in 1630, the colony's court, searched for a way to better entry to the mainland by offering a license to anyone who would run a ferry between boston and charlestown. a year later, thomas williams begun what was probably the first licensed transportation service in American; a ferry from chelsea to charlestown and on to boston. for almost the next two hundred years, sail and row boats carried cargo and passengers on the three-mile run across boston harbor, from the foot of haonver street on chelsea.