Little Calf Island

View of Little Calf Island

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation

About 9.5 miles away from Long Wharf sits a small island in the outer harbor called Little Calf Island. This island is less than 1 acre and is made up of rocky outcroppings that rise 20 feet in elevation. There is little vegetation on this island with only a small number of native shrubs and grasses. 

Little Calf Island has very little-known human history as it has been mostly uninhabited by people. Like Calf Island, Little Calf Island was likely named after Robert Calef, a prominent person in Colonial Boston and Lynn history. In the 1600s, island was granted to Elder William Brewster, a teacher and a preacher in the Plymouth Colony. After his death, the town of Hull acquired the island, later selling it to private citizens. Little Calf Island is currently managed by Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is currently a nesting area for gulls and cormorants.  

Learn More...

Island Facts: Little Calf Island - Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

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Footnotes: 

1. Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Cultural Landscape Report: Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park, Volume 2: Existing Conditions, 111-12.
2. National Park Service Boston Harbor Islands, "Little Calf Island Facts," Date last modified November 30, 2022; Edward Snow, The Islands of Boston Harbor (Carlisle, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2002), The Islands of Boston Harbor - Google Books, 209-10; Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, Cultural Landscape Report: Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park, Volume 2: Existing Conditions, 111-12.