USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 39
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The present quarantine ground is, as has before been stated, near Deer Island. In view of the possibility of the occurrence of malignant cholera, the city, in the spring of 1866, purchased the buildings erected on Gal- lop's Island, the United States government no longer requiring them for military purposes, and passed an ordi- nance on the first day of June, 1866, extending the quarantine grounds so as to include Gallop's Island.
In the olden time the pest house was situated on North Bluff, and more recently the Small-Pox Hospital was built upon West Head. Under the new regime on the island new buildings have been erected, and the old ones repaired and applied to new purposes, agreeably to the requirements of the present institution. Perhaps it will be well, as a matter of record, to mention in this connection the present positions of the buildings upon the island. On the Great Head, upon the easterly part of the North Bluff, as it is called, is situated an airy looking house, which in recent years has been occupied by the superintendent of the institution. West of this are two buildings, the most southerly of which was built
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in the year 1819, and is designated as the Old Hospital, the Mansion House of quarantine days; while that just north of it is commonly known as the New Female Hos- pital. A short distance south of these, towards the new wharf, is a smaller building called the Cottage. Not far from this, and projecting southerly over the exten- sive flats, is a long wharf, the ordinary means of ap- proaching the island and its institution. Upon this head are several other small buildings, as a bake-house and dead-house. In former times the Old Mansion House was carried on as a public house, for the special accommodation of persons arriving from sea, and for the family of the Keeper of the island and of the Resident Physician. Just beside the new wharf, and a short dis- tance west of it, can be seen the remains of the old wharf, which was used previous to the building of the present one. After passing the narrow neck, or beach, and upon what is called West Head, is a long, low building, known in former times as-the Bowling Alleys, and south of this is a pretentious looking building, somewhat resembling a Grecian temple. West of this is the burial-ground, and northwest, upon the shore, at the extreme part of the point, is the present Small-Pox Hospital or Pest House, and from it projects southerly a small wharf. The buildings on the large or eastern head are chiefly used for the women, and those on the small or western head for the men.
In modern times, previous to the new use of the isl- and, it was a famous resort in the sultry part of the summer season, when the prevalence of infectious dis- eases did not prevent; and the Old Mansion House was crowded with occupants from Boston and the neighbor- ing towns, as boarders, a privilege which was accorded
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
to island keepers by the authorities. These summer parties, which often filled to overflowing the Fever Hos- pital (or the Bowling Alleys, as most generally called), and the Grecian Temple (or Small-Pox Hospital), the buildings since used for the men, will not soon be for- gotten by those who partook of the enjoyments under the hospitable roofs of Quarantine Island.
Traditions are extant which would lead to the infer- ence that Rainsford Island had been much used in the olden time for burial purposes; but these statements are not to be relied upon, and we may rest assured that the island was never employed for any such purpose, further than for the interment of such persons as have died there from infectious disorders, or have been connected with the institution. In the old graveyard upon the island there are many stones which, if they could speak, would tell strange stories. Some of these date back more than a hundred years. The remains of many of the old keepers of the island repose there in quiet slumber. The days are past, but not out of remembrance, when persons affected with several of the most loathsome in- fectious diseases were sent to the "island " almost cer- tainly to die; the enlightenment of the present day, however, forbids all such outrages. The State, since its late connection with the island, has expended large sums in improvements and in buildings, amounting to about $100,000. At the close of the year 1866, the State institution was abandoned, the officers having been dis- charged, and the inmates removed. In 1869, the mayor, in his inaugural address, recommended the purchase of this island for city purposes ; and this was accomplished on the seventh of October, 1871, for the sum of forty thousand dollars.
CHAPTER XLII.
LONG ISLAND.
Dimensions of Long Island ... Ancient Description, and Position and Ap- proach . . . Its Form and Topography . . . The Cove . . . Sculpin Ledge . .. Ancient History of the Island . .. Island granted to Boston in 1634 . . . Laid out into Lots in 1640 . . . Early Betterment Law . . . Rent for the Free School .. . Rent Relinquished · · · Claim of the Earl of Sterling, in 1641 .. . In Pos- session of John Nelson . . . Sold to William and Benjamin Browne in 1690 ... Curious Deed . .. Mr. Nelson's Death, and the Division of his Estate in the Island, in 1721 . . . Island purchased by Charles Apthorp, and subse- quently by Barlow Trecothick . . . Bought by James Ivers in 1791 . . . Other Owners . . . Light-House . . . Long Island Hotel.
