Lovell Island Fact Sheet

Lovells Island Facts
A rocky swimming beach, pine woods, and the remains of a fort characterize Lovell's island.
Managing Agency
Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR)
Agency Designation
Harbor Islands Reservation
Current Use
Park purposes.
Harbor Location
Quincy Bay
LongitudeLatitude
42° 19' 45.6" North (Approximate center of island.)70° 55' 48.5" West
From Long Wharf
7.2 miles
On-island Circulation
Approximately one mile of broken asphalt roads traverse the island. Mowed grass paths and shoreline walking are necessary to tour all of the gun batteries.
VISITOR SERVICES & FACILITIES
Hours
9:00 am - sunset.
Piers/Docks
Yes
Visitor Season
0
Boat slips
0
Visitor Staff
Yes
Moorings
0
Guided Tours
No
Park Boats
Park shuttle boat.
Lifeguards
No
Car Access
No
Toilets
flush - No composting - Yes
Campsites
6 (capacity ea.: 6)
Picnic AreasCooking Grills
Yes Yes
Group Campsites
2 (capacity ea: 50)
Refreshments
No
Camping Capacity
184
Drinking Water
No
Trails
Yes
Visitor Cautions
The gun batteries contain steep drops, open holes in parapets rusty rebar, railings and pipes, and crumbling concrete surfaces.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Total Acreage
61.90 upland acres
Highest Elevation
79 ft.
Short History
The island was seasonally occupied by Native Americans. During the colonial period, the island was granted to Charlestown for timber harvesting and fishing, with half of the timber reserved for the fort on Castle Island. With its location along the first shipping channel into Boston, it briefly served as a quarantine station in the 1600s and was the nearest island to many shipwrecks. The country's first "hut of refuge" was constructed on the island by the Massachusetts Humane Society. In 1902 it was decided to construct two navigational range lights to assist mariners using the South Channel. In 1919, Charles Jennings, previously at Boston Light, became keeper at Lovell's range lights. The range light towers were torn down in the late 1930's when Army Fort Standish was expanded. Today all that remains is the oil house. The topography of the island was altered first by the construction of a granite seawall in the mid 1880s and second by military installations in the late 1800s. The island was acquired for military use in 1825 and garrisoned during the Civil War, WWI and WWII then declared surplus property. The MDC acquired the island in 1958.
Vegetation
The oldest tree on the island may be the stump of a horsechestnut with a cluster of viable stems. Most of the planted species date to the 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corps attempted to reestablish a natural forest on the island, planting poplar, pine, spruce, oak, and rose. Much of this was cleared when the fort was reactivated in the 1940s. Left to recover after the war, the island is now characterized by over fifty years of natural succession of vegetation on a disturbed site with remnant patches of stands of poplar, pine and spruce. Successional species include staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), black cherry, choke cherry, apple (Malus sp.), and gray birch (Betula populifolia). Common shrubs include bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica), beach plum, raspberry (Rubus sp.), Virginia rose (Rosa virginiana) and salt-spray rose (Rosa rugosa). The wet meadow area was altered by fill during military construction. Phragmites covers most of the area while a small area contains native marsh species (Spartina patens, Juncus gerardii, Salicornia and Limonium). Dunes on the north and south shores are vegetated with beachgrass. There is minimal poison ivy on the island, located in Battery Terrill.
Wildlife
Overview survey in progress.
Geology
Lovells is composed of a wet meadow and three low connected drumlins: the southeast head, Ram's Head at the northwest end, and the central drumlin, which rises to an elevation of 79 feet. The island is surrounded by a rock-strewn shoreline with the exception of the northeast side where there is a long section of gravel, sand and shell beach. A half mile-long dune extends along the southern shore and a short dune is located on the northern shore. A constructed seawall and fortifications have altered the shape and topography of portions of the island.
Water Features
The remains of a well over a small seep, constructed during the period of military use, are located in an poplar grove on the central drumlin. The primary source of fresh water for the military was water pumped from an off-island source. Further study required.
Views and Vistas
From the central drumlin there are views to Boston and the islands in the middle harbor including Deer, Long, Gallops, Rainsford, and Georges. From the swimming beach, gun batteries and southeast head there are views to the outer islands and Boston Light.
Buildings
Visitor shelter near pier constructed on old building foundation; building foundations from Fort Standish; seasonal ranger trailer; seasonal outhouses.
Fortifications
Fort Standish: Battery Whipple (southeast head -- three 3-inch repeating guns atop two bunkers), Battery Williams (southeast head -- two 6-inch repeating guns and bunkers), Battery Morris (central drumlin -- two 10-inch disappearing guns and bunkers), Battery Burbeck (central drumlin -- two 10-inch disappearing guns and bunkers), Battery Terrill (Ram's Head -- three 6-inch disappearing guns and bunkers), remnants of Battery Weir, range towers.
Other Structures
Pier; old pier and groins for erosion control (breakwaters); granite block seawall and rip rap.

