Boston, Massachusetts
County of Suffolk. The ancient city of Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, and of New England, and the birth place of American Freedom, is naturally divided into three sections—Old Boston, South Boston, and East Boston, situated at the western extremity of Massachusetts Bay. The peninsula on which Old Boston is built extends from Roxbury, on the south, to Winnesimet Ferry, on the north, and is nearly surrounded by the waters of Boston harbor on the east, and Charles river on the north and west. Its length is nearly three miles, and its average breadth about one mile. It originally contained about 700 acres, but its territory has been greatly extended, by filling up around its borders. Its surface is quite uneven. It has numerous eminences, rising from 50 to 110 feet above the sea, affording admirable sites for building, and giving to it a peculiarly romantic appearance. It is in north Lat. 42°21'23" and west Lon. 71°4'9". It lies 163 miles S.S.W. from Augusta, Me.; 63 S.S.E. from Concord, N.H.; 160 S.E. by S. from Montpelier, Vt.; 158 E. (19' S.) from Albany, N.Y.; 40 N.N.E. from Providence, R.I.; 97 E.N.E. from Hartford, Ct.; 207 N.E. by E. from New York, and 432 miles N.E. by E. from Washington. Its Indian name was Shawmut. It was called by the first settlers Tramount, Tremont, or Trimountain, from three hills nearly at its centre. It took its present name on the 7th of Sept., 1630, in honor of the Rev. John Cotton, second minister of the first church, who came from Boston, in England. The original proprietor of this territory was John Blackstone, who, soon after its settlement by Winthrop and others, removed to Rhode Island. Boston was incorporated as a city, February 23, 1822.
