USS Constitution Museum Apartments For Rent - Charlestown, Charlestown, Massachusetts

Posted by Alecia Ormsby on November 17, 2008 23:34

Furling a sail is not something you do every day unless you're a sailor, but at the USS Constitution Museum, you can give your hand a try at it, as well as swing on a hammock or experience battle decks. The mission of the museum is to inform visitors of the history of the great ship so that the people and experiences of the ship are never forgotten.

Over 200

years ago, in 1794, the USS Constitution was commissioned as the first ship to be constructed by the new US Navy, instituted by then president George Washington. The ship was built to defend the new nation from Barbary Pirates and the aggressive British. It was designed to be powerful enough to defend against enemy ships yet fast enough to out sail a larger opponent. The cost at the time was over $300,000 and was built from over 2,000 trees from wood obtained from Maine to Georgia, cannons from Rhode Island and copper fittings provided by Bostonian Paul Revere. It is truly a national ship.

The ship has cruised in the West Indies, to the Mediterranean, the coast of Europe, and fought in the war of 1812 with the British. To Brazil and the coast of North Africa, the USS Constitution saw its share of the world with many battles and a final overseas cruise to France for the world-wide Paris Exhibition in 1878. Many notables in US and world history have visited her decks, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, President Andrew Jackson, Pope Pius IX, John F. Fitzgerald and Queen Elizabeth II.

It is an exciting story to be re-lived by any apartment-ite who lives in the Boston area, as the ship sits in the Charleston Navy Yard of Boston near downtown, which no longer serves as an active naval repair facility. The ship is typically open 10-3:30 Thursday through Sunday with tours every half hour. Please visit their website for seasonal hours.