
Boston Harbor is a natural
harbor
A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...
and
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
of
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its northern and sout ...
, located adjacent to
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts. It is home to the
Port of Boston
The Port of Boston (Automated Manifest System, AMS Seaport Code: 0401, UN/LOCODE: US BOS) is a major seaport located in Boston Harbor and adjacent to the Boston, Massachusetts, City of Boston. It is the largest port in Massachusetts and one of th ...
, a major shipping facility in the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...
.
History
17th century

Since its discovery by Europeans by
John Smith in 1614,
Boston Harbor has been an important port in American history. Boston Harbor was recognized by Europeans as one of the finest natural harbors in the world due to its depth and natural defense from the Atlantic as a result of the
many islands that dot the harbor. It was also favored due to its access to the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
,
Neponset River, and
Mystic River, which made travel from the harbor deeper into
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
far easier.
By 1660, almost all imports came to the greater Boston area and the New England coast through the waters of Boston Harbor. A rapid influx of people transformed Boston into an exploding city.
18th century
On December 16, 1773, Boston Harbor was the site of the
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a seminal American protest, political and Mercantilism, mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, during the American Revolution. Initiated by Sons of Liberty activists in Boston in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colo ...
, an iconic development in the
American Revolution
The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
.
19th century
Through the 19th century, Boston Harbor underwent extensive construction and development, including the building of wharves, piers, and new filled land into the harbor. In the late 19th century, Boston citizens were advised not to swim in any portion of the Harbor. Two of the first steam sewage stations were built, with one in East Boston and one later on Deer Island. With these mandates, the harbor was seeing small improvements, but raw sewage was still continuously pumped into the harbor.
20th century

In 1919, the Metropolitan District Commission was created to oversee and regulate the quality of harbor water. However, not much improvement was seen and general public awareness of the poor quality of water was very low. In 1972, the
Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the primary respo ...
was passed in order to help promote increased national water quality.
Since the mid-1970s organizations within the Boston community have battled for a cleaner Boston Harbor. More recently, the harbor was the site of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Project. Failures at the Nut Island
sewage treatment
Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...
plant in
Quincy and the companion
Deer Island plant adjacent to
Winthrop had far-reaching
environmental and political effects.
Fecal coliform bacteria levels forced frequent swimming prohibitions along the harbor beaches and the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
for many years.
In 1982,
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...
sued the
Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and the separate
Boston Water and Sewer Commission in 1982, charging that unchecked systemic pollution of the city's waterfront contributed to the problem. That suit was followed by one by
Conservation Law Foundation and finally by the
United States government
The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States.
The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
, resulting in the landmark court-ordered cleanup of Boston Harbor.
The lawsuits forced then-
Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...
to propose separating the water and sewer treatment divisions from the MDC, resulting in the creation of the
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority in 1985. The slow progress of the cleanup became a key theme of the
1988 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1988. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's ticket of incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush and Indiana Senator Da ...
as
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
defeated Dukakis partly through campaign speeches casting doubt on the governor's environmental record, which Dukakis himself had claimed was better than that of Bush.
The court-ordered cleanup continued throughout the next two decades and is still ongoing.
Before the cleanup projects, the water's pollution gained notability in popular culture when
The Standells released their 1965 song, "
Dirty Water", which referred to the state of the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
.
Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque.
Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...
, who attended
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
from 1977 to 1981, based his second novel,
''Zodiac'', around pollution of Boston Harbor.
Since the writing of the song, the water quality in both the Harbor and the Charles River has significantly improved, and the projects have dramatically transformed Boston Harbor from one of the filthiest in the nation to one of the cleanest. Today, Boston Harbor is safe for fishing and for swimming nearly every day, though there are still beach closings after even small rainstorms, caused by bacteria-laden storm water and the occasional combined sewer overflow.
21st century
In 2022, pieces of plastic transmission line used in rock explosives, known as explosive shock tubing, began washing up on coastal shores of
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...
and
Rhode Island
Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
br>
This led to an investigation that was conducted by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it was suspected to have been related to a concluded Boston Harbor dredging project. The outcome was to seek to find methods to prevent future environmental impacts from reoccurring.
Geography
Boston Harbor is a large harbor, which constitutes the western extremity of
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of Massachusetts.
