map showing location of Phyllis Wheatley historical marker.
  • Shown as location number 11 on the "Distribution of Suggested Locations" map, above.
  • This was the starting point in my earliest searches for Griffin's Wharf, but was eventually concluded to be a red herring.

Two Revolutionary War era maps (Library of Congress) are fairly consistent with each other and place Griffin's Wharf in the immediate area where the BTP is reported to have occurred. Snippets of these follow, with comments:

Griffin's Wharf per 1769 map of Boston (A new plan of ye great town of Boston in New England in America with the many additionall buildings & new streets, to the year, 1769) by William Price. This map is somewhat consistent with the 1777 map in that Griffin's wharf is shown at the foot of Hutchinson St. (but slightly eastward), Griffin's Wharf is shown as an extension of Gridley Street Hubbard's Wharf is shown to the east of Griffin's. We will see that this location for Griffin's Wharf is confirmed by the 1800 map.

Griffin's Wharf per 1777 map of Boston (A plan of the town of Boston with the intrenchments &ca. of His Majesty's forces in 1775, from the observations of Lieut. Page of His Majesty's Corps of Engineers, and from those of other gentlemen. ) by Sir Thomas Hyde Page. This map is somewhat consistent with the 1769 map in that Griffin's wharf is shown at the foot of Hutchinson St. with the back of the wharf slightly westward. However, note that the end of Griffin's Wharf is shown as eastward from a line passing through Hutchinson St. since the wharf is shown slightly at an angle to the street. Hubbard's Wharf shown as end of Oliver(s) St. Griffin's Wharf is shown to the west of Hubbard's and slightly to the west of Hutchinson's Street (which will by 1838 be renamed Pearl Street). This is the map found (with annotation) in Boston Tea Party, the Trigger of our Revolution.

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• Where was Griffin's Wharf in 1800? Snippet from A New Plan of Boston, From Actual Surveys (1800), map14-d by Osgood Carleton from Mapping Boston.
  • Belcher's Lane has now become Purchase Street. That which will later be Broad Street (and eventually modern Atlantic Ave.) has yet to be filled in and is entirely missing in some areas, and in the Griffin's Wharf area, in particular
  • Oliver Street had already obtained it's modern name. The wharf at its end is no longer Hubbard's Wharf, but is now Sears' Wharf. Ft. Hill Wharf would later be in this same location.
  • I'd have to see a larger version to be sure, but the street name slightly to the west of Griffin's Wharf looks very much as if it could be Gridley St.. It is seen essentially as an extension of Hutchinson St. (presentday location of Pearl St.).
  • Griffin's Wharf is now seen to be slightly to the east of what is now Pearl St. and serves to confirm the Griffin's Wharf location in the 1769 map, above.
  • This location for Griffin's Wharf is closer to that of the later Liverpool Wharf, which was given as the "former Griffin's Wharf".
  • It may be noted in this map that the foot of the wharf is shown as being slightly to the east of Hutchinson (later Pearl) Street, but a dog-leg in the wharf places the end of the wharf almost directly in-line with Hutchinson Street. Compare this with its outline in the following map.
  • This map is considered to be one of the more reliable resources in determining the location of Griffin's Wharf.
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• Where was Griffin's Wharf in 1838? Snippet from Boston, 1838, map 15-dt1, by G. W. Boynton from Mapping Boston.
  • Pearl Street had assumed its modern name. It was formerly Hutchinson Street.
  • The short street between Purchase and Broad (now Atlantic Ave) and just west of Pearl is shown on this and all the other maps. It is shown unnamed here, but its modern name is Gridley Street.
  • The map is described as being somewhat schematic and less accurate than one would like.
  • Broad Street (later to become Atlantic Ave.) no longer shows gaping missing portions as we saw in the 1800 map.
  • This is as the old Griffin's Wharf area would have looked immediately before any filling in that area.
  • Ft. Hill Wharf may now be seen at the end of Oliver Street. This was shown as Sears' Wharf in 1800, and as Hubbard's Wharf during 1769-1777.
  • We can just barely see the L for what has to be Liverpool, the (approximate, or such is my opinion) successor to Griffin's Wharf. It is distinctly in the immediate vicinity of modern Gridley St. and Pearl Street. The foot of the wharf is still essentially in line with Pearl (formerly Hutchinson) street, but note that the distinctive westward dog-leg is gone and all additions to the wharf have been built to its east side.
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• What was the status of the "old Griffin's Wharf area" in 1855?
  Snippets from Boston, 1855 , map16-d, by George G. Smith from Mapping Boston.
  • This map is described as quite accurate and was the official city map.
  • In the upper right hand corner of this map can be seen the old Griffin's Wharf area. The legends are barely visible, so one must be familiar with the streets (note other maps of the area) to see the exact area.
  • High Street and Broad Street (now Atlantic Avenue) are labelled.
  • The short street known today (and in 1769-1777) as Gridley Street is labelled, but is unreadable and a small wharf can be seen at the end of it.
  • A much larger wharf, probably Liverpool Wharf can be seen just to the east of Pearl Street. The outline of the wharf seen in the 1838 map is continued, tending to confirm that as the wharf was enlarged, all expansion was to its east side.
  • Once again, one can see some missing areas in Broad St. (later Atlantic Avenue).
  • What is immediately obvious is that no noticeable filling had occurred in the the old Griffin's Wharf area in 1855.
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• Was the Boston Tea Party at Atlantic Avenue and the Evelyn Moakley Bridge? One site given as being the site of the original BTP is that of the Independence Wharf building at 470 Atlantic Avenue per here and here.
  • This Evelyn Moakley Bridge area is shown as location number 4 on the "Distribution of Suggested Locations" map, above. That of the Independence Wharf building is shown as number 3.
  • It also appears to agree with a modern DiscoverySchool map (no longer on-line, from World Book Online). I have also seen what appears to be this same location in a National car rental company Boston map.
    
