#pointshirley

“From Water-Tower Hill to the brick prison......” - #PointShirley . . . The Winthrop Water Tower atop Great Head as seen from the sea wall on #YirrellBeach. Quick facts I found about the water tower: it was built in 1910, it’s empty (is that true?), it didn’t used to have a cover, originally gray- it was painted red, white & blue for the Bicentennial , #EdwardRoweSnow once lived on Water Tower Hill (he later lived in Marshfield, his books about Boston Harbor are great). . . The prison in the poem would be Deer Island Prison which closed in 1991, replaced by the giant egg shaped “digesters” of the current water treatment plant. Esther Greenwood visits Deer Island Prison in Plath’s #TheBellJar. Deer Island was an island until the 1938 Hurricane connected it to Shirley Gut. #lookingforsylviaplath #igersboston #igersmass #deerisland (at Winthrop, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtM_dsYA29s/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yss3xgech62u

“........Of her hand, the house still hugs in each drab Stucco socket/The purple egg-stones: from Great Head’s knob” - #PointShirley . . . This rock wall with its egg shaped stones (some purple) was built by #SylviaPlath’s Grandmother. Just past #YirrellBeach on Shirley Ave the home with its “sand yard” is the subject of the poem Point Shirley. Great Head from where the stones where gathered down the road with its red, white and blue striped water tower #lookingforsylviaplath #urbanarcheology (at Yirrell Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtM0iJRgCAG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=e5tfxqfm323q

#AlwaysReadthePlaque Point Shirley, Yirrell Beach- Winthrop M. . . "Once known as Pullen Poynte, the Point contains a considerable part of the history of the north side of #BostonHarbor. The first Governor Massachusetts Bay Colony, Gov. #JohnWinthrop had become the owner of #PointShirley and the Winthrop Beaches with his youngest son Deane in 1637. In 1753 a Fishing Station was established by Royal Governor William Shirley. Governors #JohnHancock and James Bowdoin enjoyed summer homes on Siren Street about this time. Although the Fishing enterprise was short-lived, a Salt Works operated by Charles Sturgis thrived from 1812 until 1841. The Revere Copper Company operated by the sons and grandsons of #PaulRevere flourished from 1845 until 1869. The Copper Works wharf from the foot of Otis Street was enlarged for railroad and steamboat connections in 1884. . The Taft Hotel, or world fame, was a feature of Point Shirley the latter half of the nineteenth century. Many prominent political and literary personages came here, including #RalphWaldoEmerson and #OliverWendellHolmes. . #ShirleyGut, now closed forever, once was a considerable waterway. Lying between the Point and Deer Island, a fierce battle between British and American Patriots was fought during the Revolutionary War, where the brave Captain Mugford lost his life. And here brave Point minutemen stood guard from the fortification at the top of the hill." . . . . . #igersmass #historic #historicmarker #instahistory #winthrop #winthropma (at Point Shirley) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtMB1YnAMoL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hdxx59xnqm20

A little slice of heaven. 🍕 #winthropbythesea #pizza #watertower #pointshirley #yirell #beach #summertime #beachscape #seascape #massachusetts #newengland (at Yirrell Beach)