From Snails to Whales: Artifacts of Spectacle Island

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Artifacts of Spectacle Island

1st Item- Plate of china
I believe the first item I found was a plate from a china set. It could be a dinner plate or tea cup plate. By the aging and engravings the item was probably used during the turn of the century. I think that it was either used by a family or restaraunt in Boston, or possibly on a ship. It probably was in a landfill on Boston and moved to Spectacle when they were creating the island. The china tells me that the person who used it was probably of the more wealthier section of society, or a trading vessel carrieng items. When you throw away your trash it usually goes to a landfill and could sit for possible generations, however due to population growth and migration the landfills are sometimes removed or relocated.

2nd Item- Iron Bolt
The second item I found was a iron bolt. It was probably used in the construction of something, it is possible that it could have been used on a ship due its length. Bolts like these sometimes were used to bore through a mast on a ship. Because of the weight, rust, and shape of the bolt; I would say 19th century. A bolt like this that was created in the modern machine era would have precision cuts and length, however this bolt seems to be hand forged. Trash like this could sit at the bottom the ocean for years and possibly be pushed up to shore during a storm driven tidal surge.

3rd Item- Jug Handle
This item is a handle to a ceramic jug. This item was probably used to carry some type of liquid during 1800's. The ceramic industry was much more prevelant in the 1800's and early 1900's because plastic had not been invented yet. Modern landfills are filled with plastics, but in the past landfills were filled with ceramics,metals, and glass. This jug was probably used in a restaraunt or bar to hold wine or liquor. And if the restaraunt was close to the waterfront possibly port wine.

4th Item- Wheel or Sewing Wheel
This item was one of the more difficult to identify because it was not in one piece. From examing th internet and other sources I have narrowed down the options to either a small cart wheel or a sewing wheel. The item was in poor in codition and their were rusted nails and bands that fixed the contraption together. If it were a sewing wheel the oldest it could be would be 1920's because the invention of the sewing machine eliminated the use of the wheel and foot power. It was probably broken before it got to Spectacle Island. The wheel could have been used in a textile mill that were popular in New England during the 19th and 20th centuries, or could have a been a personal sewing machine used in a house.

5th Item- Brick
This item is the most universally applicable on the list, and because of the modern use of brick it is harder to identify age. However by examining the brick and noticing the grooves had been worn down by sand and tide, the item was probably older than 50 years. The brick was most likely used to build a house or building, and when that building was knocked down and the brick was damaged and could not be reused was probably taken to a landfill. Recycling brick was very popular in industrial era due to a lack of available resources. Items like this get to Spectacle Island probably after the Big Dig when construction was exacavating and removing old structures.

6th Item- Fishing Bobber
This item was the most modern of my exploration. It is essentially a float used as an indicator for a fish bight. This item due to it bright colors was probably no more than 5 years old. It was used by a fisherman to keep his bait at a certain distance from the bottom and indicate a bight. The fisherman probably got a cut off and lost the bobber and ended up on the beach. This trash and alot of waste that ends up in the ocean and rivers moves with the tides and currents and could end up thousands of miles from its original class.

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From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”

From Snails to Whales

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Artifacts of Spectacle Island

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