Somerville, Massachusetts

Most people know that Cambridge, Massachusetts is the city on the far side of the Charles River from Boston (map).

Somerville MA is Cambridge's neighbor city to the north, one of the separate municipalities that make up Greater Boston.

Mostly residential, Somerville is a mostly working-class city that is also home to many university students, some attending universities and colleges in Cambridge, others enrolled at Tufts University, the campus of which is partly in Somerville and partly in Medford MA.

The Powderhouse in Powderhouse Square (map) near Tufts, was constructed as a windmill in 1703-4 by John Mallet. In 1747 it was deeded to "the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," and was used thereafter most often as a storage place for gunpowder, including by the American army besieging Boston.

If you'd like to visit it, take the Red Line subway train to Davis Square and walk for 10 minutes along College Avenue to Powderhouse Park (map).

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