A new and correct plan of the town of Boston


A new and correct plan of the town of Boston

Item Information

Title:
A new and correct plan of the town of Boston
Description:
As an example of late 18th-century British journalistic cartography, this is a reduced version of Page's original map of Boston. Using pictorial symbols, it shows Charlestown in ruins following the British burning of the town during the Battle of Bunker Hill. The major focus of the map, however, is Boston, which was occupied by the British at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. This simplified map emphasizes the city's streets, wharves, and fortifications. Breathing Room exhibition: In 1634, the colonists of Boston voted to tax each household six shillings for the purchase of William Blackstone’s farmland. As was English custom, the field was set aside as a public common, used by the community for military training, cattle grazing, recreation, and public punishment. During the winter of 1775, the Common served as an armed camp with an entrenched garrison of 1,700 British soldiers. Thomas Hyde Page, a military engineer who served as aide-de-camp to British General William Howe, prepared this map of Boston that same year, taking care to label the battery and tents dotting the Common.
Creator:
Page, Thomas Hyde, Sir, 1746-1821
Date:
[1775]
Format:
Maps/Atlases
Location:
Private Collection
Collection (local):
Mapping Boston Collection
Subjects:
Fortification--Massachusetts--Boston
Boston (Mass.)--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Maps--Early works to 1800
Places:
Suffolk (county)Boston
Extent:
1 map ; 27 x 19 cm.
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA).
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Publisher:
London : s.n.
Scale:
Scale not given
Language:
English
Notes:
Relief shown pictorially.
Appears in Gentleman's Magazine. London. 1775.
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Breathing Room: Mapping Boston's Green Spaces" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2018.
Identifier:
06_01_001130
Barcode:
39999052508692