Description
The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its northern and sout ...
. The harbor is sheltered from Massachusetts Bay and the open
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
by a combination of the
Winthrop Peninsula and
Deer Island to the north, the hooked
Nantasket Peninsula and Point Allerton to the south, and the harbor islands in the middle. The harbor is often described as being split into an inner harbor and an outer harbor.
["Boston Harbor and Approaches." ''Coast Pilot 1 – 43rd Edition, 2015'']
NOAA Office of Coast Survey. Accessed April 25, 2016. The harbor itself comprises with of shoreline and 34 harbor islands.
Inner Harbor
The inner harbor was historically the main port of Boston and is still the site of most of its port facilities as well as the Boston waterfront, which has been redeveloped for residential and recreational uses. The inner harbor extends from the mouths of the
Charles River
The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...
and the
Mystic River, both of which empty into the harbor, to
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...
and
Castle Island, the latter now connected by land in 1928 to Boston, where the inner harbor meets the outer harbor.
Outer Harbor
The outer harbor stretches to the south and east of the inner harbor. To its landward side, and moving in a
counterclockwise
Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...
direction, the harbor is made up of the three small bays of
Dorchester Bay,
Quincy Bay and
Hingham Bay. To seaward, the two deep water anchorages of President Roads and Nantasket Roads are separated by
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. The outer harbor is fed by several rivers, including the
Neponset River, the
Weymouth Fore River, the
Weymouth Back River and the
Weir River.
Dredged deep water channels stretch from President Roads to the inner harbor, and from Nantasket Roads to the Weymouth Fore River and Hingham Bay via
Hull Gut and West Gut. Some commercial port facilities are located in the Fore River area, an area which has a history of
shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...
including the notable
Fore River Shipyard.
Land fill
In the 1830s, members of the maritime community observed physical decay in the harbor. Islands in the outer harbor were visibly deteriorating and erosion was causing weathered materials and sediment to move from where it was protecting the harbor to where it would do the most harm. Recent shoaling experiences and comparisons with old charts caused observers to insist that the inner harbor was also filling and created widespread anxiety about the destruction of the Boston Harbor. Although the scientific understanding of hydraulics was still in its infancy and there were high degrees of uncertainty regarding the meeting of land and water, scientists and engineers began to describe the Boston Harbor as a series of channels created and maintained by the scouring force of water moving in and out of the harbor, river systems, and tidal reservoirs. This interpretation came to be known as the theory of
Tidal scour. This understanding of the harbor as a dynamic landscape assuaged concerns some had over the negative impacts of land fill operations of land and real estate developers.
As the 19th century progressed, the acceleration of urban growth dramatically increased the need for more land. The Ordinance of 1641 extended the property rights of riparian owners from the line of ''low tide'' to a maximum distance of from the line of high tide. Generally, other states drew the line of private property at ''high tide.'' However, extending shore lines into bordering bodies of water was not unique to Boston. Chicago built into Lake Michigan, New York extended itself into the Hudson and East rivers, and San Francisco reclaimed sections of its bay. The Boston Harbor's unique geography inspired the law that made land reclamation such a widespread activity in Boston. By the end of the nineteenth century, the city had created more land in two generations than it had in the previous two centuries.
Harbor Islands

Boston Harbor contains a considerable number of islands, 34 of which have been part of the
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area since its establishment in 1996. The following islands exist within the harbor, or just outside it in Massachusetts Bay:
*
Bumpkin Island
*
Button Island
*
Calf Island
*
Castle Island
*
Deer Island
*
Gallops Island
*
Georges Island
*
Grape Island
*
Great Brewster Island
*
Green Island
*
Hangman Island
*
Langlee Island
*
Little Brewster Island
*
Little Calf Island
*
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
*
Lovells Island
*
Middle Brewster Island
*
Moon Island
*
Nixes Mate
*
Outer Brewster Island
*
Peddocks Island
*
Raccoon Island
*
Ragged Island
*
Rainsford Island
*
Sarah Island
*
Shag Rocks
*
Sheep Island
*
Slate Island
*
Snake Island
*
Spectacle Island
*
Spinnaker Island
*
The Graves
*
Thompson Island
Two former islands,
Castle Island and
Deer Island, still exist in a recognizable form. Castle Island was joined to the mainland by
land reclamation
Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...
