Ragged Island (Massachusetts)

Ragged Island is an island in the Hingham Bay area of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The island has a permanent size of 4 acres, and it is composed of Roxbury puddingstone (pebbles embedded in finer-grained cement) which rises to a height of 30 ft above sea level. Broken ledges surround most of the island with small gravel beaches on the southeast and northwest sides; there are also small tidal mudflats. The island was first occupied by John Langlee in the late seventeenth century. In the late nineteenth century, it was developed as part of a summer resort, and it has subsequently been the site of a restaurant and rustic observation shelters. Today, it is uninhabited and has an interesting mix of cultivated and naturalized plants, including lily-of-the-valley, daylily, silver maple, red maple, Norway maple, cedar, Norway spruce, linden, greenbrier and poison ivy. The island is managed by the town of Hingham and access is by private boat only.