Spectacle Island is very different from George’s Island, which we’d visited the previous week. There is no old fort or any historic ruins. All of the history has been covered up. That’s because for much of the 20th century the island served as a dump for the City of Boston. The dump closed in the late 1950s but the island remained a smelly mess for forty years. In the 1990s, the state began a massive tunneling project in downtown Boston. They decided to use the dirt and other fill from the project to cap the dump on the island. Today, the island is a beautiful park. There are large hills on either end and a visitors center with a small snack bar in the center. The hills offer amazing views of the harbor. There is a beach in which you can swim or look for pieces of sea glass. It was a wonderful place to pass a late summer day.
Well, this island has a very happy ending. That pier must have been beautiful back in its day. I especially love that photo, Chris.
I’m sure it was beautiful. I’m proud the city restored the island. Cheers!
enjoy your weekend Chris…best to be outside! beautiful island smiles ~ hedy 😀
I’ve been outside much of the weekend – Yay. Have a great weekend, Hedy. Cheers!
I was shocked to read the history – smelly island to this!
wow
and crazy how to think about what folks did way back when
It is an interesting history. It was a different time. My travels have shown me that you need a certain level of economic stability before you start to really worry about things like pollution. It’s just the way it is.
thanks – and that makes sense
(and it reminds me of a special I once saw about the Northern California land building up – they did not know what they were doing when they were filling in water areas…)
So pretty.. I like the green color a lot in those images!!
Thank you Soheir. It was a very green island. Cheers
Looking only at the pictures no one would have guessed the Island´s history! So glad they came round to do something about it, it looks lovely now, the perfect place to spend a day. The shots from the hills of the harbor are wonderful! 🙂
It sounds like they really transformed it! The shots you took of the island now are lovely 🙂
Thank you, Christy. There was some amazing sea glass washed up on the shores. Cheers