, while Deer Island ceased to be an island when the channel which formerly separated it from the mainland was filled in by the
New England Hurricane of 1938.
Nut Island is a small former island in Boston Harbor that was joined by landfill to the
Houghs Neck peninsula in northeastern Quincy by the 1940s so it could be used as the site of a sewage treatment facility.
Two other former islands,
Apple Island and
Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk ...
, have been subsumed into land reclamation for
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport — also known as Boston Logan International Airport — is an international airport located mostly in East Boston and partially in Winthrop, Massachusetts, United States. Covering , it has ...
.
The Harbor Islands have made up Boston's least populated electoral area, Ward 1, Precinct 15, since 1990, though the
polling place
A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English, British English and Canadian English although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific ...
is on the mainland at
Columbia Point. Since 1920, Boston must pass legislation to redistrict. As of 2018, there were two active voters, staff at the
Thompson Island Outward Bound Educational Center. There were previously registered voters at a recovery center and a homeless shelter on Long Island, but few voted and they have closed.
Aquaculture
In 1996, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' reported that Mayor
Thomas Menino and
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...
engineer Clifford Goudey were planning a program to use the great tanks on Moon Island as a fish farm or a temporary home for tuna or lobster in an attempt to implement a recirculating
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
system in Boston Harbor.
[Marcus, John]
"Scientists Test Once-Polluted Harbor’s Crop Potential"
Los Angeles Times, Sunday, January 11, 1998 The prices of both these fish types vary by season. The plan was to collect and store fish in the tanks and sell the fish at higher prices when they were out of season. Nothing has come of this plan to date.
Lights and other aids to navigation
*
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 ...
*
Deer Island Light
*
Egg Rock Light
*
Long Island Head Light
*
Lovells Island Range Lights
*
Nixes Mate
*
Spectacle Island Range Lights
*
The Graves Light
Images
File:Boston ca1765 byJohnCarwitham.png, "South East View of the Great Town of Boston," by John Carwitham, c. 1765
File:View from beacon hill.jpg, View from Beacon Hill, c. 1770s (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington)
File:Boston byNathanielDearborn MFABoston.png, Boston Harbor, c. 18th century, by Nathaniel Dearborn after Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, ...
(Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
File:1852 BoatRace BostonHarbor byAALawrence MFABoston.png, Boat Race, Boston Harbor, by A. A. Lawrence, 1852 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...
)
File:Boston Harbor by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1854.jpg, Boston Harbor by Fitz Hugh Lane, 1854
File:Boston harbor and East Boston from State St. block, by Soule, John P., 1827-1904 cropped.jpg, Boston harbor and East Boston from State Street Block, by John P. Soule, 19th century
File:USS Constitution downtown Boston 2005.jpg, USS Constitution
USS ''Constitution'', also known as ''Old Ironsides'', is a Full-rigged ship, three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's List of oldest surviving ships, oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat ...
, 2005
File:Boston from Spectacle Island.jpg, Boston's skyline from Spectacle Island
File:Boston cruse terminal and Drydock No. 3, Oct 2019.agr.jpg, Container and cruse terminals and dry dock #3 in 2019
See also
*
Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
*
Boston Harborwalk
*
List of islands of Massachusetts
*
Massachusetts Port Authority
References
External links
Save the Harbor / Save the BayThe Boston Harbor AssociationNOAA Soundings Map of Boston HarborFlickr.com Photos, January 2009.
Flickr.com Photos, November 2009.
Flickr.com Photos, February 2010.
* Dutton, E.P
Chart of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay with Map of Adjacent Country. Published 1867. A good map of a proposed build-out of infrastructure into the Boston Harbor.
Judge A. David Mazzone chambers papers on the Boston Harbor Cleanup Case, 1985–2005 University Archives and Special Collections, Joseph P. Healey Library,
University of Massachusetts Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public US-based research university. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus University of Ma ...
{{Coord, 42, 20, 30, N, 70, 57, 58, W, display=title
Bodies of water of Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Bodies of water of Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Bodies of water of Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Geography of Boston
Estuaries of Massachusetts
Ports and harbors of Massachusetts