- Grape Island (Massachusetts)
Grape Island is an
island in theHingham Bay area of theBoston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area . The island has a permanent size of 54acre s, plus anintertidal zone of a further 46 acres, and is composed of twodrumlin s, reaching an elevation of convert|70|ft|m abovesea level , and connected by a marshy lowland. Tidal sand spits extend from the west end towards Weymouth Neck inWebb Memorial State Park and from the east end towardsSlate Island .cite web| title = Grape Island Factsheet | url = http://www.bostonislands.org/factsheet_template.asp?rsIslands__MMColParam=grap | publisher = Boston Harbor Islands Partnership | accessdate = August 28 | accessyear = 2006]As a visitor attraction, Grape Island offers trails, rocky beaches, and camping in wooded campsites. At weekends and summer weekdays it is served by a shuttle boat to and from Georges Island, connecting there with ferries to Boston and Quincy.cite web| title = Boston Harbor Islands Ferry Schedule | url = http://www.nps.gov/boha/parkdocs/boatschedule.pdf | publisher = National Park Service | accessdate = July 29 | accessyear = 2006]
The island was farmed and grazed for three hundred years, up until the 1940s. On the eve of the American Revolution, the island was owned by Hingham resident Elisha Leavitt, a Tory.] In 1775 British troops raided the island during the
Siege of Boston , as Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John (May 24, 1775): "...it seems their Expidition (sic) was to Grape Island for Levets hay."cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xuigq23ybG0C&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44|title= History of the Town of Hingham|first=Thomas Tracy|last=Bouve|publisher=Town of Hingham|year=1893] A pitched battle ensued until the British were forced to retreat to the mainland. The angry colonists burned Leavitt's barn to the ground. [cite web|url=http://www.patriotledger.com/opinions/x1880506383/A-FORGOTTEN-BATTLE |title=The Forgotten Battle|first=Christopher|last=Klein|publisher=The Patriot Ledger|date=May 17, 2008|accessdate=2008-09-21]Since the abandonment of agricultural use in the 1940s, the natural succession of vegetation has created a wooded and shrubby landscape. Vegetation on the island includes early successional tree and shrub species on the drumlins, including Staghorn Sumac,
Gray Birch , and Quaking Aspen. The island has an abundance of berries, includingBlackberry ,Dewberry ,Raspberry ,Blueberry ,Huckleberry , and American Elderberry. The island's marshy lowland contains salt tolerant species such as Saltspray Rose,Cordgrass ,Purple Loosestrife ,Honeysuckle , and Seaside Goldenrod.cite web| title = Grape Island Factsheet | url = http://www.bostonislands.org/factsheet_template.asp?rsIslands__MMColParam=grap | publisher = Boston Harbor Islands Partnership | accessdate = August 28 | accessyear = 2006]References
External links
* [http://www.bostonislands.org/isle_grape.html Grape Island web page] , with visitor information.
* [http://www.nps.gov/boha/parkdocs/boatschedule.pdf Harbor Islands Boat Schedule]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.