Copp's Hill Terrace is an historic

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

and park between Commercial and Charter Streets west of Jackson Avenue on

Copp's Hill Copp's Hill is an elevation in the historic North End of Boston, Massachusetts. It is bordered by Hull Street, Charter Street and Snow Hill Street. The hill takes its name from William Copp, a shoemaker who lived nearby. Copp's Hill Burying G ...

in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts near

Copp's Hill Burying Ground Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a historic cemetery in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1659, it was originally named "North Burying Ground", and was the city's second cemetery. History The cemetery was founded on Februa ...

. A landscaped arrangement of granite steps, knee-walls and banisters with cast-iron parapets ascending to a large plaza overlooking Commercial Street and the mouth of the

Mystic River The Mystic River is a riverU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in Massachusetts, in the United States. In Massachusett, means "large estuary," alluding to t ...

, the terrace was designed in the 1890s by landscape architect Charles Eliot of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, and built by Boston contractor Perkins & White. From the terrace, a large crowd observed the destruction wrought by Boston's Great Molasses Flood of 1919. Copp's Hill Terrace was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1990.

African-American History

A small community of free African Americans lived on the steep slope of Copp's Hill from the 17th to the 19th century. Members of this community were buried in the

, where a few remaining headstones can still be seen today, including that of

Prince Hall Prince Hall (1807) was an American abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston. He founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and lobbied for education rights for African American children. He was also active in the back-to-Africa movem ...

, the founder of

Prince Hall Freemasonry Prince Hall Freemasonry is a branch of North American Freemasonry for African Americans founded by Prince Hall on September 29, 1784. There are two main branches of Prince Hall Freemasonry: the independent State Prince Hall Grand Lodges, most of ...

Images

Image:Copp's Hill Terrace Boston.jpg, Copp's Hill Terrace

References

1893 establishments in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Geography of Boston Parks in Massachusetts North End, Boston {{Boston-NRHP-stub

African-American History

Images

See also

References