First visit – Georges Island, July 7, 2022.
*Other islands/visits added to the bottom of this post as they occur*
My daughter has an internship in Boston this summer, so I combined visiting her with a trip to Georges Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands. I caught the Boston Harbor City Cruises ferry from Long Wharf and enjoyed the 45-minute ride through calm waters. The ride takes you under the landing path for Logan Airport, so I got to see the underside of a plane quite up close.
Georges Island contains Fort Warren, a Civil War-era fort primarily used to train soldiers and house prisoners. Much of it is open for exploration, and, as there are no lights, deep recesses are pitch-dark and spooky. There’s one section which requires climbing stairs on the outside of the wall and crawling through a hole into adjoining unlit rooms. Some summer camp groups had a fun time scaring themselves; shrieks and laughter often echoed through the fort. 🙂
There are no hiking trails per se, but there are some paved and grassy paths on the outside of the fort in addition to the walkways of the fort themselves. I walked everything that was not closed to the public and thoroughly explored the fort in just under two hours. Had the fort been crowded, I’d have probably needed another hour or so.
Looking forward to visiting the other islands! I’m not yet sure how many I can access. The ones serviced by ferries, definitely. I need to do some research to see which other ones I can get to without buying my own boat (which is not going to happen).
September 3, 2022 – Nut Island
My younger daughter and I stopped by Nut Island on the way to visit a friend in nearby Hingham. Nut Island is no longer an island, as the narrow sandbar connecting the island to the mainland got turned into a paved road years ago. The former island is now home to a sewage treatment building which connects to the large plant on Deer Island via a 9+-mile underwater tunnel. There’s also greenery on Nut Island and a paved loop walking path, and the little area is now used by locals as a pretty place to walk about. The end of the island sports a heavily used fishing pier.
My daughter and I spent about half an hour here. Didn’t take long to walk the <1-mile paths. One could certainly spend longer fishing or sitting on one of the many benches enjoying the excellent view of the Boston skyline.
Deer Island – September 15, 2022
Had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon near Boston, so I drove down early and visited the peninsula Deer Island in the morning.
Deer Island was the location of Native American internment during King Philip’s War and the cramped quarantine hospital for 1840s Irish immigrants. Close to a thousand Native Americans and close to a thousand Irish died here.
The peninsula was transformed in the 1990s into a park and the location for the massive waste treatment plant that now services over half of MA. Before this plant, sewage was dumped into the Boston Harbor waters.
Memorials and information signs can be found commemorating both the Native American population and the Irish immigrants who suffered and died here.
There are just over four miles of paved walking paths; below are some scenes from my visit.
Can’t emphasize enough how much I love seeing everything in my LifeQuest. There is so much to learn and so many things to appreciate and respect. Can’t wait until I can do this full-time.
November 29, 2022 – World’s End
November through March might be difficult for me; since I am not yet full-time with this quest, I cannot easily grab LQ sites/trails since I do not like hiking solo in snow and ice. Also, for the next year, I need to continue saving every cent I can to help enable the future I want for myself, so I can’t travel to cities with LQ sites just yet. Boston is close by, but except for the islands which require ferries, I am finished with all the sites and trails there. Today was the last of what I can do close to home – the two mainland “island” sites, each close to Hingham. For the rest of the winter I may just do one or two LQ sites a month, traveling on the cheap and sleeping in my car with a winter sleeping bag. Have I mentioned I so look forward to selling everything and doing this full-time? I can’t wait.
World’s End requires a ten dollar entrance fee. Once on the Olmsted-built carriage paths, the walker enjoys easy ambling on four drumlins. It took me four hours to walk every inch of all the paths. That includes doubling back on some of them and getting lost for five minutes in the Rocky Neck/Ice Pond area. Definitely download a map and bring a compass. I actually had to refer to those a few times to avoid getting turned around in the wooded parts where the water is not visible.
The land once belonged to a wealthy mansion-owner who tried to create an upscale housing area here. The housing never happened, though the carriage paths folks now walk on did. Locals eventually bought the land and turned it into what it is today: a preserved space for all to enjoy (provided one pays the entrance fee).
November 29, 2022 – Webb Memorial
After World’s End, I headed to Webb Memorial, the last mainland park on my list to visit. All that’s left now are islands only accessible by boat; I’ll get those next summer.
Webb Memorial has between one and two miles of easy walking. Part of it sits atop an old nuclear missile site with an elevator shaft and underground storage areas.
May 20, 2023 – Thompson Island
Thompson Island is the only privately owned island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Outward Bound runs a program there, and the organization allows the general public to tour the island on select dates. I believe this was the first opportunity of the season, and I jumped on it in spite of the forecast for torrential rain. Happily, the rain arrived after my visit.
From the 1830s – 1930s, the island was home to Boston Farm School, a place where troubled and/or indigent boys learned farming and trade skills. The parents signed over custody to the school, and the boys lived here for years. The place was well-funded, and judging from the information signs scattered about the property, the education was impressive. After the Farm School, a prep academy followed. Now Outward Bound owns the land, and adventure education is conducted during the summers.
There are two main trails to walk, one toward the northern end and one toward the southern. I did both and enjoyed the salt marsh, ocean, and historical structure views.
There’s a cemetery on the southern end where 23 boys were buried in the 1820s after their boat capsized. The boating trip was a reward for good behavior, poor things. RIP
June 18, 2023. Peddocks Island
This is my favorite Boston island by far. It has the perfect mix of history and nature.
The island has been used in American defense since the 1700s and served as an army training ground and Italian POW prison during WWII. Portuguese immigrants lived on a separate part of the island from the 1800s until today – there are still a dozen cottages that make up a summer fishing community.
There aren’t hiking trails here per se, but there is a main road (dirt half the time and grass near the western end) that goes all around the island with branches here and there. I walked everything I could find. The fort area felt so lovely and haunted, it was a nice juxtaposition to the brightly painted and tenderly kept summer cottages. Note I did not make a point of photographing the cottages as they are private property.
There’s a large salt marsh, along with plenty of trees and grass. I saw five deer, a turkey, and various types of birds during my short visit.
You can also camp here – there are yurts if you want to glam it up. They are within the fort grounds, so you can go to sleep while imagining the WWII soldiers and the Italian POW walking around you.
There was an REI kayaking group on the ferry. I later saw them in the water paddling around the island.
Hull is so close, by the way, that I think one could swim to it from Peddocks if one absolutely had to get off the island.
By the way, parking for the ferry in Hingham comes with an interesting and antiquated way to pay for your space. Park in a numbered spot, then shove bills/coins into the appropriate slot.
Last visit! July 9, 2023. Spectacle Island.
Got to do this one with both my daughters, which was great. Hiked all five miles of trails, which felt easy since the trails resemble country roads and go up the two hills on the island in easy grades. This island was the site of a horse rendering plant in the 1850s and a general dump from the 1850s-1980s. In the 1990s, excavated dirt and clay from the Big Dig was used to resurface the island and eventually convert the area into the park it is today with grass, trees, a small swimming beach, a cafe, and walking paths.
It was great catching up with both my daughters. What an excellent way to finish all the National Park Sites in MA.
All I have left to do in MA now are a handful of National Natural Landmarks and a small National Recreation Trail. Those are all in western MA, and I hope to get them this month if it will ever stop raining.
