Wharf and buildings Thompson Island 1870. W.
Parker. Retrieved from https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/j6732235z

The islands in Boston Harbor have
long served as, well, outbuildings for the city proper. Paul Revere, of the
famous Midnight Ride, was a lieutenant colonel on Castle William on Castle
Island during the Revolutionary War. Castle Island, actually a peninsula, was
first fortified in 1634 and is now a state park. Thompson Island, four miles off Boston, now hosts an
Outward Bound school and is open to the public via ferry for limited hours.
Long Island, once connected to the mainland by a bridge in Quincy, hosted
social services programs until 2014 when the bridge became too dangerous to
use.