Snake Island, also known as Bare Island, is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor

Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeast.-History:...

. The island is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area

Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area

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...

 and is situated in the inner harbor between the town of Winthrop

Winthrop, Massachusetts

The Town of Winthrop is a municipality in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Winthrop was 17,497 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is an oceanside suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor and is very close to Logan International...

 and the reclaimed land that forms 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...

. It is named for its serpentine shape, and has a permanent size of 3 acres (12,140.6 m²), and rises to a height of 10 feet (3 m) above sea level

Sea level

Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

.

Since the 18th century the island has been owned by variety of owners, and has been used for livestock grazing, and as a squatter camp occupied by lobstermen and clammers. In the 1900s a grounded steamer served as residence for lobstermen from Winthrop. Today the island is uninhabited and classified as "conservation land". Access is by private boat only.

The island is less than 1/4 mile from two shores of the Town of Winthrop. Unique among the Boston Harbor Islands, it has an interior lagoon which fills and partly drains, with the tide. The water entrance to the lagoon is winding and only six feet wide, not navigable for even a canoe or kayak, except at an unusually high tide. The lagoon and lack of predators makes the island attractive to birds, including migratory species. It is posted
off-limits in the spring, when many bird species nest there. In recent years the island has increased in area, due to shoaling of the surrounding water, especially to the west; its long "tail" is now fully exposed at low tide. Access is only possible by beachable small craft, due to very shallow water and mud flats around the island.