Deer Island

The good burghers of Boston have been using Deer Island for stuff they didn't really want near them since colonial days. In 1849, Boston built its alms house there. The image is from the Library of Congress's prints and photographs collection.

The Boston Fire Department reports 320 gallons of number 2 oil leaked out of a tank at the Deer Island sewage plant around 9:30 p.m., but that all the oil was "contained in the protective area made for such leaks."

OK, call us nuts, but we had dinner at Anthony's Pier 4 tonight. I know, I know, nobody eats there anymore, at least not anybody who lives inside 128 (and indeed, our waitress seemed a bit surprised when she asked us where we were from and we said "here!" and, yes, we were surrounded by parents bringing their kids to school and Japanese businessmen and, based on the White Sox cap one of them was wearing, people from the Midwest). But it was good - good food and good service (although we didn't order any wine; the people next to us ordered wine to go with their calamari, the wine didn't come, the waitress said she couldn't bring it and when they asked if she could send over the wine steward, the guy took his time and then slowly walked over and said "can I help you?" as if the people were disturbing him somehow and as if the restaurant weren't mostly empty).

In any case, there are some great views from the restaurant and its pier. The Deer Island sewage treatment plant (above), normally gray, gray and more gray, turned a nice orangish shade for a couple of minutes at sunset. And the new ICA is quite dramatic at night: