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Boston Harbor is a district of Boston in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background[]

This section is transcluded from Boston. To change it, please edit the transcluded page.

Since its discovery by John Smith in 1614, Boston Harbor has been an important port in American history. It was the site of the Boston Tea Party as well as almost continuous backfilling of the harbor until the 19th century. By 1660, almost all imports came to the New England coast through the waters of Boston Harbor. With the rapid influx of immigrants, Boston transformed into a booming city, but with such a population increase comes sanitary issues. (Such as dumping their waste into the nearby waterways and eventually into the harbor; a common practice throughout history.) By the late 19th century, people were advised not to swim in any portion of the harbor. The City of Boston, like most major cities at the time, would go on to create sewage stations and commissions to deal with the problem. Eventually, the water quality in both the harbor and the Charles River improved, and the projects have dramatically transformed Boston Harbor from one of the filthiest in the nation to one of the cleanest. Becoming a safe for fishing and swimming,[Non-game 1][1] however, this wouldn't prove to last through the energy crisis.

During the resource crises of the late 21st century, Boston would transition to run on nuclear power. Municipal plutonium wells were installed across the city, and Mass Fusion installed what was supposedly the first commercial fusion power reactor on homes and buildings across the city. However, in reality behind Mass Fusion's promises of a cleaner tomorrow came even heavier pollution. Their revolutionary fusion reactors were in reality poorly shielded fission reactors, and the resulting nuclear waste outpaced the company's ability to properly dispose of it.[2] Illegal dumping by Mass Fusion and other companies such as Corvega and Saugus Ironworks poisoned the environment around Boston.

The radiation seepage would seep into the rivers, lakes and the harbor like the sewage of old. While man took both legal[3] and physical action against the detritus,[4][5] the local crustaceans would be the first to grow ever larger and poisonous. All of which would be ignored by the Boston Port Authority and the media; the former of who stopped taking calls from activists, particularly of the Nahant Oceanological Society,[6] while the latter would spin the stories relayed to them into pro-government propaganda.

Corrupt to the core, the local municipal services of the Greater Boston area would routinely flout basic safety protocols and misallocate funds. Such as the case with the entire municipal water system. Despite a decade-long (c. 2050—2060) plan of modernizing the city's aged sanitation systems,[Non-game 2] the new equipment procured and updated facilities was of poor quality and use. Such as the case of the Weston water treatment plant, with the catastrophic and systematic failures of the equipment, the facility was forced to compensate both in man-hours and even "experimental" waste water recycling. This lead to a cholera outbreak in 2077; to cover for this, the facility staff and regional municipal utility services would collude with other plants to swap out tainted water for clean, known as the "Weston WELLness press initiative."

This was all compounded by the still functional two hundred year old (at the time) sewage tunnels; built to channel waste water directly to the nearest waterway, they would occasionally overflow with combined sewer and rain water. These were never modernized nor reinforced. Much of these ancient catacombs were crushed by the Great War; what wasn't crushed would either be cut off from the rest of the system or silted up with the harbor itself.

Now, past the shallow waters and rusty hulks, the harbor has the distinction of being among the most dangerous (and soggy) of neighborhoods of Boston. Home to mirelurks, pockets of super mutants, raiders and the odd roving scavenger, the inhabitants are never friendly. Since the War, tales of a sea monster lurking in the bay have circulated.[Non-game 3]

Layout[]

Located south of the North End, east of the Financial District and the Theater District, and north of South Boston, Boston Harbor contains the following locations:

Appearances[]

Boston Harbor appears only in Fallout 4.

Gallery[]

References[]

Non-game

  1. Boston Harbor on Wikipedia
  2. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p.312: "[3.16] WESTON WATER TREATMENT PLANT
    This plant was built in 2051 as part of a decade-long plan to modernize the city’s aging sanitation systems. In the decades after the bombs fell, the rising sea levels eventually overwhelmed the plant’s retaining wall and began to flood the facility. As the pumps lost power, shorted out, and began to fail, the water output fell and grew more contaminated."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
  3. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p.504-505: "Zone 17: Neighborhood: Boston Harbor (Waterfront)
    Just as the Charles River empties out into the Massachusetts Bay, so, too, did container vessels from across the Old World, about 400 years ago. Now the harbor is in serious need of dredging, with a variety of rusty hulks and rotting boats scattered about this waterway. Home to Mirelurks, pockets of Super Mutants and Raiders, and the odd roving Scavenger, Boston Harbor offers views out to the east, toward the airport. Head north to Charleston, west into the Theater District, and south toward Quincy and South Boston. Though there are few primary locations, this has the distinction of being among the most dangerous of neighborhoods, as the ground is sometimes soggy and the inhabitants never friendly. Also, did you hear tales of the sea monster lurking in the bay?"
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
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