Invite a friend Exhibition: "Ropewalks of the West End and
Beyond" From the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th
century, the rope-making industry thrived in Boston.
Ropewalks—long, narrow plots with covered walks and sheds that
housed rope-making facilities—dotted the landscape of West
Boston and supplied rope primarily for seafaring vessels. The
city’s earlier ropewalk lay less than one hundred yards from the
West End Museum. Ropewalks of the West End highlights the
history of these unusual buildings beginning with the earliest
“ropefield” of John Harrison established in 1642 and continuing
beyond the onset of the War of 1812 when a West End ropewalk
supplied the anchor cable to the U.S.S. Constitution, the most
famous war ship of the era. Concurrent walking tours that start
in the West End and fan out across the city offer the
opportunity to discover firsthand the remnants of the ropewalks’
footprints on Boston.