Nut Island is one of four peninsula parks within Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The park is tiny—only 150 yards east to west and a quarter mile north to south—and it actually used to be an island, which is why it is called Nut Island. As far back as the late 1700s, a connecting sandbar to the mainland has made it accessible by foot. The original sandbar was only visible at low tide, but it was eventually built up into a permanent causeway in the early 1900s.
I suspect that just about anyone coming here is a local resident or an employee at the Nut Island Headwords, a facility that removes grit from sewage before it flows on to the massive Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. The two facilities are connected together by a 4.8-mile underwater tunnel. The Headworks opened in 1998 and now sits in the middle of the park. It is closed to the public.
Sewage treatment and Nut Island go together all the way back to 1904. In fact, it was the site of one of Boston’s major sewage treatment plants from 1952 until being torn down in 1997 in an effort to clean up Boston Harbor, which at the time was the foulest in the United States. Up until the early 1990s, all of Boston’s sewage was dumped into the harbor after being minimally treated, a practice that only ended as the result of a decades-long federal lawsuit filed in 1985 by the EPA against the city of Boston for violation of the 1972 Clean Water Act. Today the harbor is much cleaner due to the Nut Island Headworks and better treatment at the Deer Island plant…and because the sewage is now pumped through a 9.5-mile tunnel and released into Massachusetts Bay, not 60 yards offshore from Nut and Deer islands (an outdated sewage plant resided on Deer Island as well).
Nut Island is now home to a popular fishing pier and a short, paved trail. A two-dozen vehicle parking lot is located at the north end near the pier. When full, vehicles park along the road.
FISHING
The main draw to Nut Island is its fishing pier. Massachusetts State fishing license requirements and fishing regulations apply. Though part of the National Park system, you do not need any special permit from the National Park Service to fish.
There are also some benches on the pier where you can sit and relax while watching the harbor. Quincy Bay is to the west and Hingham Bay is to the east. The island just offshore to the northeast is Peddocks Island.
HIKING
A .75-mile oval, paved trail circles Nut Island. There are a few hills, and while certainly wheelchair accessible, anyone not in a motorized chair may need some help if they do not have good upper body strength.
The walk is actually quite nice and offers some great views of the surrounding area. As with the pier, there are some benches for visitors to sit and relax.
In the field next to the pier is an interesting monument. Back in the mid-1800s, Nut Island was used as a proving ground for new artillery pieces, using Prince Head on Peddocks Island as the target. A defective Rodman gun, the largest cannon of the time, blew up when being tested, and a small monument was made out of a piece of its barrel.
My visit to Nut Island lasted all of thirty minutes, and during that time I walked the loop path and took photos. As mentioned, this is a park for locals. There is no reason for a tourist to visit other than to fish, and even then, only if staying nearby.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on January 15, 2024