BOSTON — A little-known law dating all the way back to Boston’s founding in 1630 requires that all waterfront spaces in Boston – even if they’re privately owned – have an element that’s available to the public.
But most people don’t know these spaces exist and now a local non-profit has put out a web tool so everyone can take advantage of our beautiful city.
You might not know it, but you have access to some of the biggest waterfront views in the state.
You can thank our forefathers, because colonial-age Bostonians had some pretty great ideas -- including this one that’s finally having its modern moment.
“It goes back to the Justinian Code. And what they thought was that the waterfront shouldn’t really be owned by any one individual,” Jill Valdes Horwood, Boston Harbor Now’s Director of Policy, explained.
Chapter 91 – the Public Waterfront Act – requires that every piece of property on the Boston waterfront has to have at least one element that's accessible to the public.
But the little-known law has been buried in the sands of time and new private construction. So the non-profit Boston Harbor Now decided it’s time to dust off the books – and put them online.
“There’s definitely a need here so we developed this web tool to give folks the ability to have in their pocket, a map of the harbor and all the public amenities you can find,” Valdes Horwood said.
All you have to do is go to the website BostonHarborWalk.org – there you can search by area or by what you want to do.
Whether its finding a public lawn to spread a beach towel and take in the rays – eat lunch with a view – or find a place to barbeque – there’s a lot to see, and we went exploring.
Say you want to … know what's around for a day walking on the Harbor Walk; visit an art gallery for free that you never knew was there; perhaps you want to reserve a conference room for your knitting group; or check out the view from a public observation deck.
You’ll find it hidden inside the private properties that make up the beautiful Boston waterfront, which belongs to everybody.
The Commonwealth formally established the program in 1866, but the philosophy behind Chapter 91 dates back to the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, most notably in the Colonial Ordinances of 1641-1647.
The Colonial Ordinances codified the "public trust doctrine," a legal principle that dates back nearly 2000 years, which holds that the air, the sea and the shore belong not to any one person, but rather to the public at large.
It's all based on the Justinian Code, which dates back 2,000 years and was brought over by colonial settlers.
MORE: Dreaming about sailing around Boston Harbor on Old Ironsides? Here's your chance