Savin Hill Flats (Boston, Massachusetts)

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Historically, the area called Savin Hill Flats was considered part of Savin Hill. Savin Hills original boundaries stretched eastward from Dorchester Avenue to Dorchester Bay and extended northward from Bay Street to Sudan Street. The Southeast Expressway of the late 1940s / early 50s served to cut the hill section of Savin Hill off from the flats and now Savin Hill has become more of a real estate term for the area east of the Southeast Expressway. Savin Hill Avenue which runs east-west through Savin Hill Flats represents a segment of the oldest road in Dorchester, dating back to the 1630s. It ran from the meeting house, on the corner of Cottage, Pleasant and Pond Streets, along Pleasant Street and ultimately along Savin Hill Avenue to Rock Hill or Old Hill, later Savin Hill. Prominent early settlers in the Savin Hill Flats area included Richard Baker who built on the Tuttle House site, later the site of the present St. Williams School. The completion of Dorchester Avenue, a Federal Period Turnpike, in 1804 opened the way for not only Norfolk County farmers to have a more direct route to Boston produce markets but also to Bostonians seeking relief from the summer heat on Dorchester?s picturesque shores and hill tops. In 1822 Joseph Tuttle purchased the old Wiswall House and remodeled it as an early sea side hotel on the site of St. William's School, 100 Savin Hill Avenue). Tuttle was a successful merchant who lived on Pemberton Square in Boston. His enlarged Wiswall house became a seaside resort known as the Tuttle House, famous for its chicken dinners and winter sleighing parties. The Tuttle House was on the stagecoach line from Boston to Neponset, a pleasant ride of three miles at 12.5 cents each way. Over time Tuttle added stables, cottages, bowling saloons and an ice house in an effort to cater to his guests. A survivor from the Tuttle House period may be 71 Sydney Street, a Carpenter gothic cottage that seems to have been moved to its present lot at some point in the late 19th century. By 1844, the introduction of the Old Colony Railroad through this area made the Tuttle House even more accessible to guests and Tuttle, perhaps deeming the name Old Hill not enticing enough, renamed the area Savin Hill after the numerous columnar red cedars that covered the nearby hill.

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