IMMEDIATELY between Spectacle and Rainsford Isl- ands lies Long Island, a little less than a mile southeast of the former, and somewhat more than half a mile northwest of the latter. This island is about a mile and three quarters in length from northeast to southwest, and about a quarter of a mile in breadth. It derives its name from its extreme length, when compared with its other dimensions, or, as Mr. William Wood says, in his New England's Prospect: "The next Iland of note is Long Iland, so called from his longitude." The same author, in 1635, writing of the islands in the harbor, says: "These Iles abound with Woods, and Water, and Meadow-ground; and whatsoever the spacious fertile Maine affords. The inhabitants use to put their Cattle in these for safety, viz. their Rammes, Goates, and Swine, when their Corne is on the ground." On its northwest it is separated from Governor's Island and
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
Castle Island by President Roads; on the north, from Deer Island by Broad Sound Channel; on the northeast, from Nix's Mate and Gallop's Island by extensive shoals; and from George's Island and Rainsford Island, by the Back Way on the southeast. It is approached usually on its northwesterly side, where the water is deepest, and where a wharf has been built, the landing-place being about five miles from the end of Long wharf.
Long Island may be likened in form to a military boot, fronting westerly; Long Island Head, sometimes called East Head, where the Light-House is, being the top, Bass Point the heel, and South Head the toe. It contains, by estimation, about two hundred and sixteen acres of land, of which about thirty-five are on East Head. This head is somewhat circular in form, and is very elevated, being seventy feet above the level of high-water mark; and it has a very abrupt bluff at its northeast, which is constantly wearing away by the ef- fects of storms and currents, to the great injury of the harbor. The portion of this head which is unprotected, and which is furnishing material to fill up the channels, is about six hundred and fifty feet in extent. On the southeasterly side of this is a cove, which was much used in former times as a harbor for the island, afford- ing proper shelter for small boats, it being protected from sea breakers by a high projecting beach, which, during the last twenty years, has been fast disappearing. A small wharf jutting out southerly within this cove, has been of much service to pleasure parties approach- ing the island by the Western Way. This head is sep- arated from the main island by a low neck of marshy ground. The main island is composed of elevated land, gently rolling into eminences, and terminating at South
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Head in a considerable bluff, forming the toe of the boot. Northwest of this head is the southerly peninsula of Spectacle Island; between these is Sculpin Ledge, signalized by Buoy No. 2 Red, making an approach this way from the western passage extremely dangerous.
The usual way to approach Long Island is by pass- ing through the Main Ship Channel. By this time the reader of these chapters on the harbor is sufficiently ac- quainted with the position of Buoys No. 7 Black and No. 8 Red, just beyond Fort Independence, and a short distance south of the westerly end of the Lower Middle Shoal. If he passes between these, and proceeds in an easterly direction for a quarter of a mile, he will come to a point in the channel from whence he can take a south- easterly course, passing between Spectacle Island on the south and President Roads on the north, and go directly to the Long Island wharf, about a mile and three quar- ters distant, the wharf being about three quarters of a mile due south of the main ship channel.
