{{Short description|Peninsula in Boston, Massachusetts, US}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox park | name = Castle Island | image = Fort Independence on Castle Island.JPG | image_caption = Fort Independence at Castle Island | image_alt = Fort | image_size = 280 | map = United States Boston Metro#Massachusetts#USA | map_caption = | map_size = 280 | relief = 1 | map_label = Castle Island | location = Boston, Massachusetts, United States | coordinates = {{coord|42.3375980|-71.010605|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coords_ref = <ref name=gnis/> | area = {{convert|22|acre|abbr=on}}<ref name=dcrARCHIVED /> | elevation = {{convert|33|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name=gnis>{{cite gnis|612890|Castle Island}}</ref> | established = | free_label = | free_data = | administrator = Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | visitation_ref = | website = {{Official website}} | embedded = }} thumb|Donald McKay obelisk '''Castle Island''' is a peninsula in South Boston on the shore of Boston Harbor. The landmass was an island until 1928, when it was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land.<ref name="mhs" /> Castle Island has been the site of a fortification since 1634,<ref name=mhs /> and is currently a recreation site and the location of Fort Independence.<ref name=dcr />

== History == === 17th century === In 1632, a fortification was constructed on Fort Hill to defend the town.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Boston (Mass.)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9TZJAQAAMAAJ&q=battery+position+fort+hill+boston+1632+castle+island&pg=PA463|title=City Record|date=1917|publisher=Superintendent of Printing|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kaye|first1=Clifford Alan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaNZiHWxl6AC|title=The Geology and Early History of the Boston Area of Massachusetts: A Bicentennial Approach : the Role of Geology in the Important Events that Took Place Around Boston 200 Years Ago|last2=Survey (U.S.)|first2=Geological|date=1976|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|isbn=|location=|pages=43|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Shurtleff|first=Nathaniel Bradstreet|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ|title=A topographical and historical description of Boston|date=1871|publisher=Boston : Printed by request of the City Council|others=New York Public Library|isbn=|location=|pages=475}}</ref> In 1634, Boston sought defenses farther out in the harbor, on one of the numerous islands which protected the port.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Shurtleff|first=Nathaniel Bradstreet|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ|title=A topographical and historical description of Boston|date=1871|publisher=Boston : Printed by request of the City Council|others=New York Public Library|isbn=|location=|pages=476}}</ref> In July 1634, the town decided to build a fortification on Castle Island.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Susan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJTlLbPzmDMC&q=boston+1634+castle+island+defenses+dudley&pg=PA313|title=Boston Sites and Insights: An Essential Guide to Historic Landmarks in and Around Boston|date=May 15, 2004|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-7135-9|language=en}}</ref> Deputy Governor Roger Ludlow and Captain John Mason of Dorchester supervised construction of the fort.<ref name=":1" /> After a structure was built on the northeast side of the island, the General Court resolved that the fort at Castle Island should be completed before any other fortification was begun.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The fort was later known as Castle William and required incoming ships to recognize the fortification and would fire at them if they didn't offer recognition by raising their flag.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68CKjdJyvBYC|title=Antiaircraft Journal|date=1923|publisher=United States Coast Artillery Association|isbn=|location=|pages=108–12|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Kaufmann|first1=J. E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkUfkFB3jxYC|title=Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present|last2=Kaufmann|first2=H. W.|date=September 10, 2007|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-0-306-81634-5|location=|pages=57|language=en}}</ref>

After the end of the King Philip's War the fortress was a site of internment of captured Native Americans who were shipped out to be sold into the Atlantic slave trade markets.<ref>Peterson, Mark. the City-State of Boston. Princeton University Press, 2019, page 132</ref>

By the end of the century, the fort had been expanded to create a crossfire with the fort on Governor's Island.<ref name=":2" />

Some people who worked at the fort included Thomas Beecher (ancestor of Henry Ward Beecher{{Citation needed|reason=no evidence of children|date=November 2021}}), a Castle officer; Captain Nicholas Simpkins, a first commander;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shurtleff|first=Nathaniel Bradstreet|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ|title=A topographical and historical description of Boston|date=1871|publisher=Boston : Printed by request of the City Council|others=New York Public Library|isbn=|location=|pages=480}}</ref> Lt Edward Gibbons, a first commander; and Roger Clapp, who served for several decades as an officer.<ref name=":3" />

=== 18th century === In 1701, Colonel Wolfgang William Romer, the chief military engineer for North America, came to Boston to fortify the harbor.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last1=Kaufmann|first1=J. E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkUfkFB3jxYC|title=Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present|last2=Kaufmann|first2=H. W.|date=September 10, 2007|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-0-306-81634-5|location=|pages=62|language=en}}</ref> Castle William was improved with brick walls and 20 cannon positions by 1705.<ref name=":4" /> During the 18th century, many people were imprisoned at the Fort, including privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste from 1702–06.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Marsters|first=Roger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGGFCgAAQBAJ|title=Bold Privateers: Terror, Plunder and Profit on Canada's Atlantic Coast|publisher=Formac Publishing Company|year=2004|isbn=978-0-88780-644-5|location=|pages=35–6|language=en}}</ref>

