{"nrhp_refnum":"66000050","name":"Dorchester Heights National Historic Site","other_names":["Dorchester Heights"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"South Boston","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.33279431600005,"lon":-71.04576865799999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 5.43-acre hilltop park (Thomas Park) in South Boston, Massachusetts, topped by a roughly 100-foot marble-faced Georgian Colonial Revival tower completed in 1901 to a design by the Boston firm of Peabody and Stearns.","why_significant":"The site commemorates General Washington's fortification of the hill in March 1776, which forced the British to evacuate Boston and was the first great American victory of the Revolution. The monument is also significant as an example of Georgian Colonial Revival architecture by Peabody and Stearns. Thomas Park is notable as the first parcel of land in South Boston set aside by the city for public purposes.","narrative":"Dorchester Heights is a hilltop park in South Boston crowned by a tower of about 100 feet, faced in white marble over brick and stone. Peabody and Stearns won an 1898 competition to design it, and it was completed in 1901 in the Georgian Colonial Revival style, inspired by 18th-century church towers. The hill is where General Washington's army fortified the heights on the night of March 4, 1776, placing cannon brought from Fort Ticonderoga above the city. Faced with this position, British General William Howe withdrew his army from Boston on March 17. The tower marks the site of those fortifications and is also valued as a work by Robert Swain Peabody and John G. Stearns, pioneers of the style. The surrounding Thomas Park, laid out in the mid-nineteenth century after the hill was cut down for a reservoir, was the first land in South Boston set aside by the city for public use. Its walks still reflect the original Victorian layout.","period_of_significance":"1776, 1901","architect_builder":"Peabody and Stearns","architectural_style":"Georgian Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked unoccupied on the form; condition is altered, and the park is on its original site. Tie rods and concrete members were added to arrest movement and cracking in the upper tower.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.458691-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/87/7968/63796887/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000050.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000050/ecd7fd9ce5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000050/ecd7fd9ce5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorchester_Heights_National_Historic_Site_South_Boston_MA_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorchester_Heights_National_Historic_Site_South_Boston_MA_01.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"15000195","name":"Boston National Historical Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/boston-national-historical-park-15000195/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796887","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_Heights","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5297608"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/dorchester-heights-national-historic-site-66000050/"}