Thompson Island (Massachusetts)

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Thompson Island is an island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, some 4 miles offshore from downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The island is managed by the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, a non-profit educational organization. The island is open to visitors on summer Saturdays; otherwise access is by arrangement only.^[1]

The island has a permanent size of 170 acres (0.69 km²), and the highest point is a drumlin which reaches a height of 78 feet above sea level. The rest of the island comprises low rolling hills and a saltmarsh. The island has a mixed vegetation, including hardwood tree stands, remnant pear and apple orchards, ornamental trees and shrubs, open meadows, sumac groves, saltmarsh grasses, and lawns, including a soccer field.^[1]

[edit] History

In 1626 (four years before the Puritans arrived in Boston) David Thompson established a trading post to trade with the Neponset Indians on the island that now bears his name. Thompson was a Scot who had been superintending the settlement of Sir Ferdinando Gorges in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For the next two centuries, Thompson Island was leased to several different families for farming.

In 1833, the Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys was moved to the island, and in 1835 it merged with the Boston Farm School Society to become the Boston Farm and Trade School. In 1956 the name was changed again to Thompson Academy. Thompson Academy continued the tradition of shelter and guidance to boys("Boys with a problem, but not problem boys"). In 1971 a fire destroyed the Main School Building. The school continued to operate for another four years closing in 1975. The Willauer School, an expeditionary learning Outward Bound school operated from 1994 to 2006. The island is currently owned by the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center and operates Outward Bound programs that brings more than 5,000 students and 3,000 adults a year to the island. Thompson Island Outward Bound supports its mission through donations and profits from Thompson Island Conference Center (event business running corporate outings and social events) and Outward Bound Professional (adult teambuilding to create positive lasting change in the workplace).^[1]