In 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other men of African descent became freemasons on March 6, 1775, on the island.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Sidbury|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZCRrc4bZBkC|title=Becoming African in America: Race and Nation in the Early Black Atlantic|date=September 27, 2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-804322-5|location=|pages=74|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|title=Africans in America/Part 2/Prince Hall|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p37.html|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=www.pbs.org}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|date=September 10, 2015|title=All men free and brethren: Prince Hall and black Freemasonry|url=https://www.baystatebanner.com/2015/09/10/all-men-free-and-brethren-prince-hall-and-black-freemasonry/|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=The Bay State Banner}}</ref> They were initiated in a British Army Lodge, No. 441 of the Irish Registry by J. E. Batt, Worshipful Master, on what was then still called Castle William Island.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />

During the Siege of Boston, Castle William served as the main base of military operations for the British. The leaders of the Massachusetts royal administration took refuge there with their families, as did some prominent loyalists or "tories." Major Pelham Winslow of the prominent loyalist town of Marshfield, Massachusetts was the Commander of Castle William for a time during the Revolution.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Manuscripts|first=Great Britain Royal Commission on Historical|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcEKAAAAYAAJ|title=Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution of Great Britain ...: July 1782-March 1783|date=1907|publisher=H. M. Stationery Office|isbn=|location=|pages=48|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=March 19, 2011|title=Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Times|url=https://patch.com/massachusetts/plymouth/ordinary-women-extraordinary-times|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=Plymouth, MA Patch|language=en}}</ref> After the British Evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776, Castle William was destroyed.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Shurtleff|first=Nathaniel Bradstreet|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ|title=A topographical and historical description of Boston|date=1871|publisher=Boston : Printed by request of the City Council|others=New York Public Library|isbn=|location=|pages=495}}</ref> After the fort was destroyed, Lieutenant Paul Revere was put in charge of rebuilding it.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last1=Kaufmann|first1=J. E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xkUfkFB3jxYC|title=Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present|last2=Kaufmann|first2=H. W.|date=September 10, 2007|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-0-306-81634-5|location=|pages=98|language=en}}</ref> The rebuilt fort was named Fort Independence on December 7, 1797.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" />

In 1785, the fort was designated as a state prison.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shurtleff|first=Nathaniel Bradstreet|url=http://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ|title=A topographical and historical description of Boston|date=1871|publisher=Boston : Printed by request of the City Council|others=New York Public Library|isbn=|location=|pages=496}}</ref> <gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> File:1789 CastleWilliam BostonHarbor MassachusettsMagazine.jpg|Castle William, as it appeared before its destruction in 1776 File:Boston MKL Bd. 3 1890 (128589392).jpg|1890 map of Boston Harbor showing Castle Island as an island </gallery>

=== 19th century === Beginning in 1801, a new fort on Castle Island was built by the war department.<ref name=mhs>{{cite web |url=http://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/fort-independence-2005-06-01 |title=Fort Independence |series=Object of the Month |publisher=Massachusetts History Society |access-date=February 2, 2014}}</ref> The fort helped protect Boston from British attack during the War of 1812. The island is also the site of a monument to Donald McKay, the builder of the famous clipper ships ''Flying Cloud'' and ''Sovereign of the Seas''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 13, 2020|title=Outdoor Mass for racial justice, healing held on Castle Island|url=https://www.wcvb.com/article/outdoor-mass-for-racial-justice-healing-held-on-boston-s-castle-island/32858371|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=WCVB|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Knoblock|first=Glenn|title=The American clipper ship, 1845–1920 : a comprehensive history, with a listing of builders and their ships|date=January 15, 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-7112-6|location=|pages=204}}</ref> The present structure, built between 1833 and 1851, is the eighth generation of forts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Parkman|first=Aubrey|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112083820305|title=Army engineers in New England :the military and civil work of the Corps of Engineers in New England, 1775–1975 |publisher=Waltham, Mass. |year=1978|isbn=|location=|pages=20|hdl=2027/uiug.30112083820305}}</ref>

