Boston Tea Party Museum | 306 Congress Street | Fort Point

Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

czsz said:
Rebuilding this tourist shrine, which is really between Fort Point and downtown anyway, doesn't do much for the actual neighborhood. I say the West Fens are the most improved neighborhood in the last ten years by a long shot, thanks to Boylston development.
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CZ -- Disagree -- not too vehemently -- but I do disagree - the fenish area is much improved from the stand point of a place to live and somewhat better for the pedestrian - but unless you live there -- there is nothing there to attract you to the area that wasn't already there

On the FPC - Boston might just have gotten its own version of Motif #1 or #2 a la Rockport
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

whighlander said:
Needs a couple of An der Spree Biergarten -- then after a long morning taking pix of projects -- a place to sit for a while and unwind mit ein grosse bier!
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It's funny, the instant some years back that I first saw the Spree (the river that runs through Berlin, for anyone who isn't familiar with it) and the great cafes and bars along it, this is exactly what I thought.

I don't think any other river or waterfront in any other city in the world has immediately made me think, "Fort Point Channel needs to copy from this." There is something highly successful, and highly applicable to Fort Point Channel in particular, about the Spree.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

whighlander said:
CZ -- Disagree -- not too vehemently -- but I do disagree - the fenish area is much improved from the stand point of a place to live and somewhat better for the pedestrian - but unless you live there -- there is nothing there to attract you to the area that wasn't already there

On the FPC - Boston might just have gotten its own version of Motif #1 or #2 a la Rockport
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I agree with you about this building being nice, but as you point out, it does nothing for the people who already live there. That was my point above.

I don't think any other river or waterfront in any other city in the world has immediately made me think, "Fort Point Channel needs to copy from this." There is something highly successful, and highly applicable to Fort Point Channel in particular, about the Spree.
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Really? The Spree feels soo much more intimate to me than Fort Point Channel (it's narrower and lined by shorter buildings for almost its entire length). The latter is far more like the Chicago River than any other space I can think of.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

That's how Broad and Lechmere canals should have been developed :(
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

czsz said:
Really? The Spree feels soo much more intimate to me than Fort Point Channel (it's narrower and lined by shorter buildings for almost its entire length). The latter is far more like the Chicago River than any other space I can think of.
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Nah, if the Spree is too intimate, then the Chicago is at the other end of the spectrum: too wide, and surrounded by buildings (and infrastructure) too, well, big-shouldered to be applicable to FPC, in my opinion.

I see your point about the Spree, but I still have it as my pipe-dream North Star for the FPC...
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

Oh, don't get me wrong, I like the Spree more than the Chicago River, but I just don't think it's realistic to use it as a model for Ft Point Channel, given how different it is.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

Tea Party @ Night from in front of the Children's museum
7000977088_6169559892_z.jpg


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmack24/7000977088/in/photostream
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

These ships are a lolt smaller than I imagined. Are they built at a reduced scale?
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

briv said:
These ships are a lolt smaller than I imagined. Are they built at a reduced scale?
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I believe they are full-size. Dimensioned to carry high-value products.

Firendship-of-Salem_Web.jpg


Friendship of Salem is full-sized, and 171 feet in length, but that includes the bowsprit. Friendship made ten round-trips to India and China roughly over a similar span of years. Again, for high-value products.

Edited to add exact dimensions from NPS:
Overall length, jibboom to spanker boom: 171’
Hull length, transom to figurehead: 116’
Hull breadth: 27’
Draft: 11’3”
Height, keel to deck amidships: 20’
Height of main mast: 120’ to keel, 106’ to deck line
Gross tonnage: 342 tons

And voyage history from launching in 1797.

Friendship made 15 voyages around the world, trading for pepper, exotic spices, sugar, coffee, and other goods. Among her destinations were Canton, China; Java; Sumatra; Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia; Madras, India; La Guaira, Venezuela; London, England; Hamburg, Germany; St.
Petersburg, Russia; Cadiz, Spain; and Leghorn (now Livorno), Italy.

On September 5, 1812, Friendship was returning from Archangel, Russia, when she was captured by the British sloop of war HMS Rosamond. The War of 1812 had commenced in June, but Friendship’s captain, Edward Stanley, was unaware of the hostilities. The ship was condemned as a prize by the British and sold at public auction in London on March 17, 1813.
 
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Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

briv said:
These ships are a lolt smaller than I imagined. Are they built at a reduced scale?
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I believe they're Packet Ships. When bigger ocean goers had to park out in the harbor, they'd use the Packet Ships to ferry the goods in. Could be wrong, but that's what they look like to me.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

I'm guessing they are meant to be representations for the tourists rather than replicas.

There probably weren't any 18th c. cargo ships too big for the harbor. Something this small would have been a coastal trading vessel, and probably would not have been full ship rigged due both to the manpower needed to handle the sheets and the small size of the hull.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

I believe the issue in Boston Harbor was "parking spots" and not depth. You could also easily do an ocean crossing on something this size. I don't know what the roster for Tall Ships this summer is, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were boats even smaller than this.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

Agreed. But you'd use something gaff rigged in the harbor simply because you'd need fewer men to operate it.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

By gaff rigged, you mean a gaff rigged schooner? That's a later era.
 
Re: Boston Tea Party Museum

I'm guessing that the yellow paint is mostly primer. I think the ships will be painted a different color, or at least I think they should be. Yellow is a bit odd IMO, but I'm no ship historian.
 
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