Last Sunday was one of those late-summer days that make it impossible to stay indoors. Happily, friends invited us to enjoy the day with them on their boat, and with Boston Harbor Islands National Park practically in our backyard, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. The islands, designated a national park in 1996, have long attracted locals interested in history, camping, hiking or just plain exploring. When I was a kid, a summer daytrip with my family often meant cruising in my grandfather’s boat out of Scituate Harbor, docking at Georges Island and exploring the nooks and crannies of Fort Warren, a Civil War-era fort rumored to be haunted by “The Lady in Black.” We never found evidence of hauntings, but we had a great time scaring one another. The summer after my first year in college, one of my roommates came to visit. I was thrilled to show her around my stomping grounds and arranged an overnight camping trip on Bumpkin Island along with some of my hometown friends. More recently, I discovered Peddocks Island. A colonial outpost during the Revolutionary War and site of Fort Andrews (circa 1904), where prisoners were held in relative comfort during World War II, Peddocks Island is still inhabited on a seasonal basis by descendants of a late 19th-century fishing village. Leonardo DiCaprio fans may recognize the island landscape as the setting for several scenes in the 2010 movie Shutter Island. — Lisa Matte, editor in chief