Strolling by the Bay on Christmas Day

Christmas day found our family gathering with a bit of time between the opening of the presents and supper.  It had been an unusually warm Christmas Eve with rain and temperatures up in the 50s F (about 10 to 13 deg, C).  Christmas day started out warm but the rain ended by noon, so it seemed a good day to take an afternoon stroll and get some fresh air. 

Of all of us assembled, on Rosie and I were interested, and she was thinking out beyond City Point in Southie (South Boston), at Castle Island and Pleasure Bay.  Before the landfilling that connected Castle Island to the drumlin we now call South Boston, Pleasure Bay was just a channel between Boston Harbor and Dorchester Bay.

Over time, Pleasure Bay was enclosed by a causeway with two gated culvert connec-tions that allow the tide to enter and leave.  This causeway is also a pleasant walkway around the oval-shaped bay, separating it from Dorchester Bay.  It is now part of a state park.

When we arrived after 3 pm, we found the temperatures dropping and a stiff wind blowing over the bay.  For a day about 50 deg. F (10 deg. C), it felt like about 20 deg. F (-5 deg. C) when the wind blew right through my winter coat.  Still, the late afternoon sun hiding in and out of the clouds provided some wonderful photo opportunities.

We arrived greeted by this spectacular scene across the Bay.

With Pleasure Bay to our backs, we can view the monster cranes at the container port known as Conley Terminal

Another view across Pleasure Bay looking towards the sunset.

From the causeway, we can look across the bay to the Boston skyline.

Another view from the causeway looking east towards the treatment plant on Deer Island with the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

Approaching the pavilion that marks the midpoint of the causeway.  I stopped for this photo despite the blistering winds.

The pavilion bathed in the yellow light of a late winter afternoon.

This view shows the chop on Dorchester Bay.  The causeway separates the two bays.

Sunset over Dorchester

View from a Deck in East Boston

Tourists typically see Boston Harbor from the view on the Boston  side, from Rowe's Wharf or Long Wharf, or Lewis Wharf.  Residents of "Eastie" (as many call East Boston) know they have some of the best views of the harbor.  At the right, a sailboat passes into view.

The following photos show the array of from just one of the many decks that afford residents of Eastie with great views of Boston Harbor.

View to the Boston Hyatt Hotel at Logan Airport.  The airport administration building is just to the left of the hotel.

In the foreground is part of a working shipyard on the harbor waterfront. 

Sunset and the Boston Skyline as seen from across the harbor in East Boston.

Crystal Cove Harbor in Winthrop at Sunset

Last evening we had the opening public meeting to discuss the design of a harbor walk near Crystal Cove (part of Boston Harbor) in Winthrop, Massachusetts.  The walk would link the public landing with a spit of land we call "the trestle" where trains of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad once ran.

The meeting was held at the new ferry terminal building at the town landing.  We arrived just before sunset, which was quite spectacular off the water.  I was moved to take a few photos before we had to go in and set up for the meeting.

Main Pier at Town Landing.  The ferry to Boston docks here.

Looking to the causeway behind Yirrell Beach, the spit of land connecting Shirley Point and Cottage Hill.

Boats docked in Crystal Cove

Looking south to Shirley Point

Cottage Hill is the backdrop to the parking lot at the town landing.

Deer Island: Urban Wilds, Harbor Views and a Treatment Plant

A few weeks ago, one of my sobrinas (a niece on the Peruvian side of the family) who is also an engineer paid us a visit.  Where to take her?  On a tour of her tia's engineering projects, where else!

After picking her up at Boston's Logan Airport, we took a short drive to Deer Island, which includes some of my projects from the 1990s when the island went through a major decade-long reconstruction.

Historically, the isle was home to the outcast, from a hospital to treat the incoming refugees from the Irish Potato Famine to a prison as well as the city's wastewater treatment plant.  It was not a place to visit!

In the remake of Deer Island, an
urban wild was created to buffer the
wastewater treatment plan.

The 1990s saw an extreme make-over of Deer Island.  The state of Massachusetts was under a court order to clean up Boston Harbor and end the dumping of partially treated (i.e., primary treated) sewage just off the tip of the island.  A brand new treatment plant would replace the prison and old plant.  To hide the facility from the nearby residents in Winthrop, they would take the drumlin (glacially-deposited hill) in the middle of the island and move it to the north side, creating an urban wild to buffer the plant.

The public access plan we developed
called for full-perimeter public access.
This section, designed by a different
firm, shows the perimeter walkway
above the 8-ton revetment that
protects the shoreline.

Many of us civil engineers worked on various facets of the treatment plant and surroundings.  My work was to manage a bit of the design of part of the plant, but mostly involved the sitework in and around the various structures.  While much of the work was utilities buried in the ground, the public access plan and shoreline protection are what is most visible to the visiting public.

The public access plan we developed called for full-perimeter public access.  The views are spectacular:

• To the east is Massachusetts Bay and the outer harbor islands.  
• To the west is Boston Harbor, the inner islands, the Boston skyline and Logan Airport.  

A previous effort by another firm said this was not feasible near the marine facility (dock and pier), but our plan moved the pathway landward so as to keep the public away from the hazardous area.

The western shoreline protection at
Deer Island was the product of  a
design that I managed.

I was design manager for two major sitework con-tracts.  The  shoreline pro-tection shown above on the right was designed by another firm, but included in the first of these con-tracts.  In the second con-tract, the western shore-line protection (see photo at left) was the product of our design work.  Along each of these shorelines, public pathways (see photo above) were designed by another firm and build in a subsequent sitework contract.

With With great views from the top of the new drumlin, the design of the buffer included a series of pathways up and around.  The photos below will give you a tour of the urban wilds and the vistas available to the public

Pathways circle and climb the buffering drumlin on the north side of Deer
Island.  The following photos illustrate the views from the pathways.

Large meadow in a nook of the new drumlin, with views of Spectacle and
Thompson Islands and Dorchester on the mainland beyond.

View to the north shows the silhouette of the Town of Winthrop.

Two views of the new treatment plan.  In the view on the right, Long
Island  is visible in the background.

Overview of the treatment plant:  from the foreground is the secondary
clarifires, then the aerobic and anaerobic selectors,  the primary clarifiers,
the grit removal facilities, with the egg-shaped sludge digesters in the
background.

Only 2 miles from Logan Airport, a plane is on a landing pattern over the
nearby Town of Winthrop.

Also visible is the skyline of Boston, only about 4 miles away.

With the dusk settling in, we left Deer Island on the one access road
(designed  by the author!)