Boston Harbor Islands

September 6, 2020 Sunny

The Boston Harbor Islands consist of 34 islands, and it is both a state and national park. Normally in season you can visit 6 of the islands via the ferry, but with Covid-19 the schedule this year was reduced to just one – Spectacle Island.

We visited on a warm and sunny September morning, hoping to catch the ferry before noon, but it was sold out. So we got tickets for an afternoon ferry that still allowed a good 2 hours to explore the island.

The ferry ride is about 25 minutes to Spectacle Island, leaving from the Marriott Wharf in downtown Boston. There are great views of the skyline as you pull out, as well as plenty of other motorboats and sailboats out on the water.

The ferry also passed pretty close to Castle Island, Pleasure Bay, M Street Beach and Carson Beach, where you could clearly see visitors walking the island loop and lounging on the pier.

Soon we arrived at Spectacle Island and began our exploration.

We decided to take the numbered walking tour that follows around the edges of the island. The name of the island comes the rough hourglass shape, with 2 drumlins (hills) that are roughly north and south points, with a lower “saddle” between them.

Spectacle Island has an interesting history from Native American times to the Colonial era and more recent uses – in the 1800s for gambling, then for a horse rendering plant, and in the 1900s as a incerator site. More recently, the Big Dig project added fill and dirt to the island, after which came mass plantings of trees and shrubs in an effort to restore and beautify the island.

This view is looking toward the north and to Boston. You can just see the gravel loop path on the edge of the hill.

This is where we rounded the island to face Logan Airport.

Continuing around the base of the island, we joined the spiral path that leads to the top of the north drumlin. Here’s a view to the east, looking away from Boston, and out to sea.

Pretty soon we reached the summit (only 157 feet), and enjoyed the panoramic views. There are a few signs pointing out interesting sites on the skyline, as well as some picnic tables. The most familiar sites to us were the Boston skyline, Logan Airport, and the Deer Island waste treatment plant.

Below is the view from the summit looking south to the ferry dock and visitor center. The lower south summit of the island is hidden behind the tall trees on the left.

After this, we descended the hill and joined the loop path to explore the south side of the island, including a beach with lots of sea glass and other objects that have washed up (including asbestos brake pads).

The kids enjoyed exploring this beach before we finished our loop of the island and met the ferry to take us back to Boston.

The day we came, we were lucky to get the last 5:30 pm ferry off the island. With the crowds, they had to order a second ferry to take the remaining passengers.

As we pulled away, we all agreed that Spectacle Island was well worth a day trip.

Now we just need to come back (post Covid era, of course) to see all the other great Boston Harbor Islands!

Spectacle Island is a good adventure but we missed the island-hopping that’s normally possible. With the visitor center closed and limited snack bar hours, there was not as much to do and see as we hoped.
We only went to Spectacle Island. Good views but not much else to see on that one island. The ferry ride was very scenic.
The ferry ride was alright and the paths were completely boring.
The ferry ride was pretty cool but the island’s paths were boring.
The ferry was fun and the paths were long but overall it was pretty good.