CAPTION: Tim Riordan (at right) is seen with a fellow archeologist in the field at Historic St. Mary’s City.

Charlestown native Tim Riordan knows where all the bodies are buried.
As the chief archeologist of Historic St, Mary’s City, Riordan led an excavation in 1990 that uncovered three 17th century coffins inside a church foundation containing the remains of three prominent figures from Maryland’s past. Founded in 1634, Historic St, Mary’s City is the fourth permanent settlement in British North America, the first capital of Maryland and the birthplace of religious tolerance. The coffins were determined to contain the copse of Phillip Calvert, chancellor of the Maryland colony and the youngest son of the first Lord Baltimore, Sir George Calvert, as well as the remains of Philip Calvert’s first wife, Anne Wosley Calvert, and the child of his first wife, Jane Sewell.
While the discovery was deemed noteworthy enough that legendary television newsman Ted Koppel made it the subject of a half-hour ABC new program, Riordan was most intrigued by what his find divulged about life in Historic St. Mary’s City.
“It was interesting to see that these people were no different than anyone else, even though they were wealthy and well respected,” Riordan said. “[The excavation] taught us that the highest level of society had health problems and bad teeth.”
Born in 1952, Riordan was raised in Charleston and attended St. Francis de Sales Grammar School and St. Mary’s School in Cambridge. He earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Boston University in 1974 and a master’s and PhD in anthropology from Washington State University. After completing his post-graduate education, Riordan found work as an archeologist with a Bloomington, Ind.-based contracting firm. He joined the archeology department of Historic St. Mary’s City in 1985.
Between 1988 and 1996, Riordan worked on the brick chapel at Historic St. Mary City, which he described as “the most significant architectural achievement of the 17th century.” The Jesuits tore down the chapel in 1704 when it became illegal to have a Catholic church and carried away everything but the foundation, making the discovery of the three lead coffins there in 1990 such an extraordinary event.
“St. Mary’s is the only Colonial capital that hasn’t been built over or occupied during subsequent years,” Riordan said. “Once they moved the capital to Annapolis in 1695, hardly anyone lived here and it was a plantation after that…which is really good for the preservation of old materials.”
Another set of 17th century remains was unearthed last fall not far away from where the three coffins were located nearly 20 years ago. The History Channel filmed the latest excavation for “Written in Bone,” a program that will air early next year to coincide with an exhibit on Historic St. Mary’s City that will be on display at the Smithsonian.
Beginning this summer, Riordan will embark on a multi-year project working on the Calvert Home, which was once occupied by Leonard Calvert, the first governor of Maryland whose 1634 expedition led to the state’s establishment. A new building will then be built on the site that will resemble the historic Calvert House from the outside but contain modern gallery space inside.
“The ultimate goal is to reconstruct an exhibition building on the site,” Riordan said.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority issued a Request for Proposals for Central Area North Area Parcels 3 and 6 in Charlestown last month.
According to the RFP, Parcel 3 is an approximately 42,900 square foot, triangular plot located along Route 1 between Putnam and Chestnut streets and Parcel 6 is an approximately 5,000 square foot, rectangular plot at the corner of City Square, Rutherford Avenue and Harvard Street.
Development rights for Parcels 3 and 6 are for being offered for “long-term ground leases,” the RFP states. (The MassPike has already entered into leases for CANA Parcels 1, 2 and 4). MassPike said it would entertain developers’ proposals for one or both parcels.
MassPike has scheduled a pre-submission meeting and site tour of the parcels today, April 3, at 10 a.m. All proposals are due at the MassPike’s offices at the State Transportation Building in Boston by Wednesday, May 7, at noon and must be accompanied by a $25,000 submission deposit for each parcel.
Upon notification of selection, developers will have 90 days to negotiate a development agreement and lease with the Highway Department. The development agreement and terms of the lease will be executed after review and comment by the Metropolitan Highway System Advisory Board and only on approval of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board of directors.
MassPike can’t execute a lease until the completion of a Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review, which includes an advisory opinion from the state’s Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
The design and construction plans of the selected developers will be subject to ongoing review by MassPike.
A total of six parcels and City Square Park were created during the MassPike’s CANA Project, which “rebuilt the approaches to the Tobin Bridge and portions of the new interchange between Route 1 and I-93,” the RFP states. As part of the construction, the elevated bridge and Charlestown access connections were removed and reconstructed below grade at City Square. The project was completed in 1997, and the newly created parcels were deeded to the MassPike board for lease or sale he following year.
To obtain a copy of the RFP at no charge, email a request to realestate@masspike.com or send a letter via the U.S. Postal Service to: Stephen Hines, Chief Development Officer, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, 10 Pak Plaza, Suite 4160, Boston, MA 02116, Attn: CANA Parcels 3 & 6 RFP.

