Fort Point is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

or district of

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and where a

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

stood which guarded the city in colonial times.

History

Fort Hill was located near what is today the intersection of Oliver and High Streets. At least until 1675, (see

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

) the hill jutted out into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, hence the designation of being a "point". Its height and proximity to the sea made the hill an advantageous point to put defensive

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

s. Between 1866 and 1872, the City of Boston undertook a redevelopment project on Fort Hill in attempt to add more land for business facilities. The project called for the Hill to be leveled, for the streets to be widened, and for all buildings to be razed. Today the land is flat and largely occupied by the towers of International Place.

Landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

has also extended the shoreline outward, so the location of the old fort is no longer directly on the waterfront. The boundaries of the modern neighborhood of Fort Point are somewhat ill-defined. At its broadest extent, it includes the land a few blocks on either side of the Fort Point Channel (which due to landfill is considerably smaller than it was in colonial times). The Fort Point artists' community is located on the opposite side of the channel. This is also called the

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

. Real estate listings include "Fort Point" locations east of the channel and west of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center and the Boston World Trade Center. (Further south is South Boston proper.) The Boston Redevelopment Authority defines the Fort Point District within the neighborhood of South Boston as "an area of approximately defined by the Fort Point Channel to the west, Summer Street to the north, the Bypass Road to the east, and West 2nd Street to the south." The Summer Street Bridge, which crosses the channel, has a sign which welcomes eastbound travelers to South Boston, and westbound travelers to Fort Point. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

Bulk Mail Center at Fort Point Station is located between the channel and South Station. To the northwest is

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

. The northeastern section of the Fort Point neighborhood, on the east side of the channel, could be said to overlap with the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

. The Fort Point neighborhood was featured in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film ''

The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 crime film, crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both an English-language remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-lif ...

''. An alley between Thompson Place and Farnsworth Street provided the setting for the fictional address "344 Wash." The dramatic views of downtown Boston from the rooftops of Fort Point were prominently featured in the film. In 2001, the Fort Point District was petitioned as a Landmark District with the Boston Landmarks Commission. In 2007, a Mayoral-appointed Study Committee began drafting District guidelines. In December 2008, Mayor Menino and the Boston Landmarks Commission voted in favor of the guidelines which were officially approved on January 28, 2009 by the Boston City Council.

Transportation

Fort Point is served by the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

via Broadway station and South Station as well as bus routes #7, #9, #11 and #47. The

Silver Line (MBTA) The Silver Line is a system of bus routes in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It is operated as part of the MBTA bus system, but branded as bus rapid transit (BRT) as part of ...

bus rapid transit (BRT) system serves parts of Fort Point. Several water taxi companies serve Fort Point locations along Fort Point Channel such as Atlantic Wharf, Children's Wharf and 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 ...

/Fan Pier connecting to Rowes Wharf and Logan International Airport. With the rapid growth of Fort Point, private shuttles have supplemented public transportation to the neighborhood. The Southie Shuttle, Cultural Connector and Channel Center Shuttle are some of the private transportation services. In 2013, plans were announced that diesel rail service would connect the South Boston Waterfront to Back Bay.

Points of interest

*Grand Circle Gallery: 347 Congress Street *300 Summer Street Artist Building * Artists for Humanity *Art Basin: in Fort Point Channel * Boston Children's Museum *Design Innovation Gallery: 63 Melcher Street *Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC) Gallery: 300 Summer Street *Fort Point Pier *FP3 Gallery: 346 Congress Street *Hood Milk Bottle * Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston *Midway Studios Artist Building *Midway Channel Gallery: 15 Channel Center Street *Northern Avenue Bridge * Walter Feldman Gallery: 15 Channel Center Street

References

External links

Fort Point Neighborhood Alliance official website

Fort Point Artist Community

Fort Point Theatre Channel

Seaport Alliance for a Neighborhood Design (SAND)

Fort Point Stage & Outdoor Movie Series

Fort Point Blog

Boston Public Library
- photos of Ft. Point from the Boston Wharf Company
Fort Point Channel Boston Blog

Seaport Boston History Pics
- Then-and-Now photos of Fort Point & Seaport {{BostonMA Neighborhoods in Boston Fort Point, Boston