Charlestown is a part of the city of Boston, Massachusetts located on a peninsula north of Boston proper. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. While it has had a substantial Irish American population since the migration of Irish during the Irish famine of the 1840s, since the late 1980s the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its close proximity to downtown, and its colonial architecture.

Geography
Charlestown is located north of Boston proper on a peninsula extending southeastward between...

Charlestown is a part of the city of Boston, Massachusetts located on a peninsula north of Boston proper. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. While it has had a substantial Irish American population since the migration of Irish during the Irish famine of the 1840s, since the late 1980s the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its close proximity to downtown, and its colonial architecture.

Geography
Charlestown is located north of Boston proper on a peninsula extending southeastward between the Charles River and the Mystic River. The geographic extent of the neighborhood has changed dramatically from its colonial ancestor. Landfill operations have expanded much of Boston, lowering hills, and have expanded Charlestown, eliminating the narrow Charlestown Neck that connected the northwest end of the Charlestown Peninsula to the mainland. The original territory also included present-day Somerville, Massachusetts, which was incorporated as a separate town in 1842, and the northern part of Arlington. At the time, Charlestown proper was urbanizing, while Somerville was still largely rural.

History
Originally a Puritan English city during the Colonial era (a time to which many of the neighborhood's structures date), Charlestown was founded in 1628, and settled July 4, 1629, by Thomas Graves(founder-Charlestown), Increase Nowell, Rev. Francis Bright, Ralph, Richard and William Sprague (1609"1675) and about 100 others who preceded the Great Migration (Puritan). John Winthrop's company stopped here for some time in 1630, before deciding to settle across the Charles River at Boston.

The territory of Charlestown originally included what is now Stoneham, Massachusetts (until 1725), Somerville, Massachusetts (until 1842), Medford, Massachusetts, Malden, Massachusetts, Everett, Massachusetts, Woburn, Massachusetts, Burlington, Massachusetts, and parts of Arlington, Massachusetts and Cambridge, Massachusetts. >http://books.google.com/booksid=in-5Ueuwn0wC-printsec=frontcover-dq=intitle:History+intitle:of+intitle:Medford+intitle:Massachusetts-lr=-num=50-as_brr=0#PPA2,M1]

On June 17, 1775 the Charlestown Peninsula was the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. In fact, the battle actually took place on Breed's Hill, which overlooked the harbor and the town and was only about 400 yards from the southern end of the peninsula; Bunker Hill was near the northwest end of the peninsula, close to Charlestown Neck and about a mile from the Charles River. The town, including its wharves and dockyards, was destroyed by fire during the battle.