Outer Brewster Island
Outer Brewster Island, also called Outward Island, is part of the Boston Harbor Islands in the Boston area. It sits about 10 miles offshore from downtown Boston and covers about 20 acres. The island has exposed bedrock, some soil, and a rocky shore with steep cliffs. It serves as a nesting home for coastal birds such as cormorants, gulls, common eider, glossy ibis, and American oystercatchers. The birds are aggressive while nesting, so visitors traveling by private boat are discouraged during that time.
The island, like its neighbors Great Brewster, Little Brewster, and Middle Brewster, is named after William Brewster, an early minister and teacher of the Plymouth Colony. Its barren, rocky landscape limits how people use it. A granite quarry operated there in the 1800s, and during World War II a coastal defense battery called Battery Jewell was built. It is now abandoned.
In 1798, Nathaniel Austin bought the island from David Wood for $400. He built an artificial harbor and hoped to run a quarry, using stone from the island to build houses in Charlestown.
The U.S. government took control of the island in 1913. In World War II it became part of the Brewster Islands Military Reservation, housing a long-range 6-inch gun battery (Battery Jewell) and a radar station. The Army left in 1947, and the island later became private property before becoming a state park in 1973.
In 2005, a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the island was opposed by environmental, recreational, and boating groups and did not move forward.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:25 (CET).