Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel separating

South Boston South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...

from

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History Since ...

. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

and several

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

s (specifically the

Central Artery The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts; it is designated as Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3. The original Artery, constructed in the 1950s, was named after ...

and the Southeast Expressway). At its south end, the channel once widened into South Bay, from which the Roxbury Canal continued southwest where the

Massachusetts Avenue Massachusetts Avenue may refer to: * Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston), Massachusetts ** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Orange Line station), a subway station on the MBTA Orange Line ** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Silver Line station), a stati ...

Connector is now. The

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...

occurred at its northern end. The channel is surrounded by the Fort Point neighborhood, which is also named after the same colonial-era fort. The banks of the channel are still busy with activity. South of Summer Street on the west side of the channel is a large

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

facility. A large parcel, home to

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

, lies at the southeast corner of the channel. The back of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston building looks over the channel, and another federal building, the

John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is a federal courthouse for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, located on Fan Pier on the Boston, Massac ...

, lies on Fan Pier at the mouth of the channel. One of Boston's odder attractions, the Hood Milk Bottle, lies on the banks as well, next to Boston Children's Museum. During the 1980s, a nightclub and popular concert venue called

The Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

was located on the South Boston bank. On October 21, 2011, Fort Point Pier opened for public use south of the Summer Street Bridge. To prepare for construction, a section of the Fort Point Channel seawall south of Necco Court was restored by P&G Gillette. Public access has made Fort Point Channel popular for

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

and standup paddle boarding.

Crossings

The following bridges and tunnels cross or used to cross the channel, from north to south, with building/opening dates: *

Northern Avenue Bridge The Northern Avenue Bridge, also known as the Old Northern Avenue Bridge, is a bridge that spans Fort Point Channel Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1908, it was closed to vehicle traffic in 1997 and operated as a pedestrian bridge until December ...

Evelyn Moakley Bridge The Evelyn Moakley Bridge is a bridge that connects Downtown Boston to the Seaport District. It was named for the late wife of Congressman Joe Moakley on October 4, 1996, shortly after her death. At the eastern end of the bridge is the John Joseph ...

(New Northern Avenue/Seaport Boulevard) * Silver Line tunnel *

Congress Street Bridge The Congress Street Bridge carries NY 2 across the Hudson River connecting Watervliet, New York with Troy, New York. See also *List of fixed crossings of the Hudson River This is a list of bridges and other crossings of the Hudson River, fr ...

, 1930 (replaced an 1874-built swing bridge at same location) * Summer Street Bridge, 1899 *

New York and New England Railroad The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was ...

(gone) * Mount Washington Avenue Bridge (gone) * Fort Point Channel tunnel (

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

) * Dorchester Avenue Bridge (formerly Federal Street Bridge) * Atlantic Avenue Viaduct (gone) *

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

and the wye connection to the west-facing lines (now used by the

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

) and the Red Line tunnel roughly underneath * Broadway Bridge (relocated, new bridge opened January 19, 199

The channel now ends here; the remaining bridges cross the South Bay Yard. * West Fourth Street Bridge, 1958 (formerly Dover Street, with an older bridge) *

South Boston Bypass Road South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

on a long diagonal bridge, now used by the

and trains to the South Boston Freight Terminal - this bridge passed under the next two *

Southampton Street Southampton Street is a street in central London, running north from the Strand to Covent Garden Market. There are restaurants in the street such as Bistro 1 and Wagamama. There are also shops such as The North Face outdoor clothing shop. ...

(formerly Swett Street) *

(formerly East Chester Park)

References

Fort Point Channel Watersheet Activation Plan

External links

Friends of Fort Point Channel

City of Boston's free walking tour of Fort Point

Fort Point Channel BostonFort Point Pier
{{Coastal waterbodies of Massachusetts South Boston Financial District, Boston Channels of the United States Landforms of Boston Cultural history of Boston Bodies of water of Massachusetts Seaport District