Boasting convenient access to Boston, Watertown, MA offers more affordable real estate options than Cambridge or Belmont, and the area is on the upswing. Drawing many young professionals and families, Watertown features many family-run businesses, diverse schools, and multiple opportunities for work and play. Residents can fish the Charles River, enjoy history at the Commander’s Mansion, enjoy el fresco dining along the river, or engage in countless other activities.
The History of Watertown
In 1630, English Puritans settled in the Watertown area, making this the first Massachusetts Bay Colony, but the Pequossette and Nonantum tribes had already been living in this area for thousands of years. Initially, settlers called the area the Saltonstall Plantation after one of the early founders, but when they incorporated the area, they embraced the name Watertown.
In 1632, residents protested about tax to build a stockade in Cambridge, and historians claim this early protest influenced the idea of creating a country with a representative democracy. About 140 years later, residents protested against the British Tea Tax and participated in the Boston Tea Party rebellion, and eventually, residents became very involved in the American Revolutionary War.
In the 1800s, Watertown became an industrial center, and most significantly, the Watertown Arsenal did research and made military munitions for almost 180 years. In fact, the methods used in the Arsenal arguably inspired Henry Ford’s entrepreneurial decisions. At the turn of the 21st century, developers turned the area around the former arsenal into a shopping and dining center.
