A SMALL kiosk on downtown Boston's Long Wharf now serves as the main gateway to the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation area. This makes about as much sense as placing a single turnstile at the entrance to the Grand Canyon. But a new portal may finally be opening to the 34-island harbor park system.
The promising site for a new gateway is at Squantum Point Park, abutting Quincy's Marina Bay development. The former World War I-era naval air station, covering 50 acres, is now an underused park under the control of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. On a recent morning, just a few cars were parked on a lot with enough space for 1,000. Nearby, two fishermen cast their lines from a durable pier and floating dock used in the 1990s by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to ferry construction workers and equipment to the Deer Island Sewage Treatment Center in Winthrop.
The pier and the parking lot at Squantum Point are ideally situated to accommodate hundreds of families seeking access to the Harbor Islands. Whether reliable ferry service could be made available is another matter. The range, frequency, and cost of such service has restricted access to the Harbor Islands recreation area since it first opened in 1996. The number of annual visitors to the islands, now about 85,000, grows slowly. And that's no surprise, considering the astronomical cost of parking near Long Wharf and the $14 roundtrip ferry ticket required to reach the hub at Georges Island or enjoy a day at the beach on Spectacle Island.
Downtown Boston is not the best gateway to the harbor islands. Even the Island Alliance, a public-private partnership that raises funds and provides programs for the park system, has abandoned its plans for a four-season visitors center and restaurant along the Rose Kennedy Greenway. The current plan calls for a more modest center and ticket concession at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and State Street.
Wider vistas
The more expansive plans are being floated in Quincy, where US Representative William Delahunt is promoting Squantum Point as a natural jumping-off point for both South Shore commuters and families making outings to the islands' beaches, camps sites, and walking trails. Delahunt's larger vision places the Squantum park at the center of what he calls the "cultural coast." He envisions water shuttles zipping tourists across the bay to the Kennedy Library. Returning passengers might then board trolleys covering the short distance to the Adams National Historic Park, which includes the birthplaces of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
Delahunt says he can even see ferries taking visitors from Squantum Point to Plymouth and the Cape Cod National Seashore. There is talk about building a National Park Service lodge on Squantum Point.
"The connections are all there," says Delahunt, to uncover the area's "cultural and historical treasures."
Recent experience shows that a hybrid approach is the best way to proceed on Boston Harbor. The Boston-Salem ferry, for example, got under way only because the ferry operator established a schedule and pricing structure that allowed tourists to subsidize daily commuters, sometimes on the same run. Squantum Point offers similar opportunities to establish overlapping routes for commuters and tourists.
Over the last year, Delahunt and his aides have been conducting low-key meetings with neighbors, state planners, and South Shore elected officials about the project. So far, there has been almost no resistance, he says.
The site also appears physically sound. Hydrological studies show sufficient depth at the pier to accommodate the drafts of large commuter ferries. And engineers from the DCR are undertaking a $175,000 reconfiguration of the float and ramp system at the Squantum Point pier to evaluate whether ferries can pick up passengers safely, conveniently, and in compliance with federal disability laws.
Wallet-friendly waters
Delahunt says it is too early to put a price tag on any of his ideas. But he has succeeded before in tapping federal transportation funds to improve docks and moorings in the harbor. It may be a harder to secure funds to subsidize ferry routes. Still, the Patrick administration's renewed emphasis on the state's tourist economy suggests that funds from the state Seaport Advisory Council could fill in some of the gaps.
Harbor activists also see Squantum Point Park as a way for families on tight budgets from Boston and elsewhere to reach the Harbor Islands. Efforts to increase visits will require public policy makers to promote "transit equity," says Bruce Berman of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a nonprofit group that brings thousands of low-income children on harbor tours each year. Berman says the goal at Squantum Point should be a modest parking fee and $5 roundtrip ferry ticket to the islands.
Squantum Point Park looks like the right spot to hold a grand opening to the harbor islands and beyond.
