Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands: A Guide to the City's Hidden Shores

by Christopher Klein

The Boston Harbor Islands are experiencing unprecedented visitation, finally assuming their rightful place as Bostons backyard. Rich with history, over 150 full-color photographs, maps, and illustrations, and a resource section devoted to the recreational offerings surrounding the harbor islands, Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands is an indispensable guide to help you plan your island adventures. Explore the military installations that protected Boston during wartime including Fort Warren, home of Confederate prisoners during the Civil War. Visit Boston Light on Little Brewster, site of the nations oldest lighthouse. Kayak into the coves where pirates and bootleggers once hid. Wander the meadows that were the camps of Native Americans and the sites of Revolutionary skirmishes. Sail to the outer islands, a spectacular ocean wilderness. Find the best year-round fishing spots and discover why the islands are a birders paradise. Dive amid century-old shipwrecks or climb to the top of Spectacle Island for an altogether different view of the Boston skyline. Take in a jazz concert, an antique baseball game, or simply hop from one island to the next to experience the stunning natural beauty of this most storied national park area. Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands is sure to resonate with new and veteran islanders. Whether its hiking, camping, a trip through history, or a simple getaway to spend a day at the beach, a visit to the harbor islands offers an outdoor experience wholly unique to the geography and heritage of Boston. Don t leave port without it!

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2008

About the author

WHEN THE IRISH INVADED CANADA now available

I’m a total history geek. Favorite historical figure: Teddy Roosevelt. Favorite historical event: the Defenestration of Prague. (Go ahead, Google it.) I love writing about history because it allows me to indulge my passion, travel back in time, and constantly learn more about humanity’s incredible backstory. History helps to explain our present-day world and acts as our roadmap to the future. After all, how can we know where we are going without knowing where we’ve been? (Not to mention, writing about dead people means never having to worry about your subjects returning your phone calls.)

I love to sweep away the cobwebs of history and introduce modern-day audiences to incredible figures who have begun to fade from our collective memory. My latest book is When the Irish Invaded Canada, the outlandish, untold story of the Irish American revolutionaries who tried to free Ireland by invading Canada. Taking their cue from a previous generation of successful American revolutionaries, these Great Hunger refugees and Civil War veterans attacked Canada five times between 1866 and 1871 in what are known as the Fenian Raids. With the tacit support of the U.S. government, these Irish Americans established a state in exile, planned prison breaks, weathered infighting, stockpiled weapons, and assassinated enemies. Defiantly, this motley group, including a one-armed war hero, an English spy infiltrating rebel forces, and a radical who staged his own funeral, managed to seize a piece of Canada--if only for three days.

In addition to When the Irish Invaded Canada, I am also the author of Strong Boy The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan America's First Sports Hero, Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands A Guide to the City s Hidden Shores, and The Die-Hard Sports Fan's Guide to Boston. I’m a frequent contributor to History.com, the web site of the History Channel, and often write about subjects from the past for the travel and Ideas section of the Boston Globe. I have also written for the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Harvard Magazine, Red Sox Magazine, ESPN.com, Smithsonian.com, and AmericanHeritage.com.

I am a member of the Authors Guild, Biographers International Organization, Boston Authors Club, and American Society of Authors & Journalists (ASJA).

Reviews

[Christine McCloud · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd actually give it a 3.5. While not exactly riveting reading, it gave a pretty good history of each island and what they have to offer today.

[Jeannie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I attended a talk by the author Christopher Klein at my local library this afternoon. I began reading this book early evening, and kept reading and reading... finishing 6 hours later after devouring every word, examing every picture and enjoying every detail. We live just south of Boston and am embarrassed to say we have not been to any of the harbor islands. I personally love history and feel so fortunate to live in the best city in the country (a little biased) with a special appreciation for it's history and abundant treasures and choices.

This book is far more than a travel guide to the Boston Harbor Islands. It reads like every history book should: lots of fact (some I knew, but some I did not), and some intrique (with history comes tall tales), but the book delivers so much more. It entertained, it educated, it captured the progress of recent enviromental improvements, but more satisfying was that it speeded up my desire to check off the islands on My-Bucket-List-of-Things-To-Do: SOONER THAN LATER.

Mr. Klein's detailed research is so concisely written.... thank you for sharing your love of the islands.

Even if you ado not lie near by, read for the history...read for the science... or come to Boston and experience the Islands.

(FYI: my book's copyright date is 2011...not sure if it an updated version from '08 or a re-release)

[Mark Vecchiotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a comprehensive combination of history and user guide of the national park area in Boston Harbor. Easily something to throw in my bag every time I jump on the ferry. Good for the coffee table or as an on-the-go resource. I love this book. The sidebars kick ass.

[Nicole Vecchiotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm biased, of course, because I'm the publisher, but I recommend this to anyone interested the little known history of the Boston Harbor Islands. (There are 24 of them, believe it or not.)