At the foot of the eastern slope of the hill was the South Battery, or Sconce, where the present Rowe's Wharf is located. Circling the base of the hill, inside the battery, was a walk from Milk street to Gibbs' lane (now Oliver street), called the ‘Battery March,’ a favorrite walk for the townspeople.
On the other side of the hill were ropewalks, between Oliver street and Long lane (afterward Federal street).
Between Federal street and Summer street, were gardens and orchards, even as late as the last century.
At the foot of what is now Milk street was Oliver's dock.
It was in this vicinity, in 1765, that Lemuel Cox and his brother Jesse, bought a house and land of William Lowder. The lot was situated on the south side of Batterymarch street with a frontage of about eighty-four feet, and a depth of about one hundred and forty-five feet. In May, 1768, he bought thirty acres of land in Malden of his brother Unite, which he disposed of in December, to John Wait, Jr.
In the Spring of 1767 (30 May), we find him returning from South Carolina, on the schooner ‘Three Brothers,’ as ‘Mr. Lemuel Cox, wheelwright.’
After the Boston Port Bill, the patriotic element, as we would call them now, though the government then styled them as turbulent and disloyal, met in gatherings in August each year, and dined at the Liberty Tree in Dorchester. Among the diners, 14 August, 1769, was Lemuel Cox.
As to the later sentiments of Lemuel Cox, investigators would be inclined to place him among those loyal to the Crown, as we find him in prison at Ipswich at the close of 1775, presumably for his attachment to the King's cause.
In the year 1767, the Overseers of the Poor, for the town of Boston, reported they had paid out about £ 600 to poor people outside of the almshouse, and in 1768 not less than £ 620. There were about two hundred and
