The Handy Boston Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton

the midst of which was erected a large and stately edifice: It was to this that a great company of youths from all parts of the country were going: so stepping in among the crowd, I passed on with them, and presently arrived at the gate. The passage was kept by two sturdy porters named Riches and Poverty, and the latter obstinately refused to give entrance to any who had not first gained the favor of the former; so that I observed, many who came even to the very gate, were obliged to travel back as ignorant as they came, for want of this necessary qualification.

      Did Franklin talk about his youthful days in Boston?

      Yes, and his comments are a fascinating mixture of nostalgia and disdain. He modeled his own early career on that of Reverend Cotton Mather, the industrious Bostonian who penned roughly 450 books, pamphlets, and placards during his amazing career. Franklin admired many aspects of Puritan Boston, but he never regretted the move to Philadelphia; on the contrary, he believed it necessary to break from one’s roots in order to achieve one’s full potential.

      How much do we know about the streets of Boston in the early eighteenth century?

      Thanks to the famous “Bonner Map,” made by Captain John Bonner in 1722, we have a rather good idea of the streets, the cow paths, and even the docks and wharves. We know, for example, that Orange Street, named for Prince William of Orange, was the longest street in town, running all the way from The Neck to the downtown area. Boston Common was larger in the early eighteenth century than it is today: it sprawled over the northwest side of town. The North Mill Dam ran from the Old North End to what is now Beacon Street: the Mill Pond was later filled in, adding to the size of the downtown. King Street, which had some of the most fashionable houses, ran straight from downtown to Long Wharf, which easily dwarfed the other thirty wharves of the town. The Old North End was the most densely populated section of town with Salem, North, and Ship Streets dominating the whole (their twenty-first-century descendants do the same today).

      Boats, ships, and pleasure vessels are shown on the Bonner Map, indicating that Boston was the most nautical of all the towns in colonial North America. Boston was still in first place in terms of maritime activity, but it would soon lose this role, coming in third, behind New York and Philadelphia. But when one examines the Bonner Map, he or she almost inevitably sighs for what once was: a tight-knit town in which almost everyone was known and recognized, and where people got around quite well without cars, taxis, or subways.

      Does the Burgis Map show us the same things as the famous Bonner Map?

No. The Burgis Map was executed about the same time, but it shows primarily the harbor and merchant fleet, rather than the town itself. One clue to the map’s importance lies in its title, however: “A North East View of the Great Town of Boston.” The artist clearly wishes us to think of Boston as London in the New World, and the types of boats that are sketched, while not unrealistic, make Boston Harbor seem rather like the River Thames in downtown London.

      Boston Light in Boston Harbor is the oldest lighthouse in the United States.

      What about Boston Light? When did it come into being?

      Constructed in 1716, Boston Light was the first permanent beacon in any of the original Thirteen Colonies. Three years later, a cannon was placed near the lighthouse so the keeper could warn vessels in a fog. The first known illustration of Boston Light was executed in 1723: the portrait shows a ten-gun sloop passing between the viewer and the lighthouse, which looks to be around fifty feet high. Situated on Little Brewster Island, Boston Light served its purpose very well until the American Revolution, when it was burned twice (once by each side!). When the new stone edifice was erected in 1784, it was meant to be permanent and though Boston Light is not manned today, radar continues to warn sailors of the many dangers involved in entering Boston Harbor.

      Was there any movement to incorporate Boston as a city?

      We sometimes call eighteenth-century Boston a city, but that’s because we don’t take the terminology of the time seriously. In truth, Boston was a town, and was run by a town meeting style of government, the same which had been established in the 1630s. Just to demonstrate that Bostonians were conflicted on the subject, a pamphlet circulated in Boston in the year 1714. Entitled “A Dialogue between a Boston Man and a Country Man,” this pamphlet was one of a kind.

      The Boston Man—as he is identified throughout the pamphlet—speaks against the idea of incorporation, saying that the town and its people will be inundated by new costs and charges. He concludes his argument by declaring that the “ancient rights, and undoubted property of our voting at town meetings” will be taken away. The Country Man—as he is identified—replies that any negative aspects will be overshadowed by the streamlined efficiency that will take place. The Country Man even speaks words on the subject of immigration (perhaps the first ones to enter the American record). “They will be able by this to regulate your town better than now it is, and to take notice who comes into the town; and to let in or keep out who they please.”

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

      We know that the Puritans were a deeply religious people. How did they feel about science?

      Generally speaking, the early Bostonians were deeply practical, and they therefore embraced the aspects of science that seemed likely to help them. There were occasions when they cut off their noses to spite their faces, however.

      Bostonians feared two things more than anything else: death from fire and death from drowning. The town endured roughly six “great fires” between its founding and the 1750s. But in the 1720s, Boston experienced another great fear, and this one came from the appearance of smallpox. Dr. Zabdiel Boylston attempted to inoculate the population, and his methods clearly showed great efficacy, but many Bostonians rejected inoculation as a newfangled and dangerous business. Reverend Cotton Mather, who supported Dr. Boylston, spoke out loudly and often: as a result, someone threw a handmade bomb, or grenade, through his window!

      What did the occasional English visitors think of Boston and its people?

      John Josselyn and John Dunton penned the most noteworthy descriptions of Boston. Both men marveled at the industry of Bostonians and poked fun at the hidebound customs of the Puritans. To be sure, it is unfair to compare Boston with a population of 12,000, to London, which had 750,000. But it’s true that Boston sometimes had a deeply conservative appearance, meaning that its people did not believe in change.

      John Dunton commented that Bostonians liked their beer and ale so much that the taverns were the most important places in town. He did not write very much about Harvard College, but had he spent time in Cambridge, Dunton would have witnessed the rise of a truly fine college, one that combined the best of the new and old styles of learning. Harvard commencement was held on the first Sunday in July in those days, and it usually was a festive event with everyone that was anyone in Boston taking a boat across the Charles for the occasion.

      How did Boston fare during the long peace that came after 1713?

      Queen Anne’s War ended in a draw with England and France stepping back from what had been a truly fratricidal conflict. Massachusetts, indeed most of New England, benefited from the end of the war, but Boston went into a financial funk from which it took decades to recover. It’s difficult to nail down the precise reason, but the appearance of Manhattan and Philadelphia as trade rivals had something to do with it. Boston skippers still took horses, mules, and lumber to the Caribbean, and returned with sugar, molasses, and slaves, but the profits were smaller than in the past.

      Speaking of slavery, how many slaves lived in eighteenth-century Boston?

      Far more than we might think. Slavery was never a big business in Boston, but the upper-class families nearly all had at least one slave to cook and clean. Even at this early stage of the game, Bostonians had highly developed sensibilities, and they referred to these African Americans as servants, rather than slaves. There is no doubt as to their real status, however.

      Blacks also appear in the public records. “Jeremy