Thompson Island (Massachusetts)

Massachusetts's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in eastern Massachusetts, including roughly three-fourths of the city of Boston and a few of its northern and southern suburbs. The seat is currently held by Democrat Ayanna Pressley. Due to redistricting after the 2010 census, the borders of the district were changed, with most of the old 7th district redistricted to the new 5th district, and most of the old 8th district comprising the new 7th district. With a partisan lean of D+35 according to the Cook Political Report, the 7th is the most Democratic district in Massachusetts, and one of the most Democratic districts in the United States. According to The Boston Globe and the latest census data, approximately 33 percent of the population of the district were born outside of the United States, with approximately 34 percent of the population white, 26 percent African American, and 21 percent Latino.In 2019, Ayanna Presley became the first female and person of color to represent the district as well as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Congress.

Dorchester Bay is the smallest of the three smaller bays of southern Boston Harbor, part of Massachusetts Bay and forming the south shoreline of the South Boston neighborhood and northeast shoreline of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, as well as the north shore of the city of Quincy in Massachusetts.The bay is home to Thompson Island, one of the Boston Harbor Islands. The Neponset River empties into Dorchester Bay between south Dorchester and Squantum Point Park in Quincy. The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum is located on the west shore of the bay at the end of the Columbia Point peninsula. Day Boulevard, one of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation parkways and part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, travels 2.6 miles (4.2 km) along the northern shore of Dorchester Bay, offering panoramic views of the bay and islands. The waters of Dorchester Bay include Pleasure Bay, Old Harbor, Western Way, Squantum Channel, Savin Hill Cove, and Dorchester Bay Basin.

The John R. Nelson House is a historic house located at 4 Brunswick Street in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Squantum is a neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, connected to the mainland by a causeway that crosses over a wetland area of the bay. Often thought of as a peninsula, Squantum proper is technically a barrier island as it is surrounded on all four sides by water and is only connected to the mainland and Moon Island via causeways. Located in the northernmost portion of the city, Squantum is bordered on the north by Dorchester Bay and Boston Harbor, on the east by Moon Island and Quincy Bay, on the south by Quincy Bay and North Quincy, and on the west by the Marina Bay development. The population of the neighborhood in 2000 according to the United States Census Bureau was 2,626. Squantum has scenic, waterfront views of Boston Harbor and the Boston skyline and has many of Quincy’s most expensive homes. Squantum residents are the wealthiest of any neighborhood in Quincy, according to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, and the home ownership rate is approximately 92%. The neighborhood is further characterized by its tree-lined streets, its "island getaway" feel, close-knit community, and its annual Squantum Fourth of July Parade. As described in a 2020 book, "One road leads in and out of a square mile of land that is a playground for children and a haven for adults." Squantum also has one of the largest Irish populations, on a per capita basis, of any neighborhood in the United StatesThe neighborhood includes two public beaches (Nickerson Beach and Orchard Beach), as well as state-owned Squantum Point Park, which has hiking trails and points for canoeing or kayaking. It is also home to Squantum Elementary School and the First Church of Squantum.

Moon Island is an island in Quincy Bay, in the middle of Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. It is the location of the Boston Fire Department Training Academy, and Boston Police Department shooting range. All of the land on the island is owned by the City of Boston but the island is under the jurisdiction of Quincy, Massachusetts. It is also part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The causeway to Moon Island did not exist before the late 1870s and there was no bridge across Western Way to Long Island until the construction of the Long Island Viaduct in 1951. This bridge was closed October 8, 2014. The sand spit from Thompson Island to Squaw Rock on Squantum was a clam bar until the sewage outflow from Moon Island backed up into the local waters. Native Americans summered in this area for thousands of years and consumed the prevalent mollusks. Another two bars pointed from Moon Island toward Squantum, following the general path of the new causeway. In early years, the land where UMass Boston and the Kennedy Memorial are located was open water. The area around Marina Bay was salt marsh leaving a much wider mouth to the Neponset River. In colonial times, Moon Island was recorded as having 20 acres (81,000 m2) of land mass that was used as pasture. This land was connected at very low tides by two sand bars. The proper approach to this island in the late 19th century was from the Quincy Bay side. There was a 100-foot (30 m) hill on the northerly side. Early inhabitants called the island, "Munning's Moone," or "Mennen's Moon," and is also recorded as "Moon Island" and "Moon Head". Today, Moon Island consists of 44.5 acres (180,000 m2) and is connected to Squantum by a two-lane roadway over the causeway. Moon Island is owned by the City of Boston and is no longer available for public access or use. As with many of the other islands in Boston Harbor, municipal and federal authorities have obtained ownership of Boston Harbor islands over the centuries. Most have never returned to private ownership or use. Access to the causeway leading to Moon Island is controlled by police at a guardhouse at its southern end, and permission to enter the island must be obtained in advance since it is a restricted area.

