The Boston Neck was aptly named because it started off as a narrow strip of land that connected Boston to the mainland city of Roxbury. Today the neck is no longer a narrow strip of land due to the city’s expansion efforts and the filling in of the bays that surround the city. This area was a fortified defense area for the city of Boston during the colonial period, because it was a choke point for land invasion, acting as a defense from the Native Americans, unwanted animals, and eventually the British. Prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere and William Dawes, started the rides to John Hancock and Samuel Adams from this point, warning of imminent British attack on Concord and Lexington the very next day. The land filling effort began originally because the Neck of Boston was eroding due to the tidal tendencies of the area. Eventually it was built into the part that is today known as Back Bay.