Many Forts, Many Uses

Many Forts, Many Uses. South Boston. , Castle Island's strategic position alongside the narrow deepwater channel into Boston made it an ideal location to deter attacks. English colonists built the island's first fort in 1634. They used what was readily available, timber and mud. Each fort that followed was sturdier than the one before. The present one is made of granite from Rockport, Massachusetts., The island served a mix of military and civilian roles. Religious dissenters, deserters, and convicted criminals were among those imprisoned here. British officials and soldiers took refuge here from outraged Bostonians in the 1700s. The island was Boston's inoculation facility during the 1764 small pox outbreak. And during World War II, Castle island served as the location where the Navy demagnetized hundreds of U.S. warships to protect them from the enemy's magnetic mines., In 1962, the federal government transferred the fort and island to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Fort Independence is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation and is open on select summer days, with tours offered by Castle Island Association volunteers., [Captions:] , Today's Fort Independence, completed in 1851, is Castle Island's eighth fort. , ~Engraving courtesy of the Boston Public Library, In March 1775, Prince Hall and 14 other men of color were inducted into a British Army Lodge of Freemasonry likely at Castle Island. Nine years later they formed the first Masonic African Lodge in the U.S. One of the most influential African-American activists of the late 1700s, Prince Hall advocated for an end to slavery and equal treatment for persons of color, notably in a widely published speech. ~ Cover of Prince Hall's published 1797 speech courtesy of the Library of Congress, During the Civil War, barges brought cannon manufactured at South Boston Iron Company to be tested on the island. Union recruits also trained here. ~ Engraving by George H. Hayes, courtesy of the Boston Athenaeum, Castle Island was once truly an island surrounded by shallow water except along its north shore where a channel led into the harbor. 1776 map courtesy of the Norman B. Leventhal Map and Education Center at Boston Public Library