For about 12 years, the eccentric Ann Winsor Sherwin and her son William made a cozy home on an abandoned four-masted schooner that ran aground off Spectacle Island. Against all odds, she managed to hold off agents of the ship’s owners, the health commission, the Coast Guard, and the Boston Harbor Police. Abandoned by her no-good husband who thought he could make it big in Hollywood, Ann and her three children were destitute and homeless until they set up a home on the schooner, riding out the Great Depression rent-free on Boston Harbor. They were a family out of time, until the world (in the form of the US Army) came calling for young William.
Tag: Harbor Islands
Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands, with Dr Pavla Šimková (episode 239)
The new book Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands explores how the city of Boston has transformed the islands on its doorstep time and time again, as the city’s needs shifted over the centuries. From a valuable site for farming, to a dumping ground for all of Boston’s problems, to a wilderness of history and romance, to an urban park, these many transformations reflect a changing city. Author Dr. Pavla Šimková joins us this week to discuss how Boston initially embraced the islands, later turned its back on the Harbor, and more recently has embraced them both again. You’ll hear us argue about the 1960s plan to hold a bicentennial expo on the harbor and the role of storyteller Edward Rowe Snow in promoting the Harbor Islands to a new generation, and you’ll hear us agree about the beauty and importance of this urban asset.
POWs in the Boston Harbor Islands (episode 231)
Since the earliest days of the Bay Colony, prisoners of war have been held on the islands of Boston Harbor. This week, we’re sharing two classic stories of the Harbor Islands POWs from past episodes. One of them is about the Confederate prisoners who arrived at Fort Warren on Georges Island in the fall of 1861, fresh from the field of battle in North Carolina. They’d be joined by Maryland politicians who supported secession, the supposed diplomats Mason and Slidell, and eventually even Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens, who didn’t seem to much appreciate Boston hospitality. 81 years later and a mile away on Peddocks Island, a group of unruly Italian prisoners were confined at Fort Andrews after starting what may have been the only soccer riot in Boston history at a South Boston prison camp.
Continue reading POWs in the Boston Harbor Islands (episode 231)
Three Battles for Boston Light (episode 227)
Boston Light, America’s first and oldest light station, still welcomes visitors and locals alike if they approach the city by sea, but that wasn’t always the case. During the first year of the Revolutionary War, there were three attempts to destroy Boston Light during the siege of Boston. First, the newly formed Continental Army burned the strategically important lighthouse twice in July 1775, 246 years ago this week, using the 18th century equivalent of a stealth fighter: the humble whaleboat. Then, as the British finally evacuated Boston in the spring of 1776, the last ships to leave the harbor blew up the lighthouse that June.
Continue reading Three Battles for Boston Light (episode 227)
Expo 76: Future Vision or Fever Dream? (episode 219)
During the Kennedy administration, a group of Boston businessmen led by a millionaire dairy farmer hatched an audacious plan. They proposed building an experimental city of the future on made land, piers, and floating platforms connecting Columbia Point in Dorchester with Thompson Island in Boston Harbor. This new city would be the site of a World’s Fair timed to celebrate America’s Bicentennial, and the site would then be reused to solve all of Boston’s problems with housing, race relations, environmental damage, and economic decline. Spoiler alert: We don’t have a futuristic city connecting Columbia Point with the Harbor Islands. But the story of how a plan ripped straight out of science fiction almost came to be built in Boston reveals a lot about an optimistic city torn apart by the busing crisis.
Continue reading Expo 76: Future Vision or Fever Dream? (episode 219)
The Lighthouse Tragedy (episode 213)
In November 1718, a tragedy on Boston Harbor cut short the lives of six people, including the first keeper of Boston Light and four members of his household. To find out what happened that morning, we’re going to look at what Boston Harbor was like before the construction of Boston Light, why Boston Harbor needed a lighthouse, how it got built, and who was chosen as the first keeper. We’ll also look at the founding father who was moved to poetry by the tragedy, as well as the centuries long search for Ben Franklin’s lost verses and a 20th century hoax that got repeated as truth. Then we’ll close out the show with a quick look at the present and future of Boston Light on Little Brewster Island.
The Prisoners of Peddocks Island (episode 194)
You may have heard stories about the Confederate prisoners who were held at Fort Warren on Georges Island during the civil war. In this episode, we’ll explore a different island that housed prisoners during a different war. Our story will start with the only soccer riot in recorded Boston history, which broke out at Carson Beach in South Boston on July 16, 1944. It will end up with Italian war prisoners confined at Fort Andrews on Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor. Along the way, we’ll meet bootleggers, artillerymen, Passamaquoddy seal hunters, opium fiends, and Portuguese-American fishermen. We’ll also be taking a virtual visit to one of my personal favorite places in the Boston area, and one that is on the brink of being sold off to luxury hotel developers.
Continue reading The Prisoners of Peddocks Island (episode 194)
A Forgotten Battle on Boston Harbor (episode 186)
245 years ago this week, provincial militia and royal marines battled it out in what is now East Boston. The battle of Chelsea Creek was sandwiched between the battle of Lexington in April and Bunker Hill in June, and it’s often overshadowed by the larger battles in our memories. While the casualties and stakes were lower than those familiar battles, this skirmish over livestock was an important testing ground for the new American army. It proved that the militias of different colonies could plan and fight together, it confirmed the wisdom of maneuvering and firing from cover instead of facing the redcoats head-on, and it bolstered provincial morale with a decisive victory. The ragtag American army even managed to destroy a ship of the Royal Navy in the fighting!
Continue reading A Forgotten Battle on Boston Harbor (episode 186)
John Brown’s Body (episode 166)
The most popular song of the Union Army during the Civil War was inspired by the most hated man in America, it borrowed the tune from an old church hymn, and it was first sung right here in the Boston Harbor Islands. In this week’s episode, learn about the double meaning behind the title of the song, its holy and profane lyrics, and the tragic history of the “Hallelujah Regiment” who made it famous. The 12th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment marched out of Boston in 1861 with 1040 men and a song in their hearts, but when they returned three years later, they numbered just 85, and they had vowed never to sing their famous song again.
The Underground Railroad on Boston Harbor (episode 135)
In the 19th century, a network of abolitionists and sympathizers in Boston helped enslaved African Americans find their way to freedom in the Northern states or Canada. It’s a topic we’ve talked about before, but this time there’s a twist. We’re going to be examining how Boston’s position as an important port city changed the dynamic of seeking freedom. Jake sat down with National Park Service ranger Shawn Quigley to discuss how the underground railroad ran right through Boston Harbor.
Continue reading The Underground Railroad on Boston Harbor (episode 135)