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Boston Light; photos by Christopher Klein
Red Sox baseball, Swan Boats gliding through the Public Garden, and tricorn-clad tour guides leading weary throngs along the Freedom Trail are all summertime staples in Boston. But whenever I want to escape the crowds, heat, and colonial reenactors sweating through their britches, I set sail for the Boston Harbor Islands national park area.
As the ferry cruises along historic Boston Harbor, the steeple of the Old North Church and granite pillar of the Bunker Hill Monument dissolve into the mist. I can feel my cares melt away as well. In just 15 minutes, I’m in the midst of an urban archipelago of 34 islands and coastal peninsulas that have been transformed from ignored relics into places of learning, entertainment, and recreation since the cleanup of Boston Harbor and the establishment of the national park area in the 1990s.
Fort Warren
No other major American city is blessed with such an island-studded harbor so close to downtown. This urban oasis offers a rare opportunity to visit undeveloped island landscapes and wildlife features –– all within the shadows of a city skyline. Outdoorsy types can kayak, swim, fish, hike, and even camp overnight on some of the Boston Harbor Islands, while history buffs can explore lighthouses and the ruins of military installations. Summer weekends provide a wide variety of cultural programs such as old-time baseball games, jazz concerts, art installations, and children’s theater programs.
During the height of the summer season, which begins June 18, public ferries serve eight of the islands from downtown Boston.
This summer there are a number of exciting changes on the Boston Harbor Islands, which makes it a great time to discover the hidden gems in Boston’s backyard:
• Steps away from Faneuil Hall, a new welcome center has opened on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. It’s the first new structure to be built in Boston’s newest park. Underneath the pavilion’s wave-like canopies, visitors can purchase ferry tickets, consult with rangers, browse information panels about the islands’ natural and historic resources, and wander a 2,000-square-foot granite map of the island chain.
Spectacle Island
• Georges Island, home to the hulking remains of Fort Warren, features a new museum with exhibits about the military uses of the harbor islands and the fort’s rich Civil War history, when it was used to incarcerate Confederate prisoners of war. Special lectures, historical reenactments, and musical performances are on tap to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial.
• Underneath an open-air pavilion on Georges Island, diners can enjoy great seafood at the newest outpost of Jasper White’s Summer Shack, a local favorite. There are also weekly Summer Shack Clambakes, featuring fresh lobsters, mussels, and clam chowder, on Spectacle Island.
• Camping and public ferry service returns to Peddocks Island for the 2011 summer season. The new campground features 10 individual sites and a large group area. (There are plans for six yurts by the summer of 2012.) Scenes from the movie Shutter Island were filmed on Peddocks, but campers will find the island more hospitable than the movie characters did.
A good read: Discover the Boston Harbor Islands: A Guide to the City’s Hidden Shores by this author, Christopher Klein.
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