The Vault - Fallout Wiki



The Vault - Fallout Wiki
The Vault - Fallout Wiki
Spectacle Island
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Map MarkerSpectacle Island
FactionsCommonwealth Minutemen (optionally)
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Spectacle Island is a location and possible settlement in the Commonwealth.


Spectacle Island was initially composed of two small drumlins connected by a spit within Boston Harbor. Its name is believed to have been derive from its then-resemblance to a pair of spectacles. Due to the island's relative remoteness to the city of Boston it was used initially for illicit activities. After the curtailing of the gambling and prostitution the island was developed as a dirty industrial area. Specifically the city's garbage burning plant and a horse rendering factory was built. The former of which was active until 1935, afterword the city began simply dumping the trash onto the island. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several range lights were erected to help guide ships into the ever developing harbor. However they were all later abandoned, and as time went on, the dumping of trash and dirt together with subsequent landscaping had resulted in a significant increase in the size and shape of the island.[1] The final increase in the size of the island began with the Big Dig, a former megaproject that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93. The earth moved in the project – which included the construction of the Interstate 90 tunnel to the Boston International Airport – was layered onto the island.[2]

Spectacle Island later became home to a eccentric millionaire who dreamed of his own private island paradise. With the devastation of the Great War ships and a barge would wreck on the shore of the isle. The isle itself, now without maintenance, would erode over time. A home on the southwest side would wholly slip into the sea, and the main mansion already damaged from the blasts would collapse into itself. Furthermore said erosion would uncover a ghastly secret. That within the landfill were the corpses of people who, in all likelihood, fell victim to the mafia.[3]

After having been abandoned for decades some settlers tried to make use of the island. Building a wharf, a farm, began repairing the mansion, constructed a signal transmitter to drive the mirelurks threat back into the sea, and repaired the generator on a beached tugboat to power it. However, unbeknownst to them, the reason they were unsuccessful was because one of their own was a saboteur. Randy was in fact a raider infiltrator, helping the settlers construct the settlement and taking note of the defenses until his gang can swarm them and seize the island. While the constructions were almost complete he shorted out the generator, keeping the island and its denizens vulnerable.[4] This however was their undoing, as the people of the island were killed where they were working. Down on the wharf, repairing the mansion, meeting with a trader. Randy himself was killed wile meeting his raider contact.[5] The mirelurks inhabited the island ever since. However, this doesn't mean the Commonwealth Minutemen could not use the outpost once the mirelurks are dealt with.[6]

Settlement information

The area of this settlement is colossal, encompassing the entire island. While there are a few shacks already built, there is more than enough space to build a huge complex of buildings; however, while there is an incredibly substantial amount of wood, the island has relatively little steel, which can impede the construction of buildings and the like.

Essentially the entire interior of the island is suitable for agriculture, and the water surrounding it on all sides can be utilized for large scale water production. The island is in a dangerous zone of the Commonwealth, meaning that it will be raided very frequently, despite being surrounded on all sides by wide expanses of water. Furthermore, settlers tend to wander from the island out to sea; provisioners sent to the island are guaranteed to drown.


The northwestern part of the island hosts the destroyed mansion, a dock and boathouse, and a garage that contains a power armor station and chemistry station. The northern half of the island has a few shacks and the remnants of a small farm, while a barge filled with shipping containers rests on the northeastern bank – a shipping container at the top contains several safes.

In the middle of the island is a small sheet metal shack containing the settlement workshop and a circuit breaker that (once activated) will drive away the island's mirelurks. Further south is a series of power pylons that leads past a shack with a cooking station, to a beached green tugboat. The generator room of the boat has a circuit breaker that powers the signal at the central sheet metal shack.

Notable loot

  • The Luck bobblehead is in the locker beside the steamer trunk in the cabin of the green tugboat on the south part of the island.
  • A Fat Man is in the generator room of the green tugboat.
  • A mini nuke is embedded in the flood of the mansion.
  • The signal checklist is located on the metal shelve in the signal cabin.


  • After activating the circuit breaker in the tugboat, a mirelurk queen will emerge from the beach.
  • This island has at least one specimen of all the wild variants of flora; hubflower, corn, tato, razorgrain, gourd, mutfruit, melon, and tarberry.
  • Once activated, the generator on the tugboat provides 20 units of power without any resource cost. Furthermore, the circuit breaker itself can be relocated with the settlement mechanic. It can be awkwardly placed halfway through the ground anywhere around the island, however it cannot be attached to walls and cannot be placed back where it was originally if placed elsewhere.


Spectacle Island appears only in Fallout 4.


  • The wild razorgrain on the island cannot be harvested unless scrapped with the workshop mechanic.
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  1. Spectacle Island on Wikipedia
  2. The Big Dig is referred to in with the quest The Big Dig. Furthermore a tunnel beneath Boston Harbor was constructed and ends at the approximate point that the Ted Williams Tunnel does. However, it is inaccessible and unnamed.
  3. See the skeleton and devastation scenes in the gallery section.
  4. Signal checklist
  5. See the corpse scenes in the gallery section.
  6. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p.394: "[6.31] SPECTACLE ISLAND
    Once home to an eccentric millionaire who dreamed of creating his own private island paradise. His old mansion on the northwest shore has been abandoned for decades. Check the ground floor for an unexploded Mini Nuke. The rusting green boat to the south has a Fat Man inside, a Bobblehead, and a circuit breaker to power the signal cabin (though powering up the generator causes some interest from the local wildlife). The signal cabin circuit breaker sends out a frequency that scares off Mirelurks and allows the workshop to be accessed. The ruined shack to the northeast has a safe (Advanced). This place may be remote, but it’s perfect for a settlement outpost."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)