Castle Island was originally some distance offshore, but land reclamation for expansion of port facilities has extended the mainland towards it, and it is now connected to the mainland by pedestrian and vehicle causeways.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|date=March 18, 2019|title=Mass. State Police investigating vandalism World War II Memorial at Castle Island|url=https://www.masslive.com/boston/2019/03/massachusetts-state-police-searching-for-vandal-who-splashed-oil-on-world-war-ii-memorial-at-castle-island.html|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=masslive|language=en}}</ref> Today it is operated as a state park by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is open to tours in the summer.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=Bilis|first=Madeline|date=June 22, 2016|title="Fort Independence's Free Tour Season Has Begun"|url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2016/06/22/fort-independence-free-tours/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126181345/https://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2016/06/22/fort-independence-free-tours/ |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=|website=Boston Magazine}}</ref>

thumb|right|Castle Island during World War II

Local lore has it that an unpopular officer was walled up in the fort's dungeon following a duel in which he killed a more popular man.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lyon|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEASIf_KojAC|title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Boston: Boston|last2=Harris|first2=Patricia|last3=Bross|first3=Tom|date=May 1, 2013|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-1-4654-1263-8|location=|pages=123|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hull|first=Sarah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33S0BgAAQBAJ|title=The Rough Guide to Boston|date=March 1, 2011|publisher=Rough Guides UK|isbn=978-1-4053-8246-5|location=|pages=111|language=en}}</ref> Edgar Allan Poe learned of the legend while serving on Castle Island in the Army, and his short story "The Cask of Amontillado" is said to be based on it.<ref name=umassmag />

=== 20th century === During World War II the U.S. Navy used the site for a ship degaussing station.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Butler|first=Gerald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViYL48tppNEC|title=The Military History of Boston's Harbor Islands|date=July 28, 2000|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-4396-2742-6|language=en}}</ref> In 1970, the fort was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref name=":11" />

== As a visitor attraction == Castle Island is open to the public year-round. Interpretive programs are conducted by the Castle Island Association in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.<ref name=dcrARCHIVED /><ref name=association /> Attractions include a playground, beach and swimming access, and restaurant Sullivan's.<ref>{{Cite web|last=MacQuarrie|first=Brian|date=May 14, 2020|title=Kite-surfing and social distancing, but no Sullivan's at Castle Island |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/14/metro/kite-surfing-social-distancing-no-sullivans-castle-island/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515051118/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/14/metro/kite-surfing-social-distancing-no-sullivans-castle-island/ |archive-date=May 15, 2020 |access-date=January 20, 2021|website=Boston Globe|language=en-US}}</ref> Tours of Fort Independence are conducted by The Castle Island Association on a seasonal schedule.<ref name=":11" />

== References == <references> <ref name=dcr>{{cite web |url=https://www.mass.gov/locations/castle-island-pleasure-bay-m-street-beach-and-carson-beach |title=Castle Island, Pleasure Bay, M Street Beach and Carson Beach |date=2017-06-21 |access-date=May 5, 2025}}</ref>

<ref name=dcrARCHIVED>{{cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-boston/castle-island-pleasure-bay-m-street-and-carson-beach.html |title=Castle Island, Pleasure Bay, M Street Beach and Carson Beach |work=MassParks |date=2013-04-05 |publisher=Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs |access-date=August 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702090237/http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-boston/castle-island-pleasure-bay-m-street-and-carson-beach.html |archive-date=2013-07-02}}</ref>

<ref name=association>{{cite web |url=http://www.bostonfortindependence.com |title=Fort Independence, Castle Island, South Boston |publisher=Castle Island Association |access-date=February 2, 2014}}</ref>

<ref name=umassmag>{{cite journal |url=http://www.umassmag.com/Spring_2004/Treasure_Islands_655.html |title=Treasure Islands |journal=UMass Magazine Online |date=Spring 2004 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Amherst |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203082743/http://umassmag.com/Spring_2004/Treasure_Islands_655.html |archive-date=February 3, 2006 |access-date=February 2, 2014}}</ref> </references>

== Further reading == *"Punishment at Hard Labor: Stephen Burroughs and the Castle Island Prison, 1785–1798." ''The New England Quarterly'', Vol. 57, No. 2 (June 1984), pp.&nbsp;249–254.

== External links == {{Commons category|Castle Island (Massachusetts)|Castle Island}} *[https://www.mass.gov/locations/castle-island-pleasure-bay-m-street-beach-and-carson-beach Castle Island, Pleasure Bay, M Street Beach and Carson Beach] Department of Conservation and Recreation *[https://www.mass.gov/doc/castle-island-trail-map/download Castle Island Map] Department of Conservation and Recreation

{{Parks in Boston}} {{Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston}} {{Protected Areas of Massachusetts}} {{Islands and Peninsulas of Massachusetts}} {{Boston Harbor Islands}} {{authority control}}

Category:Landforms of Boston Category:Boston Harbor peninsulas and former islands Category:Beaches of Massachusetts Category:History of Boston Category:Parks in Boston Category:State parks of Massachusetts Category:Tourist attractions in South Boston Category:Former islands of Massachusetts Category:Prison islands of the United States