what's thereA favorite camping island, 62-acre Lovells has trails that pass by dunes and woods, picnic areas, an unsupervised swimming beach, and the remains of Fort Standish. Low tide exposes an additional 71 acres, for a total size of 120 acres.
Operating Hours & Seasons
Lovells Island is open from 9:00 am until sunset. Daily ferry service begins June 21, 2008. During the spring and fall, visitor services are usually offered during weekends. Special arrangements for school groups are possible for weekdays in spring, summer and fall.
short historyNamed for Captain William Lovell, an early settler of Dorchester, Lovells Island is known as the location of shipwrecks---most notably the 74-gun French warship Magnifique in 1782.
Another shipwreck involved a vessel sailing to Maine that struck the rocks in the dead of night. When the passengers escaped to Lovells Island, they died of exposure, including an engaged couple found in an embrace beneath the shelter of a large boulder still visible today.
Native Americans had used the island to fish, garden and trade. European settlers used Lovells for timber, as a fishing station, as a residence for the keepers of Boston Light, and as a rabbit run.
Once the home of two navigational lights, Lovells Island was a buoy-tending station in the early 1900s and was fortified before and during World War I.
managing agencyThis island of Boston Harbor Islands national park area is managed by Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
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