The Traveling Wheelchair

Boston Harbor Island
Boston MA 02210
Phone: 617-223-8666
http://www.bostonislands.org/isle_georges.asp

Recently my mom, Ric, Tony and I planned on taking a ferry to Bumpkin Island after reading the article Awash in art ‘ By Emily Sweeney/ Boston Globe/ July 26, 2009. We were excited about seeing the wheelchair sculpture and wheelchair accessible paths on Bumpkin Island. Once we boarded the  MBTA Harbor Island Express – Quincy we realized we didn’t have enough time to go to Bumpkin Island and would have missed the ferry to bring us back home. Instead we went to Georges Island and were pleased to find Georges Island is wheelchair friendly too.

Georges Island is seven miles from Boston; it is one of the 34 Boston Harbor Islands. This National Park is a 39-acre island and 53 acres at low tide.  The main attraction is Fort Warren, a National Historic Landmark. Wheelchair Access to Georges Island from the Harbor Island Express ferry  is very easy. Park Rangers lower a section of the wooden pier to the level of the ferry. Then a small wheelchair accessible ramp is placed for passengers to wheel/ walk from the ferry to the pier. Once all passengers have exited the ferry, this pier is raised back up.

There are many signs and maps which help you find your way around the different areas of this island. We first headed to the information booth.  The countertop at this information booth is NOT wheelchair accessible for it is too high. We were told at the information booth we could go on a FREE tour of Fort Warren with one of the Park Rangers. You’ll notice all the paved walkways throughout Georges Island are wide and easy to travel on in a wheelchair.

We headed out on the next tour. Our very knowledgeable and kind Park Ranger for the tour was Daniel Haydon; he began the tour at the Guard House.  The Guard House is the first station built here. It was to provide a defensive cover for the fort.  The Guard House is made of Granite blocks. The Warren Fort is mainly constructed of granite, brick and cedar as you’ll see this throughout the fort. The Guard House still has all the original granite and bricks.

Next we walked though the outer Defense section and into the Sallyport entrance. The Sallyport section once had a drawbridge here. If you were an enemy and made it this far you were in for some real trouble here! Daniel explained that in this section the enemy soldiers would be trapped when the drawbridge was closed off; then they had to go up the sloped floor; here were interior musket loopholes; the forts soldiers would use to shoot and kill the trapped enemy soldiers. Located at the other end of this entrance are portcullis gates; these gates cut off the retreat and this would surely be the death of all trapped here.

The next section we saw was the casemates rooms. The casemates rooms were used for the officers of the fort.  The next section was the Bakery; this was used though the years for food storage, preparation and serving. This section has a step, which makes it inaccessible for wheelchairs.  All of these rooms on the first level of the fort in this section are connected so one portable threshold ramp could be used to give access to persons in wheelchairs as well as baby strollers. My friends did lift my chair up the one step so I was able to enter and see some of these rooms. The EZ Access Threshold Ramp that came free with my EZ Access Suitcase Ramp  would have been able provide access to this one step entrance.

We saw so many cool places such as where the soldiers used to fire at the enemy and where cannons were once fired.

We saw some rooms in a section of Fort Warren where the walls are lined with cedar to keep the moisture out. We saw Barn Swallows nesting above on wooden beams. It reminded us of our Tree Swallow you can see nesting in my bird houses on my Access Bluebirds page. Barn Swallows are a lot like Tree Swallows; they have yellow bellies instead of white; their nest is also made of white feathers; and they dive at you to protect their young. The island has many different beautiful birds. We also saw a Red-winged Blackbird that I have in my yard.

Daniel pointed out the Observation Tower; I looked up and saw it; it was used to track incoming naval targets. My friend Ric climbed up to the top here and yelled down to us and told us about the view. He could see all around and even out to the water. The Observation Tower isn’t wheelchair accessible and I wouldn’t expect it to be for there are no elevators in this old historical fort.

We then strolled by the Terreplein section and were told by our park ranger to look and see the roof level of Fort Warren. This section supported the main line of cannon.  We all looked up and saw how long this line of cannon was; it is an awesome site.  The cannons are no longer here but you can see by my picture there was a long line of cannons here at one time.

We then separated from the tour group as the other upper areas are not wheelchair accessible.  The sections we missed were the Battery Stevenson section, the front 1 Casemates and the Bastion A section.  We also missed the old Hospital section. We are told that during the Civil War we only lost 13 men in this hospital. This is incredible compared to all others hospitals at that time that lost nearly 20% of all their patients. We still had fun touring other sections inside the first level of the fort :>)

The next section we saw of the Fort Warren is Power Magazine building this building at Fort Warren is a gothic style structure that was completed in 1863 and meant for limited access storage. In the middle is a large open field. This section is known as the Parade Ground. This section was mainly used for marching exercises and during wartime expansion it would be used for infantry training as well as tents as were needed during a war. When we were here we saw children playing baseball in this field.

The sign at Fort Warren has the year 1850 engraved on it; but the Fort wasn’t actually finished until 1861. They already had this year engraved and used it as this was the planned date but as things do with big undertakings things didn’t go as planned so the 1850 isn’t the date it was completed on. Georges Island provided a strategic location for defending Boston’s Seaport during wartime. Fort Warren was used during the Civil War, The Spanish American War and World War 1 & 2.  Construction of the Fort began in 1833 and finished in 1861.  The fort was decommissioned in 1951.  Georges Island was then opened to the public in 1961. It is now part of Boston Harbor National Park area.

Today the Island is visited by many and is home to Red-winged Blackbirds, Barn Swallows, Owls, Hawks and rare Falcons visit the Island as well.   No alcohol, pets or food are allowed within Fort Warren. The park is undergoing some new renovations which will include a new Visitors Center, Snack Bar and Rest Rooms that will be spacious, wheelchair accessible and ADA compliant :>)

As of now there are only temporary rest rooms. Some are located in a trailer that is not accessible due to steps. There are some Port-a-Johns and some of these are wheelchair accessible. They are wide and easy to enter and they have the safety bars by the toilet and hand sanitizer for your hands when you’re done. I will admit I didn’t use it as it’s very smelly inside!

We ordered a hotdog for lunch at the temporary snack bar. This snack bar is wheelchair accessible and the very nice man waiting on us was very friendly and helpful with me. He told us he is originally from Alabama.  We took our food and went over the picnic tables. The picnic tables are not wheelchair accessible.

We also explored a beach on the island. It is small and there are no life guards or loaner beach wheelchairs are here. A water bubbler is wheelchair accessible that we saw. There is another area not accessible that leads to cannons on top of a grassy hill in front of Fort Warren. A sloped paved walkway that winds around the hill placed here would help provide access to persons in wheelchairs.

Overall we found Georges Island  is fairly wheelchair accessible and I would highly recommend all to come and see it. It was a fun filled day and I’m glad we ended up on this island! We were told that  Spectacle Island is even more wheelchair accessible so we will soon venture to Spectacle Island.

I give Georges Island THREE STAR for wheelchair accessibility.  In order to earn the other TWO STARS they would need to lower the counter at the Information Desk; place some wheelchair accessible picnic tables on the island; and place some portable threshold ramps at a a few of the one step entrances in the fort. Placing a few portable threshold ramps at a few of the one step entrances would make almost all of the first floor level of Fort Warren wheelchair accessible. I give Daniel Haydon, a Park Ranger and our tour guide FIVE STARS for his very knowledgeable and fun tour of Fort Warren and Georges Island.