The history of this island bears a strong resemblance to that of many others in the harbor. It was granted to Boston, as has already been stated in a previous chap- ter, together with Deer Island and Hog Island, on the first of April, 1634, for the annual rent of two pounds for the three; which grant was afterwards confirmed the fourth of March following, with the same, and Spectacle Island added, for the diminished sum of four shillings for the four, it being undoubtedly understood to be merely a nominal sum or consideration. Very soon after the acquirement of the island, the town of Boston began to apportion it out to various persons for im- provement; and the felling of the trees, with which it was well wooded on the arrival of the first settlers of the
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town, took place in real earnest, and it was not long before it was so divested of its forests as to become only fit for the pasturage of cattle, sheep, and swine. On the twenty-fourth of the twelfth month of the year 1639, that is to say, in February, 1639-40, at a town meeting of the inhabitants of Boston, the island was directed to be laid out into lots for planters. The record of this transaction is in the following words, on the fortieth page of the first volume of town records, and in the handwriting of Elder Thomas Leverett: " At this meet- inge o" brother Edward Rainsford & Willyam Hudson are appointed to accompany ye surveyor to lay out the planting ground at Long Iland, & they are to beginne at the east end; & if any have bestowed any labor vpon yt wch shall fall to another man, he whoe shall enjoy ye benefitt thereof shall eyther allow for ye charge, or cleare soe much for ye other." Here we find an early practicall application of the principle of the betterment law, with a view to fair treatment of pre-occupants and squatters. After a while the town concluded to relin- quish the island to the planters, they paying a yearly rent for the benefit of the free school; and we find that on the nineteenth of April, 1649, thirty-seven persons, whose names are given in the record, " doth bind them- selves and theire successors to pay six-pence an accre for theire [land] at Longe Iland bye ye yeare for euer; and y' to be for ye vse of the schole, yt soe it maye be proprietye to them for euer, and they are to bringe in there pay to ye townes treasurer the first of February for euer, or else there land is forfeit vnto ye townes dis- posing." It appears, however, in 1655, that " a consid- erable part of ye rent due to the vse of ye schoole for Long Iland & Spectacle Iland" -- for the other neigh-
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boring island came into the same category -" is nott brought in by ye renters of ye land according to y' con- tract with ye towne," and the matter is placed in the hands of the constable to distrain for the rent. How successful the constable was in this business is not re- lated, but things went on so badly, that in the year 1666-7, on the eleventh of March, the town gave up all its rights in the island, and nullified the agreement about the rent of sixpence an acre, relinquishing it en- tirely to the renters on the condition of paying up the back rent for the benefit of the school, which it is sup- posed was done, as the fee of the island is soon found firmly established in private hands, free from all encum- brances of rents of every description.
Most all of the islands in the harbor had at some pe- riod of their history claimants in the shape of Indians; and Long Island, as early as the year 1641, was claimed by no less a dignitary than the Right Honorable Wil- liam, Earl of Stirling, who on the twenty-eighth of Sep- tember of that year recorded a protest, by his agent, James Forrett, against Edward Tomlins and others as intruders on Long Island. This claim came to nothing, and the title proved good to the grantees from the town.
In course of time the title became vested, by the pur- chase of the renters, in Mr. John Nelson of Boston, - the heroic person, who, in 1689, at the head of the sol- diery, made Sir Edmund Andros surrender himself and the fort on Fort Hill to the incensed colonists, whose rights he was then usurping. Mr. Nelson was a patriot of some considerable note in his day; he was a near rel- ative of Sir Thomas Temple, who made a considerable figure this side of the Atlantic in colony times, and was
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
also a connection of Governor William Stoughton, whose niece, Elizabeth, he married. After gaining pos- session of the island (with the exception of about four acres and a half, which Mr. Thomas Stanbury, a shop- keeper of Boston, and one of the original renters, claimed), he sold it to Messrs. William Browne and Ben- jamin Browne, of Salem, for &1,200, conveying it by a curious deed, dated on the fourth of June, 1690, extracts from which will be given, as furnishing a good descrip- tion of the island as it was one hundred and seventy- six years ago. By a subsequent transaction between Mr. Nelson and the Brownes, the deed of conveyance became in effect nothing but a mortgage, which was subsequently annulled, on the twenty-fourth of Septem- ber, 1724, by an instrument executed by Colonel Samuel Browne, of Salem, acting as executor on the estates of the Brownes who had died, William on the twenty-third of February, 1715-16, and Benjamin on the seventh of December, 1708. The deed alluded to above is very curious in its description of Long Island, and is cer- tainly worth committing to print; John Nelson, of Bos- ton, merchant, and wife Elizabeth, convey "all that cer- tain island, tract, or parcel of land, meadow, or pasture comonly called or knowne by the name of Long Is- land, scituate, lying and being within the Massachusetts Bay in New England aforesaid, containing by estima- tion two hundred acres of land (be the same more or less), butted and bounded Northerly, Southerly, East- erly and Westerly by the sea, or howsoever otherwise the same is now butted or bounded or reputed to be bounded; which sª island, or tract of land was formerly granted by the towne of Boston unto sundry inhabitants thereof, and since purchased by the said John Nelson,
