In South Boston, there is a fort called Fort Independence, which is open to the public most days. Towering 20 feet over Boston Harbor, Ft Independence is surrounded by grassy fields, volleyball courts, beaches, playing children, American flags, and fried food.

Tracy and I headed out to the fort because we heard that it was friendly to dogs and served soft ice cream. We had nothing to do and it was the day after independence day, so it sounded like a perfect little trip.

The area didn’t disappoint. Finding parking was a breeze and max met a friend and played on the beach instantaneously. Max’s friend even had his own ball.

Castle Island sports a huge phallus that is visible from the water. I’ve never seen it up close before, and it was pretty impressive. Above is a photo of Tracy and Max sitting next to it for perspective.

We weren’t able to go into the fort because it was closed. Maybe it was closed for the holiday.

There haven’t been many attacks on New England by sea lately, so at this point Fort Independence seems to be mostly guarding Pleasure Bay. Pleasure bay is walled off by a causeway and has a nice boat club inside.

The best part of Castle Island, however, is the ice cream and fried foods restaurant called Sullivan’s. The chicken fingers at Sullivan’s are to die for. Tracy had the fish and chips and it was “respectable”. Tracy had a maple and walnut ice cream that was “delish”.

Photography in respective order by: Fort Independence, Tom Rose, Google