. Historic fields and mansions of Middlesex. me of ^ew England appeared. In the pavement ofSt. Sepulchre, London, is Smiths tomb-stone. The inscription, except the three Turks heads, is totallyeffaced, but the church authorities have promised to have itrenewed as given by Stow. The subject of bridging the river from the old ferry-way atHudsons Point to the opposite shore — which is here of aboutthe same breadthas the Thames atLondon Bridge— was agitated asearly as 1712, ormore than seventyyears before itsfinal accomplish-ment. In 1720the attempt wasr e n e w e d, b u twhile the utilityof a bri
. Historic fields and mansions of Middlesex. me of ^ew England appeared. In the pavement ofSt. Sepulchre, London, is Smiths tomb-stone. The inscription, except the three Turks heads, is totallyeffaced, but the church authorities have promised to have itrenewed as given by Stow. The subject of bridging the river from the old ferry-way atHudsons Point to the opposite shore — which is here of aboutthe same breadthas the Thames atLondon Bridge— was agitated asearly as 1712, ormore than seventyyears before itsfinal accomplish-ment. In 1720the attempt wasr e n e w e d, b u twhile the utilityof a bridge wasconceded, it wasnot considered apracticable under-taking. After theRevolution theproject was again revived, and a man was found equal to theoccasion. An ingenious shipwright, named Lemuel Cox, wasthen living at Medford, who insisted that the enterprise wasfeasible. Some alleged that the channel of the river was toodeep, that the ice would destroy the structure, and that itwould obstruct navigation; while by far the greater number. CAPTAIN JOKN SMITH. 4 HISTORIC FIELDS AND MANSIONS OF MIDDLESEX. rejected the idea altogether as chimerical. But Cox brought the influential and enterprising to his views; acharter was obtained, and this energetic and skilful mechanicsaw the bridge he had so dexterously planned in his brain be-come a reality. Captain John Stone, of Concord, Mass., wasthe architect of this bridge. His epitaph in the old burying-ground there says he was a man of good natural abilities, whichseemed to be adorned with modern virtues and Christian died in 1791. The opening of the structure upon the anniversary of thebattle of Bunker Hill, and only eleven years after that event,attracted upwards of twenty thousand spectators. The daywas ushered* in by a discharge of thirteen cannon from theopposite heights of Breeds Hill, Charlestown, and Copps Hill,Boston, accompanied by repeated peals from the bells of ChristChurch. At one oclock, p. m.,
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