Dorchester Illustration no. 2432 Boston from Mount Bowdoin
Scan of wood engraving Boston, From Mount Bowdoin published in Picturesque America by William Cullen Bryant. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1872-74. Hand-colored.
The view is probably from the land owned by Nathaniel Phillips, shown in green in the detail from the 1874 Hopkins atlas. The highest points of land on the hill are along Bowdoin Avenue.
Mount Bowdoin is one of the hills of Dorchester. It was named for Governor James Bowdoin who once owned much of the hill. The Boston Landmarks Commission’s area form dated 1995 for Mount Bowdoin says: “Mount Bowdoin was named for James Bowdoin, the Revolutionary War patriot and governor of Massachusetts during the late 1780’s. As early as the mid 18th century. Governor Bowdoin summered on Dorchester’s Mt Bowdoin or Bowdoin Hill as it was originally known. He was undoubtedly attracted to the panoramic views of the harbor and Blue Hills visible from atop the hill that would be named in his honor. The Bowdoin House was located at the crest of a secondary hill projecting from the lower southern slopes of Mt. Bowdoin. In fact, Bowdoin Avenue started out as a two-pronged driveway leading up the hill from Four Corners (Bowdoin, Washington, Harvard Streets intersection) to the Bowdoin house. The western “arm” of this driveway continued northward past Bowdoin’s residence and over the Mount’s upland pasture. This road represents present day Bowdoin Avenue. The eastern “arm” of Bowdoin Avenue ran directly past the governor’s house and was renamed Rosseter Street during the late 19th century.”
Other hills are: Ashmont Hill, Codman Hill, Jones Hill, Meetinghouse Hill, Mount Ida, Popes Hill, Savin Hill. Other lower hills are mentioned at https://www.bostonbasinhills.org/pages/boston-dorchester-hills.html
The view shows Boston in the distance with the Massachusetts State House just left of center. The body of water in the center of the illustration is the former South Bay, at that time a body of water that rose and fell with the tides as the sea water flowed through what is now the Fort Point Channel. There is railroad trestle crossing the South Bay, and that line of tracks was the early version of the Fairmount line. At the far right, First Church stands on Meetinghouse Hill.