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now in the tenure, holding or occupation of one Henry Mare, together with all and singular the houses, out- houses, buildings, barnes, stables, orchards, gardens, pastures, ffences, trees, woods, underwoods, swamps, marishes, meadows, arrable land, wayes, water-courses, easements, comons, comon of pasture, passages, stones, beach, fflatts, wharffes, profits, privileges, rights, liber- ties, immunities, commodityes, hereditaments, emolu- ments, and appurtences whatsoever to the said island, land, houses, and premises, or any part or parcel thereof belonging, or in any wise appertaining, or therewithall now or at any time heretofore usually sett, lett, used, oc- cupied or enjoyed, or reputed, taken or knowne, as part, parcel or member thereof, or of any part thereof," &c., reserving the four and a half acres already mentioned as claimed by Mr. Thomas Stanbury. The term of the grant was for twelve months, the Brownes "yielding and paying therefor the rent of One Pepper Corne upon the last day of the said twelve months (if the same be then lawfully demanded "). As one of the Brownes had been one of Andros's councillors the previous few years, and the other was ripening for a seat in the Provincial Council, it may be easily imagined how so bombastic a document could have been drawn up on so small an oc- casion, as if it were a whole province or even continent that was to be granted by letters patent, with the broad seal appendant.
Like many charters, the appendix so modified it that the deed served only as a mortgage deed, and the fee in the estate reverted to the heirs of Mr. Nelson; for he died on the fifth of December, 1721, and the estate fell to his heirs, and was divided into seven parts; two of these descended to John and Mary, the heirs of his
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
oldest son, Temple Nelson; one to Nathaniel Hubbard by his wife Elizabeth; one to the heirs of Henry Lloyd by right of his wife Rebecca; one to John Steel by right of his wife Margaret; and one to Robert Temple by right of his wife Mehitable. Robert Temple bought up four of these shares; and then he and the others conveyed by separate deeds the whole island to Mr. Charles Apthorp, of Boston, merchant, who died in pos- session of it on the eighteenth of November, 1758, being sixty years of age. The Apthorp heirs subsequently sold to Barlow Trecothick, Esq., an alderman and Lord Mayor of London, who had married the eldest daughter Grizzell.
After the death of Trecothick, the island passed, on the eleventh of June, 1790, into the possession of his brother-in-law, Charles Ward Apthorp, Esq., of New York, who, on the thirteenth of June, 1791, sold it to James Ivers, of Boston. Mr. Ivers died in Boston on the thirteenth of June, 1815, aged eighty-eight years, devising his real estate to his two daughters, Hannah, the wife of Jonathan Loring Austin, and Jane, the wife of Benjamin Austin, and their heirs. On the first of October, 1847, the Ivers heirs conveyed all of the island, except the East Head, to Thomas Smith, of Cohasset; and finally it became vested in the Long Island Com- pany, which was incorporated by an act of the legisla- ture, passed the first of May, 1849.
In 1819 a lighthouse was established on Long Island Head. Its tower, twenty-two feet in height, is built of iron, painted white, with a black lantern containing nine burners, which is about eighty feet above the level of the sea, and yields a fixed light that can be seen on a clear night about fifteen miles. It was refitted in 1855,
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
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and has for its object the guidance of vessels up the roads of the harbor. It is situated in a square enclos- ure of ground, on the summit of the Head. Within the square is a comfortable stone house, and other small buildings, for the accommodation of the keeper, and a remarkably good well of fresh water. This square is encompassed on the northerly and westerly sides by the remains of an old redoubt which are fast disappearing from view. The prospect from this Head is surpassed by none that can be obtained from any of the eminences upon the other islands in the harbor.
Long Island is one of the pleasantest places in the harbor for summer residences, and undoubtedly before long it will prove a desirable resort for such purposes. The hotel erected by the Long Island Company is com- modious and convenient, and has at times been popular. The recent use of the island by the State, as a place of rendezvous for Massachusetts soldiers, previous to their being mustered into the service of the United States, has in a great degree prevented the island from being used according to the intentions of the land company which attempted its settlement. During most of the last century it was improved as a farm, and families re- sided upon it; but lately it has been put to little use except for pasturage. Should the Long Island Com- pany succeed, we may yet expect to see upon the Island a flourishing village of rustic cottages and more impos- ing villas.
