Charles River - Definition and Overview

Charles River in Cambridge

The Charles River is a Massachusetts river that separates Boston from Cambridge and Charlestown. It flows snakelike for 80 miles, starting at Echo Lake in Hopkinton, through 58 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts, before emptying into Boston Harbor.

Harvard University, Boston University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are all located along the Charles River; at Boston proper it opens out into a broad basin and is lined by parks (in one of which stands the Hatch Shell where concerts are given in summer evenings).

The river is well known for its rowing, sculling, and sailing, both recreational and competitive. The Head of the Charles Regatta is held annually, in October.

While now leisurely, in the 19th Century, the Charles River was one of the most industrialized areas in the United States. Waltham was the site of the first factory in America, built by Francis Cabot Lowell in 1814. The hydropower soon fueled many mills and factories.

See also

• List of Massachusetts rivers

External link

• Charles River Watershed Association (http://www.crwa.org/)
• Charles River Museum of Industry (http://www.crmi.org/)