Emerald Necklace
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- For the Emerald Necklace of Greater Cleveland, see Cleveland Metroparks.
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[edit] Definition
The Emerald Necklace consists of an 1,100-acre chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It is maintained by those municipalities and by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Emerald Necklace includes:<ref>[City of Boston - The Emerald Necklace]</ref>
- Boston Common
- Boston Public Garden
- Commonwealth Avenue Mall
- Back Bay Fens
- Olmsted Park
- Jamica Pond Park
- Arnold Arboretum (leased and maintained by Harvard)
- Franklin Park
The parks are close to (but not quite contiguous with) one another and are irregularly-shaped according to whatever land was available at the time of each park area's foundation. From Boston Common to Franklin Park it is approximately 7 miles by foot or bicycle through the parks. <ref>[City of Boston - The Emerald Necklace]</ref>
[edit] Shape
As implied by the name "Emerald Necklace", these parks don't proceed in a straight line. Instead, they form a sort of "L" shape. The Emerald Necklace begins near Boston's Downtown Crossing, proceeds along the Boston/Brookline Border, then back into Boston. At the extreme border of Arnold Arboretum, at the point most distant from its beginning, the Emerald Necklace is almost in West Roxbury.
[edit] History
This linear system of parks and parkways was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to connect the Boston Common (dating from the colonial period) and Public Garden (1837) to the great country estate known as Franklin Park.
The project began around 1878 with the effort to clean up and control the marshy area which became the Back Bay and the Fens. In 1880, Olmsted proposed that the Muddy River, which flowed from Jamaica Pond into the Fens, be included in the park plan. The current was dredged into a winding stream and directed into the Charles River. The corridor encompassing the river became a linear park. Olmsted's vision of a linear park of walking paths along a gentle stream connecting numerous small lakes was complete by the turn of the century.
From Boston Common to Franklin Park it is approximately 7 miles by foot or bicycle through the parks.
[edit] Recent Improvement
Over the past decade, almost $60 million in capital expenditures for parks and waterway improvements have been made in the Emerald Necklace by the City of Boston and the Town of Brookline. These efforts have included improved pathways, plantings and signage, bridge repairs, and the restoration of boardwalks and buildings. But these efforts have only begun to address the over fifty years of neglect the Emerald Necklace has suffered.<ref>[City of Boston - The Emerald Necklace]</ref>
[edit] Emerald Necklace Conservancy
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy was established in 1996 to support and build upon public sector initiatives. A not-for-profit organization, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy is a public-private partnership comprised of community, business government and institutional representatives, residential neighbors, representatives of Necklace-related associations and interested citizens. <ref>[City of Boston - The Emerald Necklace]</ref>
[edit] Other Areas
The Charles River Esplanade (which is not contiguous with the rest of the Necklace), and the Arborway and Jamaicaway parkways that connect Jamaica Pond Park and Olmsted Park, are sometimes considered to be part of the Emerald Necklace. Olmsted also designed these parkways.
There are a few other green areas in the vicinity of the Emerald Necklace which are never considered a part of it but are worth mentioning. One is the expansive Forest Hills Cemetary and adjacent cemetaries which serve to fill in much of the area of Forest Hills between Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park. Another is the 64-acre Larz Anderson Park which extends into Brookline from the vicinity of Jamaica Pond.
[edit] Sites along the necklace
Along or near the Emerald Necklace one can find:
- Boston's Symphony Hall
- The Museum of Science, Boston
- The Hatch Shell, an outdoor musical performance venue along the Esplanade, famous for the televised Fourth of July celebrations performed by the Boston Pops festival orchestra
- The Museum of Fine Arts
- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
- Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox
[edit] Route 1
The path of U.S. Route 1 passed through the Emerald Necklace until 1989, on the following roads from north to south:
- Charles Street
- Storrow Drive
- Charlesgate
- Park Drive/Fenway (one-way pair)
- Riverway
- Jamaicaway
- Arborway
From there it continued along Centre Street and VFW Parkway, two DCR-maintained roads, to Dedham. U.S. 1 now follows the route of the present I-93 through downtown Boston's Big Dig tunnels.
[edit] References
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