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 began what was probably the first licensed transportation service in america; 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 hanover street to chelsea