"Boston Skyline" Sign

"Boston Skyline" Spectacle Island Wayside

NPS Photo/M Mark

Quick Facts

Location:

Spectacle Island

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Description

Low-profile wayside that is 36 x 24 inches, with interpretation panel spanning 36.5 inches wide. It has a grey square base with two rectangular pillars supporting the panel. The panel is framed in grey metal. The sign is located on the interpretive trail on the North Drumlin. 

Layout

At the top of the sign is a black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is text that reads “Spectacle Island, Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park.” Aligned to the right is text that reads “Owned by the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.” The section of text is titled, “Island Views: Northwest” in yellow text aligned to the left just underneath the black banner. The panel is made up of a background photo looking at the Boston skyline from Spectacle Island, composed of skyscrapers and towers in grey, white and tan. Across the bright blue water a yacht with a white wake moves across the view. In the midground towards the right is Castle Island which is surrounded by a grass area with white stone walls and a paved walking path that encircles Pleasure Bay. On the lefthand side is one column of text broken up into three paragraphs. In the upper right-hand corner is an aerial map of the Boston Harbor. At the bottom of the panel the title reads “Boston Skyline” in yellow text. 

Image Description (upper right)

An illustrated map of Boston Harbor featuring East Boston, Downtown Boston, South Boston, and Dorchester’s land masses that make up the Boston coastline in white. The Harbor Islands are all depicted in green with their names in white text. Islands included (from approximately north to south): Snake Island, Deer Island, Long Island (with Long Island Head Light labeled on the north edge of the island), Nixes Mate, Lovells Island, Spectacle Island, Gallops Island, Georges Island, Thompson Island, Rainsford Island, Moon Island, Peddocks Island, Hangman Island, Nut Island, and Sheep Island. Georges Island has a small white question mark in a black box indicating a visitor’s center. “Boston Harbor” is labeled in dark blue in the center. Other water features going down the coastline are labeled in the same dark blue: “Inner Harbor,” “Pleasure Bay,” “Old Harbor,” “Dorchester Bay,” and “Quincy Bay.” Two beaches on the coastline are labeled in white, the first is above Old Harbor “L Street Beach” and the second is in Quincy Bay, “Wollaston Beach.” Out in the harbor, “President Roads,” between Deer Island and Long Island, is labeled in dark blue, along with “The Narrows” between Gallops Island and Lovells Island. Also labeled in dark blue is “Nantasket Roads” between Peddocks Island and Rainsford Island and Georges Island to the north, as well as “Hull Gut” between Peddocks and an outstretch of land that is presumably Hull. Beneath the harbor islands, at the bottom of the map “Quincy Bay” and Hingham Bay are labelled, with “Hull Gut” labeled on an outstretch of land that is presumably Hull. The top right of the map is labeled “Massachusetts Bay” in a light blue with an arrow pointing upwards in a grey circle that indicates “North.” Underneath the arrow is a small-scale image, depicting the scale of the map, on top it has 2 kilometers labeled in black, and 1 mile labeled in white. On Spectacle Island there is a yellow dot which has a triangulated yellow field showing the field of vision from that spot-on Spectacle Island. Within this yellow field it looks towards downtown Boston encompassing “L street Beach,” “Pleasure Bay,” Inner Harbor,” and the whole landmass of downtown Boston, reaching towards Charlestown and including the west side of the Boston Logan International Airport and a small portion of East Boston across the Inner Harbor.  

Image Description (background)

A photo of the Boston City Skyline from Spectacle Island. The immediate foreground has a few branches from brush on the island. The water makes up most of the foreground of this image. A white boat comes into view from the right, leaving a bright white wake in its path. Starting in the midground is the coastline of South Boston, specifically Castle Island. A stretch of land lined with rocks separate the channel from another body of water, labeled as “Pleasure Bay” in white text. To the right of this stretch of land is a stone fort, with an industrial shipping area filled with cranes and containers just behind it; they are labeled “Castle Island and Fort Independence” and “Conley Terminal” respectively. Beyond this area is the city skyline, made up of an assortment of skyscrapers and other smaller buildings they are mainly, blue, white, grey, tan, and brick red. Different buildings and sites are labeled in black text, left to right: “Prudential Tower,” “200 Clarendon,” “Federal Reserve Building,” “Harbor Towers,” (two towers next to each other), “Long Wharf,” “Zakim Bridge,” and “Old North Church.” On the channel side of the landmass in the foreground the sites are labeled as well in white with small arrows, pointing to, left to right, “Pleasure Bay,” for the sandy strip in front, “Conley Terminal,” by the industrial cranes, and “Castle Island and Fort Independence” for the squat stone structure and grassy area.  

Image Credit

Photo courtesy of Boston Harbor Now