Visiting Charlestown Navy Yard

About a month ago Nick and I visited Charlestown Navy Yard. Our main goal was to take a tour of the USS Constitution, world’s “oldest floating commissioned naval vessel”, but once there we discovered many other areas to explore.

While walking around, we saw one of the nation’s first dry docks, built in the 1830’s. We also saw several austere looking granite buildings, which apparently have been designed by Alexander Parris—the same architect who created Quincy Market in Boston and introduced a “large scale use of granite in structural facades.”

One of these granite buildings we encountered was a ropewalk—a building where ropes used to be made—also designed by Alexander Parris. A ropewalk building had to be really long, because workers walked backwards twisting the fibers to create a long rope segment. The ropewalk in Charlestown Navy Yard is the oldest ropewalk still standing in the country. Unfortunately, we could only see the building from the outside, and sadly it looked like it was in disrepair.

Before boarding the USS Constitution, we took a tour of USS Cassin Young, a Navy destroyer that was active in the Pacific during World War II. The ship has been decommissioned and preserved as a memorial museum ship, maintained and operated by the National Park Service.

The tour took us to the lower decks describing what it would have been like to live and work on the ship. Back on the main deck, I found the galley to be most intriguing with its enormous mixer and three stock pots big enough to fit a person.

Unlike USS Cassin Young, USS Constitution is still a commissioned US Navy ship. A US Navy officer dressed in a 19th century sailor uniform gave us an overview of the ship's history. Touring the lower decks, we got to see the ship’s guns and sailors’ quarters. (Apparently, back then sailors on a ship slept in hammocks.)

Launched back in 1797, USS Constitution is maintained and operated by the Navy with a crew of 60 officers and sailors. Since it was restored to be able to sail under its own power in 1997, it makes a “turnaround cruise” every year usually around the 4th of July. Unfortunately, there will be no cruise this July, because the ship is currently being repaired, but the work is expected to be completed by the fall.