Deer Island is a peninsula in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1996, it has been part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Although still an island by name, Deer Island has been connected to the mainland since the former Shirley Gut channel, which once separated the island from the town of Winthrop, was filled in by the 1938 New England hurricane. Today, Deer Island is the location of the Deer Island Waste Water Treatment Plant, whose 150ft egg-like sludge digesters are major harbor landmarks.The island has a permanent size of 185acre, plus an intertidal zone of a further 80acre. Two-thirds of the island's area is taken up with the waste water plant, which treats sewage from 43 nearby cities and towns and is the second largest such plant in the United States. The remainder of the island is park land surrounding the treatment plant, and offers walking, jogging, sightseeing, picnicking, and fishing.HistoryIt was once leased to Sir Thomas Temple (1614 - 1674), a British proprietor and governor of Nova Scotia, and said to be a descendent of the renowned Lady Godiva of Coventry although this descent was debunked by E. A. Freeman in the 19th century. Sir Thomas Temple was also the uncle of John Nelson (1654–1734), a New England trader and statesman, who owned neighboring Long Island in Boston Harbor which at one time was also known as "Nelson's Island."
