"The Changing Yard" Sign

Sign titled, "The Changing Yard."

NPS Photo/MWoods

Quick Facts

Location:

Dry Dock 1

Description

Low-profile wayside that is 36.5 x 24.5 inches. It has a semi-cylindrical base with two rectangular pillars supporting the panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The sign is located off of 1st Avenue, on cement directly in front of Dry Dock 1. 

Layout

At the top of the sign is a black banner with white text. The text includes the title, “The Changing Yard,” aligned to the left. Aligned to the right in the banner are two columns of two lines of text. The first column of text is “Boston National Historical Park,” followed by “Charlestown Navy Yard.” The second column states “National Park Service,” followed by “U.S. Department of the Interior.” The rest of the panel has a gray background with black text and black and white images. The text and images are arranged in three rows. The top row feature two columns of images. The image on the left is a square. The image on the right is a long rectangle that spans roughly two-thirds of the row. The middle row features the main text divided between three columns. A quote within this main text is italicized and begins at the bottom of the first column of text and ends at the top of the second column of text. The bottom row is similar to the top row because it has two images, but the bottom row features two rectangular images side-by-side with each spanning half of the width of the sign. Each image has a caption in the right-hand corner in italicized black font.

Image (top row, left)

 A black and white landscape of the Charlestown Navy Yard in the 1850s. In the foreground are ten people standing in front of a fenced-in field, which is depicted in two-thirds of the mid-ground of the drawing. On the left side of the image is a little boy playing “rolling the hoop.” He wears dark clothes and a dark hat and stands to the right of a tree that extends up the drawing’s left side. To his right, a man in a dark uniform faces the field. To his right are three soldiers walking to the right along the field’s fence. They wear light pants, dark hats, and carry guns. To their right, a little girl, a woman, and a little boy stand on grass in the center of the image. The little girl, wearing a light dress, stands to the left of the woman and holds her hand. The woman is in a dark dress and holds a sunshade in her other hand. The little boy wears a dark jacket and dark hat and stands to the right. The side-profiles of a man and woman standing arm in arm are to the right of the woman and children. The man wears dark clothing and is holding a cane in his right hand. The woman is wearing a light bonnet and light dress. The couple walks on wooden planks that extend along the bottom of the drawing. A little further back in the sketch, near the forward right corner of the field is a large tree. Five people stand to the right of the tree, alongside the fence. Two more people stand to the left of the tree. Another person stands to the left of them, alongside the fence. The sky takes up most of the image’s background. Trees line the left side of the fenced-in field. Three white buildings are towards the rear of the field. One is a small barn, which is in front of a multi-story building, while another multi-story building is to the right. A large American flag is raised on a pole on the right side of the field and waves over the field. A smattering of trees and a grassy area disappear into the background along the left side of the image. Two large white buildings sit on the horizon, to the right of the field, with plumes of smoke rising from chimneys. More smoke is in the distance from other buildings. Soldiers stand in formation in front of the buildings. The Charlestown Dry Dock with a ship in it is in front of the buildings, to the right of the soldiers. A masted ship is beyond the dry dock in the distance.  

Image Caption

Looking east toward the dry dock in the 1850s. 

Image (top row, right)

A black-and-white aerial view of Charlestown. In the foreground, a highway overpass bisects homes and buildings as it runs from the left middle of the image diagonally towards the bottom. Dark and light multi-story buildings fill the bottom left corner of the image and continue on the other half of the image to the right of the highway. The Charlestown Navy Yard is seen in the center mid-ground of the image and continues to the right. A destroyer sits in the dry dock in front of the building in the center of the image. Behind it are numerous light-colored images. The harbor fills the right top quarter of the image and ships are docked near the yard. The harbor continues through the background of the image. The outline of East Boston is in the background beyond the harbor and docks jut out into the water along the harbor.

Image Caption

Looking east past the dry docks in the 1950s. 

Main Text

In its first years, the navy yard consisted of a small dock and several wooden storehouses, surrounded by mud flats and rolling pastures. In 1812, the commandant noted: “the establishment...afforded no advantage or facility for naval purposes...a few temporary wooden buildings were all it contained, except the commandant’s house and the Marine barracks — unenclosed, it was even exposed to the inroads of cattle from the highway.” The navy yard soon changed, keeping pace with the country’s growth and power. Two imposing “shiphouses,” 210 feet long and six stories high, sheltered new 74-gun “ships of the line.” Timber sheds, a mast house, a ropewalk, sail lofts, and wharves crowded the yard. Steam, and later electricity, further transformed the yard. Machine shops, a forge, and foundries now served a navy made of steel. Hemmed in by river and town, the yard pushed into the harbor with piers, railways, and cranes.  

Image (bottom row, left)

A drawing of the Charlestown Navy Yard as seen from the harbor. In the foreground is a dock that extends into the harbor from the left corner of the image. A wooden fence lines the left side of the dock, while barrels line the right side. On the left side of the dock, a man holds a stick or cane in his left arm and his right arm reaches out to a horse on the right that is pulling a two-wheeled buggy away from the water. Towards the end of the dock, another man stands and looks out at the water. The harbor engulfs the rest of the foreground as well as the mid-ground of the drawing. A boat is docked at the end, with its mast rising in the center of the dock. To its left, wooden beams stand upright next to the fence. To the left of the dock and in the water several wooden beams bound together. Two other masts stick out above the wooden fence of the dock. To the right of the dock, a small boat is in the water. Two men are sitting in the bow, while a pile of boxes sits in the stern. The boat is rowed towards a large three-masted ship, likely the USS Constitution, docked in the harbor on the left of the drawing. A sailboat is in the water to the right of the small boat. Light multi-story Navy Yard buildings extend from the left to the right of the background behind the ships and harbor. An American flag on a pole flies in front of the buildings on the left. Four chimneys rise from buildings in the center of the background. Smoke rises to the left from three of them. Smaller one-story buildings are in front of two large buildings in the center of the image. Another American flag waves from a tall pole in front of them. Three five-level buildings are lined up along the harbor on the right side of the drawing. Two three-masted ships are docked in the water in front of them. There is light colored sky above the buildings. In the distant background to the right, past the end of the Navy Yard, is a grassy area with trees and another building.

Image Caption

Seen from the harbor in 1873. 

Image (bottom row, right)

Photo of the Charlestown Navy Yard from across the harbor. Choppy harbor water fills the foreground of the photograph. The Navy Yard itself is in the mid-ground of the image and extends from left to right. Four ships are docked in the left half of the photo with their masts rising into the sky. Multi-story buildings are behind them. In between the third and fourth ships sits a building with an archway. Three chimneys rise from the buildings behind the ships. Another building and archway is to the right of the chimneys. A ship is docked in front of it. A multi-story building is behind that ship to the right. Another ship is to the right. The background of the image features the sky.  

Image Caption

Seen from the harbor in 1922.