Apple Island (now part of Logan Airport)
1888 map of Boston, East Boston & Islands
Apple Island was located about three miles from Boston and just offshore from Winthrop. All that remains of the island today is part of a runway at Logan Airport. It was always noticeable when entering the inner harbor, simply because of its rare grace, rising in a gentle slope from the water's edge. The island was crowned with waving elms, old, proud and beautiful, and marking the island at once like no other. At low tide it was surrounded by large flats, and was difficult to access.
In early times, Apple Island belonged to Boston, and was used chiefly for pasturage; but having a rich soil, and being well sheltered, it eventually became private property, owned in 1723 by Thomas Hutchinson, father of Colonial Governor Hutchinson. It passed in 1802, by will, to an English mariner, who, living in Northumberland and knowing little about it, allowed the property to decay. About that time, a gentleman named Marsh, an Englishman, was attracted by its beauty, and perhaps by its fitness as a home for Britannic insularity, who settled there with his family, and became so attached to its soil that he resolved upon owning it; and, after many years of searching, eventually found the proprietor in 1822, and bought the island for $550.
Here Marsh lived, content and happy, until the age of sixty-six. When he died in 1833, he was buried on the western slope of his beautiful island home. The funeral was attended by many people from Boston. Two years later, Marsh's home burned down, leaving the island again lonely.
Apple Island was nearly 10 acres in dimension. It was bought by Boston in 1867, and was sold to private citizens. Here many a famous old ship, which had ran aground was broken apart by a gale, was hauled up on the beach and burned, in order to get at the metal used in its construction. On such occasions, the island was wrapped in rolling smoke and glowed like a volcano, with the lower harbor being illuminated by the light. Among the victims of this practice, burned on the beach for the copper and iron markets, have been the famous old steamships James Adger; the Baltic, last of the Collins line; and the Ontario, one of the immense wooden steamships built at Newburyport for the Transatlantic trade. (source: History of East Boston)
In early times, Apple Island belonged to Boston, and was used chiefly for pasturage; but having a rich soil, and being well sheltered, it eventually became private property, owned in 1723 by Thomas Hutchinson, father of Colonial Governor Hutchinson. It passed in 1802, by will, to an English mariner, who, living in Northumberland and knowing little about it, allowed the property to decay. About that time, a gentleman named Marsh, an Englishman, was attracted by its beauty, and perhaps by its fitness as a home for Britannic insularity, who settled there with his family, and became so attached to its soil that he resolved upon owning it; and, after many years of searching, eventually found the proprietor in 1822, and bought the island for $550.
Here Marsh lived, content and happy, until the age of sixty-six. When he died in 1833, he was buried on the western slope of his beautiful island home. The funeral was attended by many people from Boston. Two years later, Marsh's home burned down, leaving the island again lonely.
Apple Island was nearly 10 acres in dimension. It was bought by Boston in 1867, and was sold to private citizens. Here many a famous old ship, which had ran aground was broken apart by a gale, was hauled up on the beach and burned, in order to get at the metal used in its construction. On such occasions, the island was wrapped in rolling smoke and glowed like a volcano, with the lower harbor being illuminated by the light. Among the victims of this practice, burned on the beach for the copper and iron markets, have been the famous old steamships James Adger; the Baltic, last of the Collins line; and the Ontario, one of the immense wooden steamships built at Newburyport for the Transatlantic trade. (source: History of East Boston)