Arctic Freeze

The Boston Harbor Islands are poking through the sea smoke along the horizon.  This is an unusual look for this shot of the Atlantic Ocean from Adams Shore.

The Birches

Thompson's Island can be seen beyond the birches on the banks of Squantum Bay. 

Moon In The Bay

The City of Boston owns two islands that are in the middle of Quincy Bay: Long Island and Moon Island.  Moon Island is pictured here with its firing range and fire training facility for Boston's fire and safety employees.  These islands are closed to the public but are part of the Boston Harbor Island National Recreation Area.  When I was young, I rode my bike along Wollaston Beach, through Squantum and out to Long Island for some fun and adventure.  I hope the islands are reclaimed for more recreational use in the future.

Singing In The Rain

"Brelli" in hand, this man is taking a rainy day stroll on Spectacle Island . . . I can help but think of that song that Gene Kelly made famous.  Long Island Bridge in Quincy Bay can just barely be seen through the fog.

Built To Last

These stone arched windows from an old farmhouse on Bumpkin Island have withstood the test of time.  Happy Monochrome Monday!

Island Farm Remnants

This is all that remains of an early 1800 stone farmhouse on Bumpkin Island.  The rounded stones and beautiful archway conjures images of a building from the Irish countryside.

An Idyllic Summer Day

These campers on Bumpkin Island are enjoying a swim while waiting for the ferry.  The stone building is presently used as the Ranger Station and formerly served as the pump house for the naval training station beginning in 1917.

Bumpkin Island

Ferries to Bumpkin Island leave from Boston and Hingham and bring you to this dock.  I like the design of the dock waiting area and the stone wall to the left.  You can spend a delightful day here or pack your sleeping bag and camp overnight.  

Author Talk

Meet Christopher Klein, author of Discovering The Boston Harbor Islands, who gave a superb book presentation this week at the Thomas Crane Public Library.  This program was sponsored by the Friends of the Library.  It gave me an opportunity to express my gratitude to the author for his well researched book.  It has been one of my "go to" resources for my blog posts about the islands.

There are 34 islands in the Boston Harbor Island National Park system; I have been fortunate to have visited 15 of them over the years and am always ready to go "island hopping".

I will be sharing some of my Bumpkin Island images later this week.

Shoreline Artifact

I wonder how long this weathered wood piling has been here on the shore of a local island . . .
Happy Monochrome Monday!

Rock Of Ages

Today's "Monochrome Monday" picture is from one of the neighboring islands.

Island View

Staghorn sumac fills the foreground of this view of Peddocks Island from Nut Island in Houghs Neck.   Nut Island is a 5-acre former island in Boston Harbor that was joined by landfill to Quincy's Houghs Neck peninsula in the 1940s for use as a sewage treatment facility.

Boston's Pyramid

Once a 12-acre island in colonial times, Nixes Mate in Boston Harbor National Park, is now reduced to a channel marker protected by a wall of rock (Quincy granite perhaps?).  I thought you'd like to see it at low tide as well as high tide.

Nixes Mate has a colorful history.  One source I read said that Nixes Mate contributed in a strange way to maritime safety in the 1700s, when the body of one pirate named William Fly, who had been hanged for his offenses, was then displayed there as a warning to others who might be tempted to follow the black flag.   You can read more of Nixes Mate's interesting history  here.

Sail Away

This view of the wind turbine on Deer Island and the striped tower in Winthrop is taken from Lovell's island in Boston Harbor.  The sailboat adds a definite touch of summer.

I'll Huff and I'll Puff

There have been many shipwrecks along the schoals of Lovells Island.  At the turn of the twentieth century, two range lighthouses were erected to guide ships in the new shipping channel.  This oil house is all that remains of those lighthouses which were dismantled in 1939, to make way for a military rifle range.  The oil house is disappearing brick by brick; check it out from a QDP blog post just four years ago HERE.

Nature Takes Over

Fort Standish on Lovells Island, was a lightly manned subpost of Fort Warren on nearby Georges Island.  The Fort, fully garrisoned in World War I, was placed on caretaker status in the 1920s, and then  reactivated for World War II when it included over 60 structures dispersed throughout the island.  It was abandoned by the military in the late 1940s; plant life has been reclaiming the area ever since.   Lovells Island was one of seven sites defending Boston Harbor and neighboring Quincy.

They All Fall Down

The father of West Point, Sylvanus Thayer, designed this once upstanding seawall at Ram's Head on Lovells Island.  An 1830s Boston Harbor defense plan envisioned a granite breakwater running from Ram's Head over to Deer Island to force any enemy ships into the Narrows under the guns of Fort Warren on George's Island.

You can see the Boston skyline and Deer Island Treatment Plant in the picture to the right taken from atop the remainder of the seawall.

Dock It!

A short boat ride from Quincy will bring you to Grape Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.  Happy Skywatch Friday!  See skies from around the world here.

Thursday is "This Summer House"

Ranger Matt is standing on the porch of his summer home (aka yurt) on Lovells Island in Boston Harbor.

Rocky View

Another view of Boston Light from Lovell's Island in Boston Harbor.