Harbor Islands Adventure, September 1st, 2008

Monday was Labor Day and we decided to end the summer with a trip out to the Boston Harbor Islands for a day of sea, sun, history and nature. We we joined on our excursion by our good friends Andrew and Julie Tittler and their three-year-old son Peter.

Our adventure began at 9:20 in the morning when we sailed from the Quincy ferry terminal in brilliant sunshine. We had brilliant weather all day long, warm without being hot, sunny with a nice breeze. Twenty minutes later we arrived at George's Island, site of Fort Warren, built in 1833 to protect Boston from attack from the sea. Some of the fort is crumbling today but much of it is safe to walk around in and open to the public. Though built for war the fort today is a peaceful place, especially just after the first ferry arrives. We got Maura's DCR passport stamped and Peter acquired one, which was also stamped. Then we headed inside. We had the parade ground in the center of the fort almost to ourselves. We found a shady spot beneath a tree and kicked a soccer ball around for a while. It was fun.

When we got tired of soccer we split up for a time. The men and boy went off to explore the fort for a bit leaving the ladies on their own. We were in search of the dark tunnel, which the rangers guide tours through without lights, usually after telling the story of the Woman in Black, the ghost of the wife of confederate soldier who was killed trying to break her husband out of prison in Fort Warren during the civil war. We didn't find the tunnel but in searching I found my way into an ordinarily locked gallery which was truly frightening. It was completely dark, except for in one spot where some dim light shown down from somewhere above. The walls were irregular and hard to follow and sound did not help because the hard walls at odd angles made confusing echoes that seemed to come from every direction at once. I was happy to find my way out, though I was separated from the rest of my party.

Eventually the whole group got back together and we headed off to visit our second island of the day. We took the water taxi from Georges Island to Spectacle Island, closer to Boston. The two brush covered hills of Spectacle Island offered fantastic views of the city and the harbor, but little in the way of shade. The natural hills of Spectacle have been made higher with landfill from the city, including material dug out of the Big Dig. We climbed high on top of one of the hills, now habitat for birds and butterflies with brush and wildflowers and small trees that some day may give shade. We enjoyed a picnic at a pretty picnic area high on the southernmost of the two hills and then rushed down to catch the boat back to Georges Island but missed it. The hour wait for the next boat was rather enjoyable. I bought the kids ice cream sandwiches and Julie treated Jenn and I to coffee from the snack bar, which was weak but tasted good.

Back on Georges Island we all set off to explore the fort some more. Maura was at first afraid to enter anyplace even slightly dark or mysterious she got over it a bit after we coaxed her into going down the stairs with us into the demi-lune, an outwork designed to protect the gate from attack. It wasn't really very dark or scary in there. After that Maura went everywhere, even through the Dark Tunnel when we finally found it. I didn't take her through the gallery that I had found frightening. I think that might have been too much for her. We made our way back to the wharf along the outside of the fort. I'd hoped to explore some tide pools, but it was high tide, and there was nothing to see. We rested again before catching the ferry back to Quincy. We were fortunate that we allowed plenty of time to get to the ferry because it was crowded and had we arrived at the dock late we would have had to wait for the next one. We all were all pretty tired by the time the ferry landed in Quincy and everyone at our house slept very well that night.