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.

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.

Rocky View

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

Glacial Erratics

Happy Skywatch Friday from Grape Island in Hingham Bay (next to Quincy Bay)!

Unlike most of the other Boston harbor islands, Grape has an "undisturbed" feel to it and is referred to as the "nature island".   These boulders on the beach are glacial "erratics" or boulders dislodged from the surrounding till, stranded almost whimsically by the retreating glaciers 15,000 years ago.

Shell Walk

This shell beach on Grape Island offers a crunchy walk along its mussel packed shoreline.

Grape Island is called the "nature island" because of its unspoiled beauty in the Boston Harbor Island chain.

Slate Island can be seen in the distance.

Scrapped

The remains of a few old docks are rusting away on Raccoon Island.  There could be a few dollars in that metal . . .

Island Landing

Raccoon Island, one of 34 islands in the Boston Harbor Island area, is located in Hingham Bay and about a 300 yard walk from Houghs Neck at low tide.  About 50 people took advantage of a rare walking tour of this 3-4 acre island last weekend.  Everyone had to walk along the shore because the upland area is covered by poison ivy.

I believe that the flag was placed on the island in remembrance of a boy from Hull whose boat capsized nearby and whose body was never found.