Original Shoreline Etching
Detail of high tide debris and life size footprints etched into granite pavers of plaza (overall length of shoreline marking 600')

Original Shoreline Etching, Fannueil Hall, Sam Adams Park, Boston
Etching of the location of early Boston’s shoreline and street plan in the granite pavers on the plaza between Fanueil Hall and City Hall.

The goal is to engage the imagination in exploration of the changes to this site - from salty tidal marsh, to harbor edge wharf, to active urban plaza - over the last 350 years.

Sandblasted engravings mark the pre-landfill shoreline (c.1630) and the lot and block lines from an 1819 survey. Shoreline graphics produced from hand cut stencils based on material found at the high tide line: sea grass, kelp, shells, fish, old rope, etc. Patterns of cool gray and warm pink granite mark the plan of the streets and blocks before the area became a pedestrian plaza.

Plan showing original shoreline superimposed on today’s landscape