Hingham Adventures: Grape Island

"Let's go see if there any monarch butterfly eggs on Grape Island" said Lesley and that was the start of our island explorations.

Grape Island is literally one mile's distance from our slip at Hingham Shipyard Marina.  It has a dock but it's restricted to ferry use only.  Hence, I had to dingy out, land Lesley and Amelia, anchor the dingy and then swim to shore.

Tender anchored off of Grape Island with the Hingham Shipyard in the background

We made two visits to Grape this summer.

Grape Island is an uninhabited 54 acre island in Hingham Bay. The island is actually part of the of the town of Weymouth. It is composed of two drumlins (hills created by glacial movement), reaching an elevation of 70 feet above sea level.  There are a few paths as shown in the photo below and lots of shoreline to explore.

Add caption

On our first visit I elected to drop Lesley and Amelia on shore rather than do a touch and go at the ferry dock.  This proved to be a tricky maneuver as there are rocks along the shoreline. Fortunately (read as pure luck), we managed to avoid them.  After dropping  the kids off,  I anchored the dingy and swam to shore.  We took advantage of the dock for our second trip but I still had to anchor to swim to shore.

Lesley and Amelia on one of the paths

The island was farmed and grazed for three hundred years, up until the 1940s. It was the site of a battle on the eve of American Revolution when, in 1775, British troops raided the island during the Siege of Boston.  As reported by Abigail Adams to her husband, John, "...it seems their Expidition (sic) was to Grape Island for Levets (a Tory's) hay." A pitched battle ensued until the British were forced to retreat to the mainland. The angry colonists burned Leavitt's barn to the ground. In the end, very little damage was done to either side despite the effort expended. Three British soldiers may have been wounded. No Continental soldiers were wounded, and less than two tons of hay were confiscated

Grape Arbor Remnants 

Back to the Ferry dock.  Grape is one of five Boston Harbor islands accessible by Ferry and it receives many visitors during the summer months.  During both of our visits we were the only people on the islands (except for the Ranger who we met on the first visit). The DCR (Department of Conservation Resources) does an excellent job of keeping the island pristine.

Amelia

Department of Conservation Resources (DCR) Ranger

Meanwhile, the purpose of our visit, the collection of monarch butterfly eggs was unsuccessful.  We did have fun exploring the paths and walking along the shore.  Interestingly, the shore was somewhat thoroughly picked over by other visitors.

Written by Les.