Lovells Island, or Lovell's Island, is a island in the

Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area is a national recreation area situated among the islands of Boston Harbor of Boston, Massachusetts. The area is made up of a collection of islands, together with a former island and a peninsula, ...

, in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The island is across The Narrows from

Georges Island Georges Island, or George's Island, may refer to: Geography *Georges Island (Massachusetts), offshore from the city of Boston, Massachusetts *Georges Island (Nova Scotia), offshore from the community of Halifax in the Halifax Regional Municipali ...

and some offshore of downtown

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. It is named after Captain William Lovell, who was an early settler of nearby Dorchester. The island is known as the site of several shipwrecks, including the 74-gun French warship ''Magnifique'' in 1782. In December 1786, a passenger boat carrying 13 people crashed off the shore of Lovells Island. Coming from

Damariscotta, Maine Damariscotta (/ dæmrɪˈskɒtə/ ) is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,297 at the 2020 census. Damariscotta is the oyster capital of New England. A popular tourist destination, the towns of Damariscotta and N ...

, and destined for the Boston Harbor, the boat sank within swimming distance to the Harbor, and all aboard made it to shore.https://archive.org/stream/kingshandbookofb00swee#page/188/mode/2up King's Handbook of the Boston Harbor Islands 1882 Without shelter or warmth and in the midst of a blizzard, 11 of the victims froze to death. One man, Theodore Kingsbury, made it through the night and was taken to the hospital in the morning where he was pronounced dead. Two of the victims aboard the ship, a Miss Sylvia Knapp and her fiancé (name unknown), were said to be found holding on to each other for warmth on top of a boulder, now dubbed "Lovers Rock". The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts constructed lifesaving huts in November 1787 around the harbor and the coast of Massachusetts, one on Lovells Island. Lovells Island has had a succession of owners. In 1767, the town of Charlestown deeded the island to Elisha Leavitt Jr. of

Hingham, Massachusetts Hingham ( ) is a town in metropolitan Greater Boston on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts in northern Plymouth County. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,284. Hingham is known for its colonial history and location on B ...

, an infamous Tory who also owned Grape Island, where Leavitt later invited British forces to help themselves to his hay until they were chased off by patriots. Leavitt's payment for Lovells Island was set aside to pay for the town's school.The Memorial History of Boston, Justin Winsor, James R. Osgood & Co., Boston, 1881
/ref> Lovells Island was used by Native Americans for fishing, gardening and trading. Later uses included harvesting the island's timber, as a fishing station, as a residence for the keepers of

Boston Light Boston Light is a lighthouse located on Little Brewster Island in outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. The first lighthouse to be built on the site dates back to 1716, and was the first lighthouse to be built in what is now the United States. The c ...

, and as a rabbit run. Once the home of the

Lovells Island Range Lights The Lovells Island Range Lights were range lights on Lovells Island in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massa ...

, the island was a buoy tending station in the early 20th century and was fortified before and during World War I, with remains of Fort Standish, active 1902-1946, still visible. Much of the vegetation on the islands results from an attempt in the 1930s by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

to reestablish a natural forest on the island, although this was largely cleared when the fort was reactivated during World War II. Left to recover after the war, the island's plant life now includes remnant patches of stands of poplar,

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, together with successional species such as

staghorn sumac ''Rhus typhina'', the staghorn sumac, is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae, native to eastern North America. It is primarily found in southeastern Canada, the northeastern and midwestern United States, and the Appalachian M ...

black cherry ''Prunus serotina'', commonly called black cherry,World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition'. CRC Press; 19 April 2016. . p. 833–. wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a deciduous tree or shrub of the g ...

chokecherry ''Prunus virginiana'', commonly called bitter-berry, chokecherry, Virginia bird cherry, and western chokecherry (also black chokecherry for ''P. virginiana'' var. ''demissa''), is a species of bird cherry (''Prunus'' subgenus ''Padus'') nat ...

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, and

gray birch ''Betula populifolia'' (gray or grey birch) is a deciduous tree native to eastern North America. Range It ranges from southeastern Ontario east to Nova Scotia, and south to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with disjunct populations in Indiana, Vir ...

. Common shrubs include

bayberry ''Myrica'' is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America, and missing only from Aust ...

beach plum ''Prunus maritima'', the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States. It is a choice wild edible and its few pests and salt tolerance make it a resilient fruit crop for degraded lands and urban soils. Descri ...

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

Virginia rose ''Rosa virginiana'', commonly known as the Virginia rose, common wild rose or prairie rose, is a woody perennial in the rose family native to eastern North America, where it is the most common wild rose. It is deciduous, forming a suckering shru ...

and saltspray rose. Today, Lovells Island is a popular camping island, with picnic areas and walking trails through its dunes and woods, together with a non-supervised swimming beach. On weekends and summer weekdays, it is served by a shuttle boat to and from Georges Island, connecting there with ferries to

and Quincy.

References

External links

Lovells Island web page
with visitor information.
{{Authority control Boston Harbor islands Civilian Conservation Corps in Massachusetts Islands of Suffolk County, Massachusetts