Columbia Point, in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts sits on a peninsula jutting out from the mainland of eastern Dorchester into the bay. Old Harbor Park is on the north side, adjacent to Old Harbor, part of Dorchester Bay. The peninsula is primarily occupied by Harbor Point, the University of Massachusetts Boston, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and a complex at the former Bayside Expo Center, Boston College High School, and the Massachusetts Archives. The Boston Harborwalk follows the entire coastline.

Castle Island is a peninsula in South Boston on the shore of Boston Harbor. In 1928, Castle Island was connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land and is thus no longer an island. It has been the site of a fortification since 1634, and is currently a 22-acre (8.9 ha) recreation site and the location of Fort Independence.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and museum of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963), the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963). It is located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, next to the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum. Designed by the architect I. M. Pei, the building is the official repository for original papers and correspondence of the Kennedy Administration, as well as special bodies of published and unpublished materials, such as books and papers by and about Ernest Hemingway. The library and museum is part of the Presidential Library System, which is administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, a part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).The library and Museum were dedicated in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and members of the Kennedy family. It can be reached from nearby Interstate 93 or via shuttle bus or walk from the JFK/UMass stop on the Red Line of Boston's MBTA system.

Fort Independence is a granite bastion fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts. Located on Castle Island, Fort Independence is one of the oldest continuously fortified sites of English origin in the United States. The first primitive fortification, called "The Castle", was placed on the site in 1634 and, after two re-buildings, replaced circa 1692 with a more substantial structure known as Castle William. Re-built after it was abandoned by the British during the American Revolution, Castle William was renamed Fort Adams and then Fort Independence. The existing granite fort was constructed between 1833 and 1851. Today it is preserved as a state park and fires occasional ceremonial salutes. Fort Independence was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

The Victory Destroyer Plant was a United States Naval Shipbuilding yard operational from 1918 to 1920 in Quincy, Massachusetts. It was then reused as a civil airport, and later Naval Air Station Squantum. It was owned by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, and was constructed in order to relieve destroyer construction at the nearby Fore River Shipyard. Still later in the late 1920s it was used to build yachts by the firm Lamb & O'Connell. One of these yachts, the US10 Tipler III, a 30-square-meter racing yacht, participated in the 1929 International Races sponsored by the Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead.

Marina Bay is a mixed-use development neighborhood of condominium, commercial and entertainment facilities in Quincy, Massachusetts. It includes five housing complexes (including detached, townhouse and low-rise apartment units) and one assisted living complex, office complexes, numerous restaurants, a craft brewery and taproom, a 685-slip marina and a seaside boardwalk. It is situated on the northwestern part of Squantum Peninsula at the mouth of the Neponset River where it meets Dorchester Bay in Boston Harbor. The permanent residential population of Marina Bay in 2000 was about 1,300 according to the United States Census Bureau,; however, the Boston Globe reported in 2004 that the complex had 2,000 residents.

The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate (also known as the Kennedy Institute) is a non-profit civic engagement and educational institution on Columbia Point in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, next to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. Named for long-time U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, the institute contains a full-scale reproduction of the United States Senate Chamber, a replica of Kennedy's Washington, D.C. office, and digital exhibits. The organization includes the Kennedy Home in Hyannis Port, which was donated to the institute in 2012 as part of a "mission of educating the public about the U.S. government, invigorating public discourse, emphasizing the importance of bipartisanship, and inspiring the next generation of citizens and leaders to engage in the public square." The Kennedy Institute is, along with the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, a co-sponsor of The Senate Project, whose goal is, through hosting a series of Oxford-style debates between leading U.S. Senators, to reintroduce the culture of seeking common ground and bipartisan consensus that has been the essence of the Senate since it was conceived in 1789.