The Ghost Island

Hey all! It’s Stephanie and welcome back to my blog! This week started off on a very high note. I went kayaking (for the first time) on the Fort Point Channel! I would’ve never thought that I would ever be in a kayak and not be scared to death, but it was actually very calming and fun. While I was there I saw more trash than I expected too. The trash isn’t as visible when you’re just walking across the bridge, but it was definitely there. I found chip bags, water bottles, cigarette butts, and even styrofoam. We need to understand that the planet doesn’t clean itself and won’t be here forever if we don’t take care of it.

Fort strong (civil war)

What this summer has taught me so far is that I live in a city with a lot of history. Long Island, which Camp Harbor View now resides at, used to be inhabited by Native Americans before colonization took effect. In 1768, during the American Revolutionary War, British forces used Long Island to take care of their sheep, cattle, and swine. They also harvested hay from the island to feed their horses in Boston. Years later in 1893, during the Civil War, a huge construction project began, to build massive concrete gun emplacements for the large guns used to defend the Boston Harbor. Later on in 1928, a former hotel building was used to house homeless people, The Almshouse, alongside a chronic disease hospital. In the beginning the poor were housed with no kind of separation, such as gender, age, marital status, or children. Around 1400 patients and inmates were on the island. Twenty years later, there was more construction done on the island in order to create a housing unit designed to rehabilitate homeless alcoholics. 

Long Island Viaduct

Until the 1950s the only way to get to the island was through water. Then the “Long Island Viaduct” was built, which was a bridge connecting the island to the city of Boston. In 2014 Mayor Walsh made the decision to shut and tear down the bridge, due to lack and neglect of maintenance. Instead of going back to the basics of boats and ferries, the mayor decided to shut down the island as a whole. That includes any programs that were running at the time. Anybody that was living on the island was sent off to “try their luck” somewhere else. 

Stay Haunted, Stephanie

P.S. Long Island also served as the inspiration for Dennis Lehane’s, Shutter Island!