  • The comments below the frontispiece map in Labaree's The Boston Tea Party would appear to substantiate this general area, but Labaree, p.141, clarifies the site by giving the route to it as down Milk Street, unto to Hutchinson Street (modern Pearl Street) and on to Griffin's Wharf.
  • This 1722 Bonner map of Boston was edited at some point to show Hubbard's wharf at the end of what today is Oliver Street. I have seen another copy of the Bonner map (no longer online) on an Amherst College site that showed no names for the wharfs in this area.
  • MapQuest Map of Independence Wharf building location. The Evelyn Moakley Bridge connects Oliver Street and Seaport Boulevard.
  • Per the old maps, assuming that Oliver Street is where is was 1777, it would appear that this would have been the Rev War location of Hubbard's Wharf, and not that of Griffin's Wharf.
  • See What Happened at Hubbard's Wharf?
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• Was the Boston Tea Party near the Northern Avenue Bridge? Another site that is given as the modern location of the BTP site is "near the Northern Ave. bridge" (what it was initially called before being officially named).
  • The old Northern Avenue Bridge area is shown as location number 2 on the "Distribution of Suggested Locations" map, above. The Evelyn Moakley Bridge, initially called the "new Northern Avenue bridge", is shown as number 4.
  • An example is: Boston Harbor History from the New England Aquarium.
  • These references do not make it clear whether they mean the original Northern Ave. bridge, or the Evelyn Moakley Bridge (opened in 1996, but still not shown on some maps). This bridge was unofficially referred to early on as "the new Northern Ave. bridge".
  • The comments below the frontispiece map in Labaree's The Boston Tea Party would appear to substantiate this general area, but Labaree, p.141, clarifies the site by giving the route to it as down Milk Street, unto to Hutchinson Street (modern Pearl Street) an on to Griffin's Wharf.
  • The Evelyn Moakley Bridge connects Oliver St. and Seaport Blvd and is the site of Hubbard's Wharf as shown on the 1777 map.
  • The 1722 Bonner map of Boston (see snippet above) was edited at some point to show Hubbard's wharf at the end of what today is Oliver Street. I have seen another copy of the Bonner map (no longer online) on an Amherst College site that showed no names for the wharfs in this area.
  • The old Northern Ave. Bridge, now reduced to foot traffic only, is a short distance to the north, and this location would have been between Hubbard's Wharf and Gibb's Wharf on the 1777 map.
  • A description of the BTP having occurred "near the Northern Ave. Bridge" is inconsistent with the 1769 and the 1780 maps, shown above.
  • See What Happened at Hubbard's Wharf?
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• Where I Believe the Boston Tea Party Site To Be
  • If we assume that:
    1. the event occurred at Griffin's Wharf, essentially unquestioned,
    2. the 1769 map and the 1800 map accurately show the location of Griffin's Wharf.
    3. Pearl Street is where Hutchinson Street was in 1769-1777, and
    4. Purchase Street is where Belcher's Lane was during the Revolution,
    then we can create maps showing the approximate location of where the BTP took place.
    • It occurred at what was later called Liverpool Wharf, but probably slightly to the westward side of it since we saw that the earliest positions shown for Griffin's Wharf were slightly to the east of a line extending from Hutchinson (later Pearl) St., but subsequent outlines for the wharf showed it diminished on its west side and increased on it east side, effectively shifting it eastward.
    • Since the tea was thrown from two ships alongside the wharf and from a third anchored nearby, it can be surmised that the area where the tea was thrown overboard would have been 50 to 100 feet wide (depending on whether two ships were on the same or opposite sides of the wharf) and perhaps 200 feet long (allowing for the ship at anchor). It is known that some of the tea then floated for considerable distances. We are trying to place a mark showing where Griffin's Wharf would have ended.
    • MapQuest map showing site of BTP as slightly east of extension of Pearl St.. Zoom all the way in.
  • This site is close (but slightly westward) to that shown as number 5 (Liverpool Wharf) on the "Distribution of Suggested Sites map, above.
  • The comments below the frontispiece map in Labaree's The Boston Tea Party describes the site as immediately south of Fort Hill, but Labaree, p.141, clarifies the site by giving the route to it as down Milk Street, unto to Hutchinson Street (modern Pearl Street) and on to Griffin's Wharf.
  • Coordinates of my estimate of Boston Tea Party site (identified in larger print in the picture below as Boston Tea Party: 42.3536�N, 71.0524�W (WGS84/NAD83).
    Image courtesy of the US Geological Survey via TerraServer.Microsoft.com