Following the unceremonious cancellation of Pop Warner football last season, a number of local residents are determined to ensure that the youth athletic program doesn’t suffer a similar fate again this year.
“We organized a working group of Pop Warner supporters past and present to assist current Pop Warner President Jad Leavitt in determining why the program ceased operation last year and begin planning how we can reestablish the program this upcoming fall,” said John Taglilatela, who served as vice president of Pop Warner between 1995 and 2001.
Last June, Jad Leavitt, then the vice president of Pop Warner, took over the program after its president, Donna Passamonti, stepped down for personal reasons. Leavitt was then left with the daunting task of registering players with Pop Warner of Eastern Massachusetts by the August weigh-in date.
While 121 players between the ages of 5 and 17 eventually signed up, Taglilatela said getting parents to fill out the necessary paperwork wasn’t so easy.
“A good majority of the players who live in our neighborhood today originate from other countries, and since Pop Warner requires original birth certificates, it makes it extremely difficult for these players to gather the necessary documents to be qualified by the league,” he said.
The program faced another setback on Aug.1, when Charlestown High School’s new state-of-the-art athletic fields fell prey to vandals who set 35 rolls of Astroturf ablaze. This act delayed the opening of the fields by approximately eight weeks and left Pop Warner without a place to practice.
“These kids are anxious to play on the $3.2 million facility that Mayor Menino has delivered to this neighborhood, and it is my hope that young football players are running down the football field of dreams instead of blowing leaves come this fall,” Taglilatela said.
Mike Charbonnier, who played Pop Warner football as a youth in the mid ‘70s and went on to coach for the program, believes that the future of Pop Warner rests in the hands of residents.
“It’s going to take a concerted effort from the town to put Pop Warner back together again,” Charbonnier said. “It needs some individual commitment to get back to the level of competition it had in past years. The same few individuals can’t continue to carry the weight of the youth programs in the town.”
Although the future of Pop Warner remains uncertain, Taglilatela, who helped former President Jack Schievink rebuild the troubled program in the late ‘90s, believes there is a successful season ahead.
“We’ve got to reach out to the community,” Taglilatela said. “We’re in danger of losing this program, but I think we’ll pull it off.”
Pop Warner will hold a meeting at the Charlestown Community Center, 255 Medford St., on Wednesday, April 16, at 7 p.m. Those interested in volunteering for the program are encouraged to attend.

CAPTION: Jorid Poreci and his mother, Donika Poreci, of American Bakers’ Café.

The Navy Yard has a new option for sandwiches, baked goods and coffee, with the opening of the American Bakers’ Café in February.
The café occupies the former site of Hot Off the Press Café at 39 First Ave. and is a family business owned by Alda Poreci and her husband, Ben Ndrenika.
While American Bakers’ Café now offers a similar selection of breakfast items, sandwiches and salads to Hot Off the Press, Jorid Poreci, Alda’s brother who oversees day-to-day operations at the new café, said the menu would be expanded in the coming weeks to include more sandwich and salad options, as well as a full selection of baked goods made on the premises, including scones, croissants and cakes.
Poreci said the café will offer soups, sausages, pizza and other daily specials, and during the summer months, the menu would also include ice cream and gelato.
The café also plans to offer Wi-Fi Internet service and show sporting events.
“We’d like to have as many options as possible,” Poreci said.
American Bakers’ Café is open from 7 am. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The phone number is 617-241-7999.

The John F. Kennedy Family Service Center and the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club are among the grant recipients of the city’s Partners with Non-Profits program, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced last week.
“For almost 20 years now, the PNP awards have served as a chance for the City of Boston to reward more than 40 of these organizations that are so deeply invested in our neighborhoods – by directly investing in them,” Menino said. “This program is one way the city can say ‘thank you for what you do for the residents of Boston.’ It’s also a small, but effective tool we have to help preserve the programs and services you all offer to your communities.”
Through the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development, the PNP program provides grants of up to $25,000 for capital improvements, such as handicap accessibility upgrades, code repairs or other infrastructure renovations to neighborhood non-profit organizations. The annual grants are made possible by the city’s Community Development Block Grant funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and typically help spur as much as $3 million per fiscal year in construction projects for Boston’s neighborhood non-profits.
This year, the city has awarded a total of $696,000 in grants to 43 non-profits, which will leverage a projected total cost of approximately $4.4 million in capital improvements to various facilities across the city.
Kate McDonough, executive director of the Kennedy Center, said the organization tentatively plans to spend the $15,000 grant it received on landscaping, a sprinkler system and new elevator doors for its City Square facility.
“This money makes it possible to keep the building in pristine condition,” McDonough said. “It really allows us to do something that we wouldn’t normally be able to do.”
McDonough added that the Kennedy Center has received PNP grants nearly every year, which helps offset the expensive cost of maintaining the building.
At the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, Executive Director Jenny Atkinson said the Club would spend the $15,000 grant it received on waterproofing and improvements.
“The funding from the city will allow us to make critical repairs to our facility.” Atkinson said. “We are very grateful for this assistance.”

A recent report analyzing the availability of liquor licenses in Charlestown and 10 other city neighborhoods intends to shed light on drinking in Boston, particularly among young people.
The report, entitled “Review of Alcoholic Beverage Licenses for Boston Neighborhoods,” was released by Boston-based The Medical Foundation and provides an in-depth analysis of liquor license, density and type in 11 city neighborhoods and throughout Boston as a whole. Besides Charlestown, the report examines the density of alcohol outlets in South Boston, Dorchester, East Boston, Allston-Brighton, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan.
Of the neighborhoods 11 studied, Charlestown has the eighth highest number of alcoholic beverages licenses at 23. (There are 1,182 alcoholic beverage licenses citywide).
Charlestown has the third highest concentration of alcoholic beverage licenses citywide, however, with 1.51 licenses per 1,000 residents. Still, Charlestown trails behind South Boston (2.37 licenses per 1,000 residents) and East Boston (1.80 licenses per 1,000 residents), as well as the city’s overall rate of 2.01 licenses per 1,000 residents.
Seventeen of the alcoholic beverage licenses in Charlestown are assigned to “common victualler” venues, a term used to describe restaurants and bars that serve alcohol with meals. This accounts for roughly 74 percent of the neighborhoods liquor licenses, but the trend could also limit young people’s access to alcohol and its influence.
“Common victualler doesn’t result in as much advertising that’s visible to young people,” said Amy Helburn of The Medical Foundation.
In contrast, Charlestown has five retail package stores — the fewest in any neighborhood studied. (The remaining alcoholic beverage license in Charlestown is held by an inn).
Meanwhile, Helburn said the community should focus specifically on young people’s social access to alcohol from their parents, as well as older siblings and friends.