Last updated: January 22, 2024
Place
"Life and Work in the Navy Yard in 1812" Sign
NPS Photo/MWoods
Quick Facts
Location:
Northwest side of 1st Avenue along the grassy lawn, southeast of tennis courts.
Significance:
Wayside
Description
Low-profile wayside that is 42.5 x 24.5 inches. It has a black rectangular base with two rectangular pillars supporting the panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The sign is located on the sidewalk at the bottom of a sloped grassy lawn southeast of the tennis courts. Beyond the tennis courts is the Commandant's House.
Layout
At the top of the sign is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Boston National Historical Park – Charlestown Navy Yard." Aligned to the right in order from left to right is the USS Constitution Museum logo, the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the sign is below the black banner in large white font. The panel has a transparent light blue background that covers a historic image. The same image is used as the main image of the sign. This image spans two thirds of the width of the sign. Beneath this image aligned to the left is the image caption. The right third of the sign includes text above two oval color photographs side by side. Captions are beneath each photograph.
Title
Life and Work in the Navy Yard in 1812
Main Image (and faint background image)
A landscape painting of the Charlestown Navy Yard. In the foreground is a dirt road along the bottom edge with a fence boarding the dirt road and the field beyond it. Spanning the middle of the field from left to right is additional four-bar fencing. Trees and bushes are beyond this fence. In the mid-ground of the painting is a solid white fence. Beyond this fence are additional trees and buildings. The central building is yellow and three stories. A solid line inserted onto the painting points to the house identifying the building as "The Commandant's House." A dirt road beginning in the foreground leads up to the house, dividing the fences and fields in the foreground. To the left of this building are three additional multi-story buildings, two are red and another white. To the right of the Commandant’s House are smaller buildings. The building to the far right is identified as "The Marine Barracks" with a solid line printed on the painting. Beyond the building are dark colored hills in the background and a dusk-colored sky. Small people are painted walking along the dirt roads in the painting. A circular stick with "You Are Here" is in the foreground just left of center on top of the mid-ground fence in the field.
Main Image Caption
This early 19th century view of the Yard shows the Commandant's House and Marine Barracks as they looked before extensive renovations changed their facades. [Courtesy US Naval Academy Museum]
Main Text
During the day, workers at the Charlestown Navy Yard built, repaired, and supplied American warships. In the evening, these men left for their homes. Only the Commandant, a few administrative officers, and a detachment of Marines stayed behind. The Commandant and his assistants lived close to their work. As protectors of public property, Marines kept watch over the Yard at all times. After living in a leaky shed for 10 years, the Marines received money to build proper barracks. Marines constructed most of the building themselves, finishing it in 1811. Over the next 150 years, the barracks they lived in and the sites they protected changed. Still, the Marines and the commandants they served called the Navy Yard home.
Left Oval Image
A four-story Federal Style building that sits atop a small hill surrounded by green space. The building consists of red brick and white painted wood. The main building has two bowed bays with flat roofs. The front of the main building has a covered porch with narrow Doric columns built on arched brick piers that wrap around the left and right side of the building. The covered porch has three round-arched windows. In front of the building are shrubs and grassy hill that the house sits upon. A tree behind the house to the left has no trees, but a tree in the foreground on the right side of the picture has a tree full of fall colored leaves.
Left Oval Image Caption
The Commandant's House
Right Oval Image
A four stories tall, eleven bays long, and five bays deep building. The first floor exterior is primarily painted a mint green while the upper levels are primarily painted white. Two brick towers divide the south façade of the building into three sections, with 5 bays in between them. The towers have four-light windows at the location of the landings for the staircases. An arch over the entrance in the center of the building has a red sign. In front of the building is a large grassy area.
Right Oval Image Caption
The Marine Barracks