Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands
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    • Membership Benefits-Partners >
      • Travel Discounts
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  • Island Info
    • Island Information - Alphabetical Apple-Grape >
      • Apple Island
      • Bumpkin Island
      • Button Island
      • Calf Island
      • Castle Island
      • Cathleen Stone Island
      • Deer Island
      • Gallops Island
      • Georges Island - Ft Warren
      • Graves, the
      • Grape Island
    • Island Information - Alphabetical Great Brewster - Nantucket LS >
      • Great Brewster Island
      • Green Island
      • Governors Island
      • Hangman Island
      • Langly Island
      • Little Brewster Island
      • Little Calf Island
      • Long Island
      • Lovells Island
      • Middle Brewster
      • Nantucket Light Ship
    • Island Information - Alphabetical - Moon - Rainsford >
      • Moon Island
      • Nixes Mate
      • Noddle Island
      • Nut Island
      • Outer Brewster
      • Peddocks Island
      • Raccoon
      • Ragged Island
      • Rainsford Island
    • Island Information - Alphabetical - Sarah - Thompson >
      • Sarah Island
      • Slate Island
      • Sheep Island
      • Snake Island
      • Spectacle Island
      • Hog/Spinnaker Island
      • Thompson Island now Cathleen Stone Island
  • About us
    • FBHI Board Members
    • FBHI Timeline
    • FBHI Past Events
    • Awards
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    • Mass Memories
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Welcome to
The Friends of th
e Boston Harbor Islands
Established 1979​


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The Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands is an all volunteer  membership organization whose mission is to inspire stewardship and respect for the islands through educational and interpretive programs. The organization encourages public use of the islands, balanced with the need to protect their fragile ecosystem and historic environment. Our group of spirited volunteers has worked on behalf of islands for  46 years!
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​The Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands is an independent organization founded in 1979 that is now affiliated with Boston Harbor Now. ​

JOIN - RENEW - DONATE  TO THE FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS

SUPPORT THE FRIENDS OF THE BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS
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Upcoming Events with national parks of boston ​​

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  • Art in the Park – Georges Island
    June 16 – September 1, 11:15 am – 3:00 pm, FREE
    Unleash your creativity with a variety of art activities designed to enrich your island experience.
    Test your hand at watercolors, write and illustrate nature haikus, learn to decode signal flags, and explore sun printing. All ages and abilities welcome
  • Science in the Park: Participatory Science – Spectacle Island
    June 17 – August 26, 2025, FREE
    Science in the Park will offer educational activities and hands-on learning about topics in science, stewardship, nature, and sustainability. 
    Tuesdays – explore the islands at your own pace and collect data through participatory science
    Wednesdays – join a guided nature walk
    Fridays – visit the Exploration Station for hands-on activities
  • Wellness Wednesday – Spectacle Island
    June 18 – August 27, 2025, 11:00 am – 4:30 pm, FREE
    Stop by the Wellness Station, where you’ll find hand weights, stretch bands, and other equipment to enhance your outdoor wellness.

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities 

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  • Stewardship Saturdays, Grape Island
    Saturday, July 12, 2025
    Spend a day with park stewards and MA Department of Conservation & Recreation for a day of landscape and ecosystem management on scenic Grape Island! Registration is required for this event. See "Day as a Park Steward" for what it's like!
  • Art-in-the-Park Host
    Now – October 31, 2025
    Spend your summer sharing the gift of art with visitors and supporting your public lands by volunteering as an Art-in-the-Park Host on the Boston Harbor Islands! No experience necessary. Materials and trainings for all of the activities will be provided.​
  • Visitor Services – Multiple Sites
    Bunker Hill Monument & Museum/Charlestown Navy Yard Visitor Services Assistant
    Faneuil Hall Visitor Services and Events Assistant
    ​In all locations, volunteers will be responsible for answering questions from the public and providing verbal and printed information as needed; providing visitors with clear instructions on how to plan their trip to Boston; informing visitors about programs and events; facilitating programs and events and giving general park orientation.

