Emerald Necklace
The Emerald Necklace is a long string of parks in Boston, Massachusetts designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and maintained by the City of Boston and Town of Brookline. These parks stretch from the Boston Common and Boston Public Garden in the north to Franklin Park in the south and include:
- The Commonwealth Avenue Mall
- The Back Bay Fens
- Olmsted Park
- Jamaica Park
- The Arnold Arboretum
The Charles River Esplanade (which is not quite contiguous with the rest of the Necklace) is sometimes considered to be part of the Emerald Necklace, but is maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), formerly the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC).
Along or near the Emerald Necklace one can find:
- 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
- Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox
The path of U.S. Highway 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.