Boston Harbor Islands Trip Highlights

Bossip Be Trippin’: Journey To Boston’s Harbor Islands, JFK’s Birthplace & Longfellow’s Plush Garden

Posted on August 2, 2019 - By Bossip Staff

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Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

#FindYourPark…

Here’s How You Can Explore Boston’s Harbor Islands

You don’t have to book an international getaway to enjoy a relaxing day of exploration, in fact, everything you need could be right in your backyard.

After BOSSIP’s Deputy Editor Dani Canada recently traveled to Cape Cod National Seashore with the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, and L.L. Bean, the National Park Foundation’s premier partner, she traveled to The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area and made some exciting stops afterward.

In case you didn’t know, there’s a nationwide rallying call to “Find Your Park”/ “Encuentra Tu Parque” and explore the knowledge available at America’s National Parks. This rallying call has lead us to adventures with Taye Diggs and Keri Hilson and places bustling with culture and amazing experiences.

This time we visited three of Boston’s Harbor Islands; Georges, Spectacle, and Peddocks. All three are just a stone’s throw away from the mainland and part of the 34 unique islands and peninsulas surrounding the city.

After our visit, BOSSIP spoke with Eric C. Smith, Senior Public Relations Representative L.L.Bean, Inc. about Boston Harbor Islands and all the ways you can explore this getaway.

See more below.

If we were to take a day trip, what are some fun ways we could explore the Boston Harbor Islands (BHI)?

Spectacle Island is the closest of the harbor islands to Boston. Just a 30-minute ferry ride takes you a world away from the city. Once you’re off the boat, gentle and accessible island trails offer 360-degree views of the sea and the city skyline you left behind. This summer, L.L.Bean is sponsoring Saturdays on Spectacle, offering free adventures all day to help you explore and enjoy the outdoors on the island, including island yoga, ranger-led hikes, and kids programs, and even hammock city to just lay back and enjoy the summer. http://www.bostonharborislands.org/event/saturdays-on-spectacle/

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

For newbies to the great outdoors like myself and some of our readers, what’s the first activity you’d suggest we try when exploring the BHI or any other national park site?

One of the reasons L.L.Bean supports the Find Your Park / Encuentra Tu Parque movement is to get the word out that our national parks are for everyone, regardless of your outdoor experience or ability. On https://findyourpark.com you can search by location or activity you’d like to try, from biking to birdwatching, and swimming to stargazing. Many people may be surprised just how close they live to a national park, and for every park the National Park Service offers detailed information to plan your visit. Even better, once you get there, park rangers are available to offer information and advice to help you make the most of your park visit.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

Tell us more about L.L. Bean’s support of the National Park Foundation. In a time when people are more inclined to stay indoors, why does L.L. Bean think it’s important to #FindYourPark?

Americans spend 95% percent of our time indoors, but our bodies and our spirits are happier and healthier when we spend time outdoors with nature. When our outdoor time is so limited, it’s even more important to be intentional about making time to get outside. That’s why L.L.Bean is a premier partner of the National Park Foundation’s Find Your Park / Encuentra Tu Parque movement, to enable everyone in America to access and enjoy the great outdoor spaces that we’ve protected for everyone. Everyone should have the opportunity to make lasting outdoor memories with family and friends, because we believe the only thing that makes the great outdoors greater is to share it.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area is doing more than providing family fun, it’s also impacting the local community. The Boston Harbor Islands NRA has a Community Access Program which promotes inclusion and diversity by bringing 40,000 underserved individuals to the islands and harbor annually, free of charge for their Free Ferry Day.

Free Ferry Day also takes foster children and their foster parents on a day trip to the Islands and for many of the children, it’s their first time on a boat, and their first time off the mainland.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

More Bossip Be Trippin’ in Boston on the flip.

Peddocks Island

Peddocks Island is one of the more isolated and quaint islands that’s perfect for camping. It’s rich in history and formerly home to Native Americans, militiamen, prisoners of war, and farmers. It’s isolated and truly for those willing to brave the great outdoors.

Comprised of mostly campsites, Peddocks Island is home to Fort Andrews, a WWII-era Chapel, artifacts, and wildlife such as deer and turkeys. We explored one of the tents on site where families were enjoying their weekends away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Did you know that some of the tents have electricity?

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

Georges Island

Georges Island is the home to historic Fort Warren. Built during the Civil War-era to protect Boston, Fort Warren also served as a training facility for Union soldiers during the Civil War. We toured the island and visited the actual quarters where civil war generals were held prisoner before we traveled to the top of the fort and overlooked the ramparts.

We also heard a ghost story about The Lady In Black that was so creepy that we hope to never hear it again—but you can get spooked for yourself if you make a trip to Georges.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

Spectacle Island

Spectacle Island is for exploring—and for families.
The NPF in partnership with LL Bean, a NPF corporate partner is offering two programs on Spectacle Island this summer, both supported with L.L. Bean’s Outdoor Discovery Program staff hosting events like salt-water fly-casting clinics, map and compass training, and a hammock city.

Summer Nights on Spectacle will offer three evenings of family and community fun and fitness on Spectacle Island on August 31, 2019. These evening events will bring families from Greater Boston and harbor communities to the island for various introductory outdoor recreation activities, including hikes with a ranger, making and flying a kite, luminescent investigations, and more.

In addition to Summer Nights On Spectacle, Spectacle offers visitors a chance to collect artifacts beachside on the 114-acre island.

Boston Harbor Islands

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

In addition the Boston Harbor Islands NRA, we visited the Longfellow House National Historic Site. The historic home to poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for almost 50 years is nestled in Cambridge. It also previously served as the headquarters of General George Washington and was actually a wedding gift from Nathan Appleton that’s oozing opulence to this day. There’s a plush garden maintained by volunteers and the home features historic pieces from the 1800s including the bed where the late Fanny Appleton Longfellow died.

It’s at the Longfellow NHS where the National Park Service contributes to the Teacher Ranger Teachers program, an extended professional development opportunity for educators from K-12 schools to learn about the resources and educational materials available through the National Park Service.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

Our next journey was to the John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site where JFK was born. The President’s birthplace/childhood home in Brookline remains in tip-top shape thanks to NPS rangers who took us on a tour where JFK and his family lived until 1920 until they moved to a larger home.

The home was restored by JFK’s mother Rose Kennedy from 1966 to 1969. She donated the home to the National Park Service in 1967 as a memorial to her son and the inside paints a picture of a family living in America from 1914-1920.
Standouts in the house include Rose Kennedy’s original piano in the parlor, the master bedroom where JFK, Rosemary and Kathleen Kennedy were born and the dining room where Rose Kennedy’s original china remains.

Everybody likes JFK, right? Make your grandma who still has his picture hanging up in her dining room proud and visit if you’re ever in Boston.

Source: Dani Canada, iOne Digital / Danielle Canada

Lastly we visted the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site where we learned about Frederick Law Olmsted, the founder of American landscape architecture and the nation’s foremost park maker of the 19th century.

His “Fairsted” landscape architecture office is still standing and inside we learned about his ideas, philosophy and The Olmstead Firm where he and his collaborators brought their landscape ideas to life. It was there that Olmsted taught his design principles to his pupils and partners.

Think about some of the nation’s oldest and most beautiful parks, for example; New York’s Central Park, Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, and the country’s oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls. They’re each covered in Olmstead’s fingerprints.

These days the historic site is being used as a teachable tool. Third graders from Boston Public Schools are provided free transportation to Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site for Good Neighbors: Landscape Design and Community Building.