Cultural Landscape Report, Volume I-II: Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park
Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. 2017. Cultural Landscape Report, Volume I-II: Boston Harbor Islands National & State Park. Cultural Landscape Report. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Boston, Massachusetts
The Boston Harbor Islands have served the city of Boston for hundreds of years as landscapes of agriculture, military protection, education, recreation, research and more, all within sight of the Boston skyline. As the only drowned-drumlin field intersecting a coastline in North America, the islands are a unique physical example of the pre-historic shifting earth as well as a unique cultural example of an island cluster directly tied to a nearby urban environment. Consisting of 34 islands and peninsulas, the establishment of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area in 1996 attracted more visitors to the islands and contributed to the rejuvenation and cleanup of the Boston Harbor area. The park’s creation also served as a new model for collaboration through the creation of the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership, which brought the National Park Service together with managers of the pre-existing Boston Harbor Islands State Park and numerous other land owners and important regional stakeholders. This report serves to provide a broad overview of the history of the park, focusing on important cultural resources in their landscape context, and their potential value to future planning and development efforts. It complements existing inventories of the park’s natural and cultural resources. Volume one of this cultural landscape report captures the extensive site history of the harbor’s 34 islands in a single document, drawing from a great range of individuals and organizations. Presented as seven narrative chapters each focused on a theme, each chapter in volume one identifies potentially significant extant resources, along with a set of recommendations for further actions. Volume two of this report, bound separately, provides an existing conditions overview for the park in the form of individual island data sheets and side-by-side landscape comparison photos from the 1990s and the 2010s. This unique style of existing conditions reporting provides visual documentation of physical changes incurred by the islands over time. The individual attention to each island in volume two will prove to be a helpful guide for the many managing partners of the Boston Harbor Islands in their future planning efforts. The 2003 General Management Plan for the park identifies its mission goals and policies as related to the following subjects: resource protection, research and information, visitor access, use, and enjoyment, education and interpretation, management and operations, external cooperation. This cultural landscape report in its entirety will assist in the continuation and achievement of the above mission goals of the park, and help ensure that the park’s landscapes, structures, and traditions are maintained in perpetuity for future generations to understand, appreciate, and enjoy.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation
- Date of Issue
- 2017
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- BOHA , NER
- Keywords
- Algonquin, batteries, Boston, Boston Harbor Islands, Bumpkin Island, Calf Island, colonial revival, Grape Island, Green Island, Hangman Island, Long Island, Massachusetts Bay, Middle Brewster Island, military fort, Peddocks Island, public health, recreation area, Spectacle Island, World War II
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 650135: Bumpkin Island , CRIS-CL: 650130: Calf Island , CRIS-CL: 650151: Deer Island , CRIS-CL: 650144: Gallops Island , CRIS-CL: 650145: Georges Island , CRIS-CL: 650134: Grape Island , CRIS-CL: 650126: Great Brewster Island , CRIS-CL: 650131: Langlee Island , CRIS-CL: 650127: Little Brewster Island , CRIS-CL: 650143: Lovells Island , CRIS-CL: 650128: Middle Brewster Island , CRIS-CL: 650146: Moon Island , CRIS-CL: 650141: Nut Island , CRIS-CL: 650129: Outer Brewster Island , CRIS-CL: 650138: Peddocks Island , CRIS-CL: 650132: Ragged Island , CRIS-CL: 650142: Rainsford Island , CRIS-CL: 650133: Sarah Island , CRIS-CL: 650150: Spectacle Island , CRIS-CL: 650152: Thompson Island