Shaping the Charles: Mapping, Moving and Bridging the River

For more than three hundred years, New Englanders and others have sought to represent, harness, cross, and shape the Charles River.  Maps of the Charles date back to the French explorer Samuel Champlain in the early seventheenth century.  Modern geographers and geologists have devised more complex ways of representing the river.  New Englanders have devised many ways to cross the Charles, from the first regular ferry service between Charlestown and Boston in 1631 through today's elegant and expensive Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.  And, particularly in the nineteenth century, but also before and since, New Englanders have physically changed the shape, size and location of the Charles through large landscape engineering projects.  The images and text on this page will introduce you to some of these projects to shape the Charles.


Mapping the Charles:

A Profile Map of the Charles

Crossing the Charles:

A Nineteenth-Century Bridge

Moving the Charles:

The Charles in 1775