Woodcutting of Winnisimmet Ferry landing

The Winnisimmet Ferry was a ferry between Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States, and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

's North End. Founded in 1631, when Chelsea was called Winnisimmet, it was the oldest ferry in the country. It ceased operations in 1917. The original ferry was started by Thomas Williams (alias Harris) on 18 May 1631. After Harris' untimely death in 1634, William Stitson (who married Thomas' widow Elizabeth) took over the ferry. The Montgomery & Howard shipyard in Chelsea, Massachusetts, built passenger steamboats,

pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting. Pilot boats were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship ...

s, and

ferryboats A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

. They built for the Winnisimmet Ferry Company, Old Colony Steamship Company and the

Fall River Line The Fall River Line was a combination steamboat and railroad connection between New York City and Boston that operated between 1847 and 1937. It consisted of a railroad journey between Boston and Fall River, Massachusetts, where passengers would ...

. A temporary ferry service under the same name began on May 15, 1990, during early

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4&n ...

construction, running between Chelsea and Rowes Wharf in Boston.

References

Chelsea, Massachusetts Ferry companies of Massachusetts Ferry transportation in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-stub