Spectacle Island, Massachusetts

Once a pair of drumlins connected by a narrow isthmus, Spectacle Island's shape and size has been transformed so completely that it is essentially a new landform. One of the main repositories for excavated material from the Big Dig/Central Artery/Tunnel project, possibly the last and greatest of the dumpings that have taken place there since the 18th century. The island has been home to a quarantine hospital, rendering plant, a grease extraction plant, gambling resorts, and until the 1960's a dump that increased the island's size by 36 acres (garbage is estimated to be over 100 feet deep on parts of the island - the dump was closed when a dozer was swallowed up by the pile). Following the Big Dig's dumping and recontouring of the island, it has become a public park, and at around 105 acres, it is nearly twice its original size. Spectacle Island Park is also a component of the larger Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.