Shawmut Peninsula

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Shawmut Peninsula

Shawmut Peninsula is the promontory

Promontory

Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
of land on which Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
was built. The peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
, originally a mere in area, is most remarkable for having more than doubled in size due to land reclamation

Land reclamation

Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds, the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state ....
efforts throughout the 19th century.

much of the Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
landscape, the peninsula was shaped by glacial erosion and deposits left by retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age

Ice age

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Encyclopedia

Shawmut Peninsula is the promontory

Promontory

Boston, Massachusetts

Peninsula

Land reclamation

Geology and original topography

Like much of the Massachusetts

Massachusetts

Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
. When Europeans arrived, Shawmut was thickly forested. The pre-settlement topography of the peninsula was marked by three hills: Copps Hill, in what is now the North End

North End, Boston, Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts's North End is the city's oldest residential community, where people have lived continuously since it was settled in the 1630s....
; Fort Hill, in today's Financial District

Financial District, Boston, Massachusetts

The Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States is located in the downtown area near Government Center, Boston, Massachusetts and Chinatown, Boston....
; and the Trimountain, today's Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts

Beacon Hill is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts that is home to about 10,000 people. It is a neighborhood of Georgian architecture rowhouses and is known for its narrow, gas lighting streets and brick sidewalks....
district. Of the three hills, the Trimountain was by far the largest, a steep-sided mass with three summits. Its name was eventually shortened to Tremont. To the south was a narrow isthmus

Isthmus

File:The Spit Bruny Island.jpg File:IsthmusOfPanama.pngAn isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. Of note, the Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North America and South America , and the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connects Africa and Asia ....
named Boston Neck

Boston Neck

The Boston Neck or Roxbury Neck was an isthmus, a narrow strip of land connecting the peninsular Boston, Massachusetts to the mainland city of Roxbury, Massachusetts ....
.

English settlement

The name is derived from Mashauwomuk
Shawmut

Shawmut is a term believed to be derived from the Algonquin word Mashauwomuk referring to the region of present day Boston, Massachusetts. It appears in print very early in the history of New England; records from 1630 note that William Blaxton was "dwelling on the other side of Charles River, alone, at a place by the Indians called Shaw...
, an Algonquin

Algonquin

The Algonquins are an aboriginal peoples in Canada/Indigenous people of North American speaking Algonquin language. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Ottawa and Ojibwe, with whom they form the larger Anishinaabe grouping....
word of uncertain meaning. The first recorded use of "Shawmutt" to describe the peninsula occurs in 1630, by the lone settler William Blackstone

William Blaxton

Reverend William Blaxton was an early British Empire settler in New England, and the first European settler of modern day Boston and Rhode Island....
, in an invitation to John Winthrop

John Winthrop

John Winthrop led a group of England Puritans to the New World in 1630, and joined the Massachusetts Bay Company later that year, and then was elected their governor in October 1629....
to move the site of Winthrop's colonial settlement to the peninsula from what is now Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a part of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts located on a peninsula north of Boston proper. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874....
. The Charlestown peninsula lacked a source of fresh water, while the Shawmut peninsula had an "excellent spring" on the north side of what is now Beacon Hill

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts

Land reclamation

These reclaimation projects began in 1820 and continued intermittently until 1900 and created the Boston neighborhoods of the South End, Back Bay, and Fenway-Kenmore

Fenway-Kenmore

Fenway-Kenmore is an area of Boston, Massachusetts. While it can be considered one neighborhood for administrative purposes, in reality it is composed of numerous neighborhoods with two very different feels, and is rarely referred to as a single entity in casual conversation ....
. The Back Bay Fens

Back Bay Fens

The Back Bay Fens, most commonly called simply The Fens, is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, which in turn gives their name to Fenway Park, the...
, a freshwater

Freshwater

Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids....
urban wild

Urban wild

An urban wild is a remnant of a natural ecosystem found in the midst of an otherwise highly developed urban area....
in the latter area, is a remnant of the saltmarsh

Saltmarsh

A salt marsh is a type of marsh that is a transitional intertidal between land and salty or brackish water . It is dominated by halophyte herbaceous plants....
es that once surrounded Shawmut Peninsula.

Although this project eliminated the wetland

Wetland

File:Mangrove trees in Everglades.JPGA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water....
ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment....
that existed there at the time and would be impossible under modern environmental regulations, it was considered a great boon to the community for two reasons. Firstly, it eliminated the foul-smelling tidal flats that had become polluted

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms ....
with sewage

Sewage

Sewage is the mainly liquid waste containing some solids produced by humans which typically consists of washing water, feces, urine, laundry waste and other material which goes down Plumbing fixture from households and industry....
. Secondly, it created what is now some of the most valuable real estate

Real estate

Real estate is a law term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location. in New England

New England

New England is a region of the United States located in the northeastern corner of the country, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada and New York State, and consisting of the modern U.S....
.