  • What's there now?
    
    • "Intercontinental Boston", hotel and luxury condos, 500 Atlantic Avenue, to be completed in 2006. Images above are artist's renderings from the "Residences at the Intercontinental" site.
    • By comparing these images with the aerial view of the formerly empty lot, above, one can see that the Boston Tea Party site is:
      • beneath the building,
      • under the western 1/5 of the building, and
      • approximately 1/5 the depth of the building, from Atlantic Avenue.
    • Hotel is built around a huge ventilation duct structure for the "Big Dig".
      Articles: here, here, here.
      Images: here, here, here, here, and here.
      The "Big Dig" vent towers are clear of the Griffins Wharf site. The enclosing hotel covers most or all of the wharf site.
    • An animated "trip down the proposed (may it be so!) Rose Kennedy Greenway" to the Intercontinental Boston site, also from the "Residences at the Intercontinental" website.
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  • Was the Boston Tea Party just southwest of I-93 and Congress St.?
    • Boston and the American Revolution, National Park Handbook No. 146, p. 78, shows a marker just west of Congress St. and just south of I-93.
    • This site is shown as number 7 on the "Distribution of Suggested Sites map, above.
    • This is approximately the BTP site shown on a map providing directions to the Schepens Institute, an affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.
    • The above proposed location is about 300 feet east of their marked location. It could possibly be a compromise of the positions in the 3 Rev War era maps for which snippets are shown.
    • This site is not consistent with the 1769 and 1800 maps shown above, to which I give greater credence.
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  • Was the Boston Tea Party just southwest of Purchase St. and Congress St.?
    • This site is shown as number 7 on the "Distribution of Suggested Sites map, above.
    • This 1995 NPS map (snippet above) of Boston historic sights* showed the Boston Tea Party to have occurred at the intersection of Congress and Purchase Streets, one block further inland than that shown in the handbook map, above.
    • This 1999 NPS map of Boston historic sights* also shows the Purchase/Congress location.
    • They are otherwise attractive and useful maps but this is impossible as a location of the Boston Tea Party since it would have been on dry land even before any filling occurred.. Courtesy of The General Libraries at The University of Texas at Austin.
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  • Was the Boston Tea Party at Liverpool Wharf? Another Library of Congress map City of Boston, 1879 (The city of Boston 1879. O. H. Bailey & J. C. Hazen. Armstrong & Co. Lith. Riverside Press.). A snippet of this map (not to scale) is shown here:
    • The Liverpool wharf area is shown as number 5 on the "Distribution of Suggested Sites map, above.
    • Liverpool wharf is given as being the former Griffin's Wharf in 1850 description of Boston Harbor cruises and by Nathaniel Hawthorne in True Stories From New England History, 1620-1808.
    • A case has been made above that the western edge of Liverpool wharf is close to the location of Griffin's Wharf. It can be noted that it was the rule rather than an exception that Boston wharves tended to grow and to change their shape. It would be my position that Liverpool Wharf "grew eastward" from it's Griffin's Wharf beginnings. Actually the warehouse shown connecting Liverpool Wharf and Pearl St. Wharf might well be sitting on the remains of the original Griffin's Wharf.
    • Assuming that Oliver street remains where it was in 1777, The Ft. Hill Wharf in 1879 would have been Hubbard's wharf during 1769-1777.
    • Russia Wharf is also labelled on this map as Eastern Ave., but is an extension of Congress St. and is where the Congress St. Bridge was later built.
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  • What was the status of the "old Griffin's Wharf area" in 1891?
    Snippet from Boston, 1891 , map 17-dt2, from Mapping Boston.
    • Some small amount of filling had occurred in the old Griffin's Wharf area, particularly in the immediate area of the wharfs.
    • No missing areas are shown in what would be the modern Atlantic Avenue (and may well have been its name in 1891).
    • Liverpool Wharf can be seen just to the east of Pearl Street.
    • Ft. Hill Wharf can be seen at the end of Oliver Street.
    • Congress Street Bridge is already in place, although is described elsewhere as built in 1899.
    • A street lies between Pearl and Oliver Streets that no longer exists.
    • Russia Wharf can be seen in line with modern Gridley Street (and probably called Gridley at the time this map was made). This same wharf was named Pearl St. Wharf in the 1879 map.
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  • What was the status of the old "Griffin's Wharf area" in 1899? Another Library of Congress map Boston 1899 (Boston 1899. By E. A. [sic] Downs. Geo. H. Walker & Co. Lith. ). A snippet of this follows:
    • It is reasonable that the break in the buildings west of Pearl St. n. of Purchase St. is that of Gridley St.
    • Ft. Hill Wharf is still seen at the end of Oliver St., corresponding to the 1777 position of Hubbard's Wharf.
    • Liverpool Wharf is plainly east of Pearl St. The 1769 map showed Griffin's Wharf to be slightly east of Pearl St., but not quite as far east as the area I have identified as Liverpool Wharf
    • I'd conclude that the Griffin's Wharf site is just east of the buildings found at the corner of Congress Street and Atlantic Avenue, which remains true today.
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  • What was the status of the "old Griffin's Wharf area" in 1903? The Boston 1903 15' topo map (from Historic USGS Maps of New England shows the addition of the Congress St. bridge, but does not yet show the (old) Northern Ave. bridge. An enlarged snippet with added captions follows:
    • Gridley St. can be seen.
    • The original Northern Avenue Bridge has not yet been built.
    • Some indications of what may be the old wharfs can be seen.
    • A street between Oliver and Pearl streets is shown that apparently no longer exists.