Park activities Calendar
Volunteer Opportunities

PEDDOCKS ISLAND CAMPING RESERVATIONS

Open now – ​​​The 2025 camping season runs from June 18 – October 13. Reservations can be booked up to four months before date.
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The 2025 ferry schedule is available

 Ferry service will run May 16 – October 13. 
Ferry Schedule

Save the dates

Saturday, September 6th at 7:00 PM
​Sunday, September 7th at 2:00 PM
Free. Advance registration suggested (not yet available).
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 FREE LIVE EVENT: Be immersed in the world of the Great Brewster Journal of 1891! Recently published by the FBHI, this beautiful document comes to life on September 6 and 7 with "My Dream is of an Island-Place," a free multimedia presentation that uses music, text, historical context, images and video to bring the adventurous women from Lowell into greater focus. Meet author Stephanie Schorow and members of the creative and research team at this free event in downtown Lowell. For more information and to register, visit greatbrewsterjournal.com

​A Boston Harbor Islands Adventure: The Great Brewster Journal of 1891

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FBHI volunteer authors at book launch, June 2023.
A Boston Harbor Islands Adventure: The Great Brewster Journal of 1891. This book is the result of intense work by FBHI volunteers, led by Stephanie Schorow, author of East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands.

From the back cover: In 1891, four intrepid women from Lowell, Massachusetts, sailed to a remote island in Boston Harbor for a 17-day escape from New England and prim and proper society. Calling themselves the Scribe, the Aristocrat, the Acrobat and the Autocrat, the women stayed in a cottage on Great Brewster Island, reveling in the chance to shed their identities of wife, mother and daughter. Relive their sojourn through their remarkable journal – which is in the collection of Harvard University – filled with observations, illustrations, photography and poetry.

Order from History Press here
OR GO TO YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE.

​To book an illustrated lecture on this amazing book, email sschorow@comcast.net
Listen to the wgbh radio interview
Listen to the wbur Radio interview
You’ll find the article "Chasing History" about the FBHI book project in the 2024 summer issue of Ranger, the magazine of the Association of National Park Rangers. The article is on pages 14-15.

our history – digitized!

We've been able to have some of our history preserved - our Tidings Newsletters from 1985-1987 have been digitized, and we've just uploaded our eTidings from 2014-2023 as well!  Click here to see them!

you can vISIT THE islands online year-round with many photos of cathleen stone, calf, graves light station, rainsford and outer brewster islands

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Can't make it out - or interested in seeing what you might see on one of our trips?  Visit the islands online via photos by some of our Friends - Click on the island names below to start your journey!
  • Cathleen Stone Island (formerly Thompson Island)
  • Calf Island
  • Graves Light
  • Outer Brewster Island
  • Rainsford Island

​A Personal account of visiting three Harbor islands in three days

"Offshore Escape" by Dorian Fox is about his visit to Georges, Peddocks and Spectacle Islands. By clicking here you'll open the article on National Parks Conservation Association's website in a new window.
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​​FBHI on Facebook
​Web Hosting by FatCow
Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands
c/o Boston Harbor Now
P.O. Box 96712
Boston, MA 02196
 
781-740-4290 • info@fbhi.org
  • Home
  • Membership
    • Membership Benefits-Partners >
      • Travel Discounts
      • Black Rock Sailing School
      • Boat US
    • Purchase Membership
    • Newsletter - Tidings
  • Island Info
    • Island Information - Alphabetical Apple-Grape >
      • Apple Island
      • Bumpkin Island
      • Button Island
      • Calf Island
      • Castle Island
      • Cathleen Stone Island
      • Deer Island
      • Gallops Island
      • Georges Island - Ft Warren
      • Graves, the
      • Grape Island
    • Island Information - Alphabetical Great Brewster - Nantucket LS >
      • Great Brewster Island
      • Green Island
      • Governors Island
      • Hangman Island
      • Langly Island
      • Little Brewster Island
      • Little Calf Island
      • Long Island
      • Lovells Island
      • Middle Brewster
      • Nantucket Light Ship
    • Island Information - Alphabetical - Moon - Rainsford >
      • Moon Island
      • Nixes Mate
      • Noddle Island
      • Nut Island
      • Outer Brewster
      • Peddocks Island
      • Raccoon
      • Ragged Island
      • Rainsford Island
    • Island Information - Alphabetical - Sarah - Thompson >
      • Sarah Island
      • Slate Island
      • Sheep Island
      • Snake Island
      • Spectacle Island
      • Hog/Spinnaker Island
      • Thompson Island now Cathleen Stone Island
  • About us
    • FBHI Board Members
    • FBHI Timeline
    • FBHI Past Events
    • Awards
    • Library Legacy Project
    • Mass Memories
  • Shop
  • Boating Info
  • Videos