In Boston, under one corner of the Moakley Federal Courthouse, is this round bronze marker about the Boston Harbor Islands.
The marker is located at the western corner of the building, nearest the Fort Point Channel. There is an entrance to an outdoor (protected) food establishment.
The marker is about five feet in diameter and embedded in the brick walkway. It's in at least five parts. In the center is a map of the islands and shoreline. The islands and towns are named. The harbor has waves. Arterial roads are depicted on land. Around the map are groups of text and images illustrating subjects.
Text is as follows:
Bottom Panel -
Boston Harbor Islands - A national park area
Boston Harbor Islands offer opportunities for visitors to tour historical sites, observe wildlife, participate in recreational activities ranging from hiking and bird watching to swimming and fishing, or just enjoying a picnic and a day of quiet contemplation. The park is a system of some thirty islands and peninsulas with remarkable natural and historical resources, all within an urban setting. It is administered by a partnership of national, state, and local representatives whose mission is to preserve and protect the island system and provide access for the enjoyment and education of this and future generations.
Sculptors: Gregg LeFavre, Jennifer Andrews Assisted by: james Owens and Mattie Pagenelli C 2000.
[Other credits to organizations associated with the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreational Area]"
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Next Panel Left - "RECONNECTION"
"Now that the water of Boston Harbor is being cleaned up through a major wastewater treatment facility, the human and natural populations of the harbor are responding to a changing environment. One response to the cleaner harbor is reconnection by residents of metropolitan Boston to the waterfront and the islands, aided by a wide variety of organization and individuals. As part of that reconnection, the Boston Harbor Islands have been added to the national park system.
[Image of the Boston skyline and plants]"
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Next Panel Left - "ISLANDS ON THE EDGE"
[Various Illustrations]
One of the bloodiest wars in American history, in proportion to the population, erupted in 1675. "King Philip" was the English name of Metacom, a leader of the Wampanoags, son of Massasoit. King Philip's War was a landmark effort by American Indians to rid their homeland of the English. "Christianized" Indians fared no better in the conflict than those practicing traditional lifestyles. They were imprisoned in camps on four of the islands, Deer, Peddock's, Long and one of the Brewsters, and held during the harsh winter without sufficient food, clothing, shelter, or fuel. At least half of them died of starvation and exposure, Metacom was shot, quartered, and beheaded in August 1676.
The quarantine hospital and Rainsford Island doubled as a popular summer resort. The island keeper could only take in boarders when no communicable diseases were reported.
The acres of many of the harbor islands are drumlins, glacier-formed hills that, in profile, look like upside down teaspoons. Geologists believe the islands illustrate two periods of glacial action during the past 100,000 years. Melting of the most recent glacier ice raised sea levels which isolated the hilltops as islands, about 15,000 years ago.
As a place where drumlins cross a coastline, the Boston Harbor Islands provide a natural environment literally at the edge of a major city. Figuratively, the islands have been on the "edge" of society since the 1600's: places used to isolate people, institutions, and activities that citizens preferred not to see in their neighborhoods.
The Growth of Spectacle Island
Garbage dumping on Spectacle Island over the years increased its size by 36 acres, and nearly 70 feet in height.
'In 1857 Spectacle Island was bought, for $15,000, by Nathum Ward, who founded here a large establishment for rendering dead horses. . . In 1872, the lucrative industry of rendering cattle bones was introduced; and in 1874 came the rendering of tallow and suet. . . About 2000 dead horses are received here yearly, from points within ten miles. . .'
- Kings Handbook, 1888
'Once the islands were bodies of foliage. seen one against another and grooped
with woody headlands, they formed scenery of . . . and hospitable. But long ago they were despoiled for petty private uses, and the Harbor made..inhospitable.'
- Fredrick Law Olmsted, Century Magazine 1886"
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Next Panel Left - "HOME IN THE HARBOR"
"'Boston's Islands feature a classic maritime mixture of beaches, marshes and cliffs, woodlands, fields, and fragile coastal habitats. A landscape mix to the most part now vanished from the mainland shore After the Colony granted Coneat's Island to John Winthrop, the head of the nascent state, in 1632, it was called Governor's Island, and its
was placed at a hog's head of wine . . .'
- King's Handbook of Boston Harbor, 1888
[Various images]
'In 1880, a half-dozen lobstermen and their families lived on Calf Island, 'under the paternal and accentric sway of Captain Turner. I do not imagine that old Turner ever smiles, his deep-lined visage is puckered with seriousness. . . He has been so saturated with salt water for nearly fourscore years that he has a half-pickled appearance and his beard and the curly locks which still flourish though bleached by age and exposure, are always wet with brine.'
- King's Handbook of Boston Harbor, 1888
The islands have been home to a rich diversity of plant and animal life for millenia. People have lived on and around this Boston Harbor Island for thousands of years and have made a mark on the landscape.
Starting in the 1600s Europeans began living on the islands, some for weeks, and others for years, some individually, others with their families.
The islands have been inhabited by humans for more than 8,000 years. Indian artifacts show that Native Americans used the harbor resources to the fullest. Bones and shells remain from the cod and other fish they caught, and from the clams and oysters they collected. They hunted deer, waterfowl, and small animals.About 1,000 years ago, American Indians developed varieties of corn, beans, and squash that could survive the Northeast climate. A 4,000-year-old skeleton was unearthed on one island in the 1970s. The traditional Indian's cycles ended on the islands with the arrival of Europeans in the 1600s.
'About thirty persons of Boston going out in a fair day to Spectacle Island to cut wood, (the town being in great want thereof,) the next night the wind rose so high at N.E. with snow,. . . and then it froze so hard, as the bay was all frozen up. . .'
- John Winthrop Journal, January 12, 1628"
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Next Panel left - "PORTAL TO NEW ENGLAND"
Once a 12 acre island, Nix's Mate has eroded away and only a masonry pyramid remains to mark the setting of a famous tale. Legend states that Captain Nix was killed, either on the island or at sea, and that his mate was charged with the crime. it is said that the mate was executed on this island and claiming his innocence, professed that the place would be washed away by the angry sea.
New England Prospects
'It is a safe and pleasant Harbor within, having but one common and one entrance and. . . is made by a great company of lands, whose high cliffs shoulders out the boisterous seas, yet may easily deceive my mindful pilot, presenting many false openings and broad sounds.'
- New England Prospects, 1634
Donald Mckay (dates) built clipper and sailing ships in the Boston shipyard of Boston Harbor, including the famous Flying Cloud.
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Last Panel - "RENEWAL"
Boston Harbor sustained a rich environment for thousands of years, before pollution caused problems. Now 12 egg-shaped digesters on Deer Island help recycle sewage sludge from 43 communities into fertilizer. They are symbols of environmental stewardship.
Now with the clean-up of Boston Harbor, natural ecosystems have the opportunity to renew themselves. people are rediscovering the islands, too, for recreation and personal renewal."