  • What was the status of the old Griffin's Wharf area in 1927? Snippet from Boston and Surroundings, 1927 (Map 18-dt1) from Mapping Boston.
    • (Old) Northern Avenue Bridge has long been in use.
    • The Fort Point Channel appears essentially as it does today, in regard to filling.
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  If you have better information on locating the site of the Boston Tea Party, please write John Robertson

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  Interesting links

  • Boston: History of the Landfills , Animated gif of all the filling (great!).
  • Alex Krieger, David Cobb and Amy Turner, Mapping Boston, MIT Press, 1999. Contents & contributors: here, and here (page down) Locating with Bookfinder.
  • Nancy S. Seasholes, Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston, MIT Press, 2003. review, description, lecture, interview
  • Mohawks, Axes and Taxes, from Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy by Donald A. Grinde, Jr. and Bruce E. Johansen. I note that these authors describe Griffin's Wharf as being at the end of Pearl Street.
  • Some sites "more or less" dealing with the location of the Boston Tea Party, not necessarily in agreement with this webpage:
    • Boston Tea Party location is steeped in controversy.
    • Boston Hopes Remains of Tea Party Emerges From Mud
  • Boston links.
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  Endnotes

  1. Benjamin Woods Labaree, The Boston Tea Party, Oxford University Press, 1966. 347 pages, including 65 pages of notes and sources. This is a thoroughly researched account of the Boston Tea Party and related events. The map it uses is that by Witworth, 1775. Locating with Bookfinder.
  2. Boston and the American Revolution, Official National Park Handbook No. 146, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington DC, 1998, Locating via Bookfinder.com.
  3. Alex Krieger and David Cobb, ed., with Amy Turner, Mapping Boston, MIT Press, 1999. Locating with Bookfinder.
  4. A Plan of the Town and Harbor of Boston..., 1775, found in the George Peabody Library of Johns Hopkins University. Drawn by Richard Witworth, 1775, published by J. DeCosta, London. This map is the frontispiece map for Labaree's The Boston Tea Party, above (given as by J. DeCosta who was actually the publisher rather than the cartographer). Only a crude schematic of Boston streets is shown in this map. No online image of this map has been found.
  5. John Harris, ed., Boston Tea Party, the Trigger of our Revolution, Boston Globe, 1974. 80 pages. This can still be obtained on the used book market. It likely has more illustrations, many from color portraits of the principal players, than will be found in any other book on the Boston Tea Party. The map it uses that by Lt. Page, 1777 with modern annotations. Locating with Bookfinder.

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  8/28/2005 3:05PM

  
  
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