The exact situation of this fort is unknown. No traces of it remain. It is reasonable to suppose, however, that it stood well toward the top of the hill on the southeasterly side, on a spot which would command the approach from Leyden Street (the first thoroughfare) on the east and the approach from the path leading to the fording-place on the south. This path, now Spring Street, leads directly from the hill to Town Brook.
On Sept. 23, 1643, it was agreed that a watchhouse “shall be forthwith built of brick.” This structure stood at the top of the hill, on the southeasterly side, and commanded a wide view of all the country about. Its bounds are marked by four square granite blocks, and a small oval stone on a standard, suitably inscribed, more definitely designates the location. Within recent years pieces of the brick of which this watchhouse, or watch-tower, as it is more commonly called, have been unearthed.
Strolling down the southeasterly slope, the visitor comes to another similar oval stone, which tells us that here stood the old fort, erected in 1621. This may be the site of the first fortification, but history makes no record of it. We have evidence, however, that in 1676, when invasion from King Philip, the Indian chieftain, was feared, a fort was built on this spot, and the conformation of the ground indicates the existence at some time of such a work. On Feb. 19, 1676, the colonists decided to erect a fortification, “to be a hundred foot square, the pallasadoes to be ten foot and a halfe longe; to be sett two foot and a halfe in the Ground; and to be sett against a post and a Rail ... and that there shal be a watch house erected within the said ffence or fortification, and that the three peece of ordnance shal be planted within the said ffence or fortification ... said watch house which is to be sixteen foot in length and twelve foot in breadth and eight foot stud, to be walled with board.”
This construction is significant of the peril of the times and of the stern and unbending determination of the Forefathers. With the close of King Philip’s War the fort was abandoned, and in 1677 the material of which it was built was granted to one William Harlow. Some of the massive timbers were used in the construction of the old Harlow house on Sandwich Street, and are still to be seen.
WILLIAM HARLOW HOUSE, 1677.
Built of timber from old Burial Hill Fort.
The hill was not used as a place of burial until after it was abandoned for defensive purposes. Those of the “Mayflower” company who died the first winter were buried on Cole’s Hill, and, while no traces of their graves remain, a tablet appropriately inscribed marks their resting-place. Others of the Pilgrim band found burial on their own estates, and no man knoweth their sepulchre. The first mention of Burial Hill as a cemetery was in 1698, when Chief Justice Sewall recorded the following in his diary: “I walk out in the morn to see the mill, then turn up to the graves, come down to the meeting-house, and seeing the door partly open went in and found a very convenient place to pray.”
GENERAL VIEW.