Noddle's Island is one of Boston Harbor Islands

Boston Harbor Islands

The Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area is a National Recreation Area situated among the islands of Boston Harbor of Boston, Massachusetts. The area is made up of a collection of islands, together with a former island and a peninsula, many of which are open for public recreation and some...

 off East Boston, Massachusetts

East Boston, Massachusetts

East Boston is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, with approximately 40,000 residents. The community was created by connecting several islands using landfill and was annexed by Boston in 1836. East Boston is separated from the rest of the city by Boston Harbor and bordered by Winthrop,...

. In the 1940s the strait separating Noddle's Island from East Boston was filled, thereby connecting the island to Logan International Airport

Logan International Airport

General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport is located in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts . It covers , has six runways, and employs an estimated 16,000 people. It is the 19th busiest airport in the United States.Boston serves as a focus city for JetBlue Airways...

 on the mainland.

History

The island "was for over two centuries known as Noddle's Island, from William Noddle, who was probably sent out by Brereton

John Brereton

John Brereton was a gentleman adventurer and chronicler of the 1602 voyage to the New World led by Bartholomew Gosnold.Brereton recorded the first European exploration of Cape Cod and its environs...

, and settled upon it in 1629, before Boston was founded" and was used for grazing livestock. The First Baptist Church of Boston secretly met on the island in the 17th century to avoid persecution by the Puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 state. During the Revolutionary War "on this same island was fought the second battle of the Revolution [also known as the Battle of Chelsea Creek

Battle of Chelsea Creek

The Battle of Chelsea Creek was the second military engagement of the Boston campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It is also known as the Battle of Noddle's Island, Battle of Hog Island and the Battle of the Chelsea Estuary...

], and the first in which the American artillery was used." After the British left Boston harbor, the island was used as a hospital for the French Fleet in 1780 who dubbed it ""L'ile de France'" and buried numerous troops on the island. After this the island was heavily fortified by the Bostonians.

During World War II, the expansion of Logan Airport led to the water around Noddle's Island being filled and connected to the mainland.