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This description also covers the narrow strip of land lying between the Furnace Brook and the westerly line of the North Common, which parcel extended from the Country Highway (now Adams Street) to Bunker Hill Lane near the junction with West St.
The Boston Common lands are also included within the limits of Ward Four. These lands lie at the extreme westerly end of the ward, and were originally divided into two tracts. The westerly part was known for many years as the Blue Hill lands. The easterly portion was after 1702 known as the 600 Acre Lot. In 1643 the Blue Hill Lands were granted by the town of Boston to the Undertakers for the Iron Works, but later reverted back to the town of Boston as the Iron Company were unable to meet the obligations of their act of incorporation and were forced to abandon the enterprise.
These lands were bounded on the north by the ancient line between Mt. Wollaston-Dorchester as established by the General Court in 1634. This line extended from the summit of the Great Blue Hill in a straight course to the shore near the present Wollaston Yacht Club house in Wollaston Park.
The easterly side was bounded by the tract known later as the Quincy Wood Lot, and the 600 Acre Lot. At the south it extended to the Blue Hill River and on the west was bounded by the Dorchester, now Canton Line. In 1712 a committee from the town of Milton and Braintree purchased there 3000 acres and they were divided between the said towns, each taking 1500 acres. In 1754 the tract at the left of the photo containing 350 acres was set off from Braintree to the town of Milton.
In 1701 Judge Sewell purchased the tract containing 300 acres, designated on the photo as the Quincy Wood Lot. Judge Sewell in his diary of 12 April 1708, gives a minute description of the boundary lines, as perambulated by his party consisting of Major Thaxter of Milton, a surveyor, Edmund Quincy and committees from the towns of Milton and Braintree.
Arriving at the “Sturdy Oak” bound Judge Sewell says, “we drank a bottle of Madeira together, read the Queens speech to the First Parliament of Great Britain and so took leave of the (towns) perambulations. Major Thaxter, Cousin Quincy, White and myself continued around the balance of the lot."
In 1710 Judge Sewell conveyed this 300 acres to Edmund Quincy and it has since that date been known as the Quincy Wood Lot. It remained the property of the Quincy family until the middle of the last century when it was sold off as quarry land.
The Crazyman’s Bound is situated at the southeasterly corner between the Quincy Wood Lot and 600 Acres Lot. South of the Quincy Wood Lot and between the Blue Hill Lands and the Furnace Land, is the 600 Acre Lot purchased in 1699 of the Town of Boston by an association of Braintree men. This tract was lotted up and each of the proprietors appear by records to have drawn one lot. These lots were covered with timber and were in use as wood lots for nearly 200 years.
By an Act of the Legislature of 1892 the Metropolitan Park Commission was established, and the Court requested the Commissioners to consider the advisability of laying out ample open spaces for the use of the Public in the towns and cities adjoining Boston. In January, 1894 they report that surveys were being made of the Middlesex Fells and the Blue Hills region;
and, in 1895 the Commissioners acquired 4189 acres of land in the Blue Hills region, 2562 acres of which lay within the bounds of Quincy in what is known as the Blue Hill Lands and the 600 Acre Lot.
The Commissioners commenced at once to build bridle paths through this tract and in 1900 had completed the Saw Cut Notch Road.
