.|alt=A wide view of a port town with several wharves. In the foreground there are eight large sailing ships and an assortment of smaller vessels. Soldiers are disembarking from small boats onto a long wharf. The skyline of the town, with nine tall spires and many smaller buildings, is in the distance. A key at the bottom of the drawing indicates some prominent landmarks and the names of the warships.
18th century Construction of the wharf began around 1710. As originally built the wharf extended from the shoreline adjacent to
Faneuil Hall and was one-third of a mile long, thrusting considerably farther than other wharves into deep water and thus allowing larger ships to tie up and unload directly to new warehouses and stores. "Constructed by Captain Oliver Noyes, it was lined with warehouses and served as the focus of Boston's great harbor." Over time the water areas surrounding the landward end of the wharf were reclaimed, including the areas now occupied by
Quincy Market and the
Custom House. "At the wharf's head in the 18th century was the
Bunch-of-Grapes Tavern. The painter
John Singleton Copley spent his childhood on the wharf, where his mother had a tobacco shop." The 1760s
Gardiner Building, once home to
John Hancock's
counting house and now a
Chart House restaurant, is the wharf's oldest surviving structure.
19th century Among several similar structures, a grand granite warehouse known as the
Custom House Block was built in 1848 atop the wharf; it has survived into the 21st century. The mid-19th century was the height of Boston's importance as a shipping center, lasting roughly until the
American Civil War. Long Wharf was the central focus of much of this economic activity. In the late 1860s, as the city's port began to decline in importance as an international shipping destination,
Atlantic Avenue was cut through this and other wharves, changing the face of the waterfront.
20th century The construction of the elevated
Central Artery along Atlantic Avenue in the 1950s separated Long Wharf from Boston's business district. The wharf and the 19th-century Custom House Block were recognized as a
National Historic Landmark in recognition for the role they played in the history of Boston and its importance as a major 19th-century shipping center.
21st century behind it to the west The
Big Dig put the Central Artery below ground level, which partially restored the original close relationship between Long Wharf and downtown. Since ca.1990, Long Wharf has been transformed from a failing commercial waterfront area into a recreational and cultural center. Today, Long Wharf is adjacent to the
New England Aquarium, and is served by the
Aquarium station on
MBTA's Blue Line subway.
MBTA ferry service links the wharf to the
Boston Navy Yard in
Charlestown,
Logan International Airport,
Hull, and
Quincy. Other passenger ferry services operate to the islands of the
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, and to the cities of
Salem and
Provincetown. Cruise boats operate various cruises around the harbour. The wharf itself is occupied by a hotel, several restaurants and shops. At the seaward end, there is a large plaza with extensive views of the harbor. Now much shortened by
land reclamation at its landward end, today it serves as the principal terminus for cruise boats and harbor ferries operating on
Boston Harbor. ==Custom House Block==