August 21, 2017 — Visitors to the Boston Seafood Festival on Sunday can savor the lobster bake, watch fish-cutting demonstrations, or throw one back at the beer garden. Most will be unaware the place where they’re standing — the Boston Fish Pier — has become a touchstone in the struggle to hold on to the city’s historic character.
The pier just landed on the National Register of Historic Places. The decision was expected: The Massachusetts Historical Commission had voted to endorse the listing, and the National Park Service typically adheres to this kind of recommendation.
Local politicians — such as Nick Collins and Michael Flaherty, both of South Boston — pushed for this, in part as a way to help reassure the pier’s seafood businesses of their future on a rapidly changing waterfront.