Having made a short survey of the largest island in the harbor, the writer is now ready to take a hasty view of the few remaining ones, before concluding his de- scriptions.
CHAPTER XLIII.
NIX'S MATE, THE NARROWS AND OTHER SHIP PASSAGES.
Nix's Mate, formerly an Island of Twelve Acres . . . Granted to Captain John Gallop in 1636 . . . Rescue of the Body of John Oldham . . . Distance of Nix's Mate from Boston ... Its Form and Construction ... Tradition about its Name .. . Account of Piracy of William Fly, and his Execution in 1726 ... Nix's Mate, a Place of Execution for Pirates .. . Execution of Quelch, Haw- kins, Bellamy, Anchor, and White .. . Notice of Captain Gallop .. . Various Passages ··· North and South Broad Channels . . . The Narrows .. . Hunt's Ledge . .. Toddy Rocks ... Thieves' Ledge . .. Good Fishing Grounds . . . Other Ship Passages.
RETURNING in a northeasterly direction to the Main Ship Channel, the reader will come in sight of a pecu- liarly shaped monument, a tall pyramid, upon a square stone base, the whole about thirty-two feet in height, and resting upon what, at low tide, appears to be an ex- tensive shoal covered with stones of a size suitable for ballast for vessels. This shoal, about an acre in extent, is what remains of a once very respectable island, as far as size is concerned; for it is seen, by referring to the Massachusetts Colony Records, that, on the eighth of September, 1636, "there is twelve acres of land graunted to John Galop, upon Nixes Iland, to enjoy to him & his heires forever, if the iland bee so much." How much land Captain Gallop actually found cannot now be ascertained exactly; but that there was once enough to answer for pasturage ground is well known, through traditions very reliably transmitted from a period less
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than a hundred years back, when the island was used for the purpose of grazing sheep. Mr. Gallop was a noted pilot in his day, and is said to have been better acquainted with the harbor than any other man of his time. On the fourth of September, 1633, he piloted into Boston harbor, by a new way, probably the Black Rock passage, the ship Griffin, containing, among its passen- gers, Rev. John Cotton, Elder Thomas Leverett, and many others, who afterwards proved to be some of the most desirable of the New England colonists. To his ability as a pilot and fisherman he added that of a good fighter; for, on one occasion, in July, 1636, he, with his two young sons, John and Samuel, and his boatman, he- roically fought fourteen Indians, and rescued the body of his friend John Oldham, whom the savages had most cruelly murdered. Although Mr. Gallop lived at the north end of Boston, near the shore, where his boat could ride safely at anchor, he owned Gallop's Island, as a farm, a meadow lot on Long Island, and a pasture for his sheep upon Nix's Mate. How unkind it is, at this late time, to rob him of the good name he gave his isl- and, and to call it, in a Frenchified manner, Galloupe's Island! One would almost believe that old Captain John and his good wife Christabel (although one died in January, 1649-50, and the other on the twenty- seventh of September, 1655) would return to earth and remonstrate against the outrage.
Nix's Mate is about five and a half miles southeast- erly from Long wharf, and would be one of the great dangers of the harbor were it not for the monument which stands upon its ruins. This consists of a solid piece of stone masonry, forty feet square and twelve feet high, which can be ascended on the south side by
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
steps, all the stones being securely bolted together by copper fastenings; and upon this is a wooden octagonal pyramid, twenty feet in height, painted black. This structure is a modern erection, its exact date not known. It was probably erected in the early part of the century. On the third of March, 1810, the General Court passed an act to protect the monument and to prevent the removal of rocks, sand, clay or gravel from the island under a penalty now in force. A long hook-like shoal extends from it, southwesterly, nearly half a mile. The northeasterly part of Nix's Mate was in former times a low bluff, and was known to the pilots of the olden time as North End Point; and not far from this, on the edge of the shoal, is attached a black buoy, numbered 9, as a warning to mariners, and a guide to a change of course to a southeasterly direction through the Narrows.
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