Islands Vegetation

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina, synonym: R. hirta), is a deciduous shrub to small tree in the Anacardiaceae or Cashew family, native to eastern North America It is primarily found in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, Southern Ontario, and the Appalachian Mountains. [1]
It grows to 3-10 m tall, and has alternate, pinnately compound leaves 25-55 cm long, each with 9-31 serrate leaflets 6-11 cm long [2]. The leaf petioles and the stems are densely covered in rust-colored hairs.
The fruit of staghorn sumac is one of the most identifiable characteristics, forming dense clusters of small red drupes at the terminal end of the branches [2]; the clusters are conic, 10-20 cm long and 4-6 cm broad at the base. The plant flowers from May to July and fruit ripens from June to September. [2] The foliage turns a brilliant red in autumn. The fruit has been known to last through winter and into spring.
Staghorn sumac spreads using its seeds, and by spreading rhizomes. This makes it so the tree forms colonies, with the oldest plants in the center, and the younger plants radiating out [2]. It grows quite aggressively.

The Black Cherry (Prunus serotina, also occasionally Wild Black Cherry, Rum Cherry, or Mountain Black Cherry) is a species of cherry, native to eastern North America from southern Quebec and Ontario south to Texas and central Florida, with disjunct populations in Arizona and New Mexico, and in the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala.[1][2]

Immature fruit
It is a species in the subgenus Padus with flowers in racemes, and is a deciduous tree growing to 15-30 m tall with a trunk diameter of up to 70-120 cm, occasionally more. The leaves are simple, 6-14 cm long, with a serrated margin. The flowers are small (10-15 mm diameter), with five white petals and about 20 stamens, and are fragrant; there are around 40 flowers on each raceme. The fruit is a drupe, 1 cm diameter, green to red at first, ripening black; it is usually astringent and bitter to eat fresh, but sometimes sweet. The fruit is readily eaten by birds, which do not taste astringency as unpleasant.[3][1]
Mature Black Cherry can easily be identified in a forest by its very broken, dark grey to black bark, which has the appearance of very thick, burnt potato chips. However, for about the first decade or so of its life, the bark resembles that of a Birch, and is thin and striped. It can also quickly be identified by its long, shiny leaves resembling that of a Sourwood, and by an almond-like odor when a young twig is scratched and held close to the nose.

The Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) is a species of bird cherry (Prunus subgenus Padus) native to North America, where it is found almost throughout the continent except for the deep south and the far north. It is a suckering shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall. The leaves are oval, 3-10 cm long, with a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are produced in racemes of 15-30 in late spring (well after leaf emergence). The fruit are about 1 cm diameter, bright red, with a very astringent, sour taste. Like chokeberries, chokecherries are very high in antioxidant pigment compounds, like anthocyanins.
There are two varieties:
Common Chokecherry Prunus virginiana var. virginiana. Eastern North America. Leaves hairless underneath or downy only in the vein axils.
Western Chokecherry Prunus virginiana var. demissa. Western North America. Leaves downy underneath.

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 5 to 12 m tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown.[1] The leaves are alternately arranged simple ovals 5 to 12 cm long and 3–6 cm broad on a 2–5 cm petiole with an acute tip, serrated margin and a slightly downy underside. Flowers are produced in spring simultaneous with the budding of the leaves. The flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, 2.5–3.5 cm in diameter. The fruit matures in autumn, and is typically 5–9 cm diameter. The centre of the fruit contains five carpels arranged in a five-point star, each carpel containing one to three seeds.[1]
The tree originated from Central Asia, where its wild ancestor is still found today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples resulting in range of desired characteristics. It should be noted however, that cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.[2]
At least 55 million tonnes of apples were grown worldwide in 2005, with a value of about $10 billion. China produced about two-fifths of this total. The United States is the second leading producer, with more than 7.5% of the world production.[3] Turkey, France, Italy and Iran are among the leading apple exporters

Betula populifolia (Gray Birch) is a deciduous tree native to North America. It ranges from southeastern Ontario east to Nova Scotia, and south to Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It also has disjunct populations in Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. It prefers poor, dry upland soils, but is also found in moist mixed woodlands. It is a common pioneer species on abandoned fields and burned areas, but is short-lived.
It grows quickly to 9 m tall and 0.3 m trunk diameter, with an irregular open crown of slender branches. The tree often has multiple trunks branching off of an old stump. The leaves are 5-7.5 cm long by 4-6 cm wide, alternately arranged, ovate, and tapering to an elongated tip. They are dark green and glabrous above and paler below, with a coarsely serrated margin. The bark is chalky to grayish white with black triangular patches where branch meets trunk. It is smooth and thin but does not readily exfoliate. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 5-8 cm long, the male catkins pendulous and the female catkins erect. The fruit, maturing in autumn, is composed of many tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.

History of Lovell's Island

Lovells Island, or Lovell's Island, is a 48 acre island in the Boston Harbor Islands NAtional Recreation Area, in the United States state of Massachusetts. The island is situated close to Georges Island and some 7 miles (11 km) offshore of downtown Boston. It is named after Captin 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.
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, and as a rabbit run. Once the home of two navigation lights, the island was a buoy tending station in the early 1900s and was fortified before and during World War I, with remains of Fort Standish still visible.
Much of the vegetation on the islands results from an attempt in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservatiot Corps 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 and spruce, together with successional species such as Staghorn Sumac, Black Cherry, Chokecherry, Apple, and Gray Birch. Common shrubs include Bayberry, Beach Plum, Raspberry, Virgina Rose 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. At weekends and summer weekdays it is served by a shuttle boat to and from Georges Island, connecting there with ferries to Boston and Quincy