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Since the glaciers melted,
leaving behind the drumlin field that has now been
partially drowned by rising seas, as well as a lot of islands that are comprised
of bedrock,
there have been many eras of human use of the Boston Harbor Islands.
For more than a millennium, Native Americans
were out here, hunting and fishing and living and playing,
and utilizing many of the Harbor Islands' shores,
marshes and forests.
Fast forward to the sixteen hundreds,
and the early colonists made Boston Harbor a very busy place.
Of course, at that time, the Harbor itself and the rivers
were the highways, so Boston Harbor was extremely important for them
as a source of resources. Most of the islands were used
for timbering or agriculture. Sheep and other livestock were grazed
out here,
and many of the early forests were cut down for fuel.
Then, as Boston became
more populous and more active, the Harbor Islands became important
for many of the things that were not seen as appropriate or desirable
in the city itself, such as quarantine stations,
immigration stations, hospitals, and prisons.
At the same time, protection of the
new American cities became important and the Boston Harbor Islands became
critical for Harbor defense.
Still today, you can see remnants of many of the fortifications that were
built from around
1800 through the middle of twentieth-century.
Now, we are in the park era, where folks can come out and visit many
islands by public ferries or private boats,
camp or take day tours.