Emerald Necklace

A GUIDE TO THE

EMERALD NECKLACE

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the art of the emerald necklace

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back bay fens

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commonwealth avenue mall

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public garden

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franklin park

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jamaica pond

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boston common

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the riverway

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olmsted park

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arnold arboretum

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olmsted’s philosophy

INTRODUCTION the art of the emera ld necklace

Olmsted spent much of his career working out the interdependentrelationship he felt should exist between city and country.

Many of his finest principles of urban planning were realized in the Boston Park System. A variety of landscapes were woven into the fabric of the city, from the salt-water marshes of the Back Bay Fens to the sheep meadows of Franklin Park.

Olmsted anticipated many different uses for parkland, including in this greenbelt both largeand small spaces, intimate glades along riverbanks, dense wilderness, open water, and a convenient system of trails and drives. Stretching from the Boston Common downtown to the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park in Roslindale and Roxbury, the Emerald Necklace is one of the oldest set of public parks and parkways in the country.

there is a style of painting you may know

he did envision the new and older parks working together

paintings depict a scene so well, we almost think the

many ways. Olmsted designed this park system in the

called trompe l’oeil, meaning “fool the eye.” Such image is real. It is easy for a park to “fool the eye”

in its own way. We look at a landscape and, without

much thought, we see it as natural; a welcome preserve of ground spared from the built environment of the

city around it. Study these green spaces more closely and you’ll find they are far from naturally occurring

phenomena. They are feats of engineering, marvels of visionary urban planning, corridors of transportation, contributors to the public health, and a canvas upon

which an artist has worked in plants, trees, earth and water instead of oils.

The artist we refer to here is Frederick Law Olmsted

who, for his vision and craft, is known as the father of landscape architecture. He designed the Boston park system we affectionately call the Emerald Necklace, a string of nine continuous parks. Though he did not design the first three parks; Boston Common, the

Public Garden and Commonwealth Avenue Mall;

as a system. And he believed that they should work in

late 19th century to provide a common ground to which

all people could come for healthful relief from pollution,

noise and overcrowding of city life. Carriages, horseback riders and pedestrians could enjoy their recreations,

while Bostonians could find places for both active play and quiet contemplation. He reshaped the topography to solve major drainage and sewage problems and to create a rustic environment. The Emerald Necklace

is considered one of Olmsted’s finest works. The parks in this system are designated Boston Landmarks and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Today, a century after the last of the parks was

completed, they continue to attract visitors from all

over the world. Like many great works of art, they give particular joy and satisfaction to their owners, the people of Boston.

For more information on the Emerald Necklace, call the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, (617) 635-4505.

back bay fens visiting the back bay fens The Fens start inauspiciously at the hideous overpass at Charlesgate, then run to the Landmark Building (old Sears Building) at the start of the Longwood Medical District. Features Victory Gardens where residents raise vegetables and flowers. Gained fame a few years ago, when a real-life Boston police officerhelped a real-life duck and her ducklings cross a busy road.

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as quickly as the back bay developed another problem

festered. The dam’s basin became an increasingly noxious open sewer, particularly at low tide. Even then, pollution was a problem, and the Bostonian’s demanded a solution. Enter Frederick Law Olmsted.

He proposed to flush out the stagnant waterway and add some naturalistic plantings to emulate the original tidal marsh ecology of the Fenway area.

His plan was true to both the character of the land and the needs of a growing population. Today we find in the Fens different charms than the ones Olmsted created. The 1910 damming of the Charles River changed the water here from brackish to fresh, rendering his plantings enough.

Only two of the original “strong but obstructive” bridges, the park’s general boundaries and some early trees remain of Olmsted’s design.

The Fens continues to be much loved and utilized. Community gardens; the elegant Rose Garden; World War II, Korean and Vietnam War memorials; busy ball fields, and the unusual range of bird species are major attractions.

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commonwealth avenue mall visiting the comm avenue mall Running west from the Garden to the Muddy River at Charlesgate, the Mall consists of the center strip of Commonwealth Avenue, as well as a number of statues, including one of Leif Eriksson.

in colonial times, this area known as the back

Bay was literally that: an inland bay alongside the peninsula on which Boston was established. Twice a day the Atlantic tides would send cleansing waves up the Charles River to flood it. That is, until the 1820s, when an enterprising mill company built a dam along what is now Beacon Street. Some 50 years later, the state finished the job with landfill. Commonwealth Avenue Mall became the spine of the elegant and new

1880 for advice on tree planning patterns. Their

suggestion was “to obtain…the uniformity which seems to us essential to the future beauty and dignity of the

finest street in the city…” by removing the trees already planted and replacing them with two single rows of European elms. Still the mall was known for it's magnificent American elms until the Dutch Elm Disease devastated them in recent years.

Back Bay neighborhood and the crucial green link

between the Public Garden and Frederick Law Olmsted’s park system. The Mall’s 32 acres were designed in the French boulevard style by Arthur Gilman in 1856.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Sprague Sargent,

partnersin creating the Arnold Arboretum, were asked in

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public garden visiting the public garden Just across Charles Street from the Common, the Public Garden is the oldest public botanical garden in the country.

Features include the Swan Boats, the world's shortest suspension bridge and larger-than-life statues of the avian heroes of “Make Way for Ducklings.” Take the Green Line to Arlington Street.

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the public garden was created in 1837,

the common in 1634. What a difference two hundred years made. From its inception, the Public Garden was decorative and flowery, the Common pastoral and practical. Boston Common's walkways were for cross-town travels, the Public Garden’s paths for meandering. Common was America’s first park, the Public garden its first public botanical garden. This style of park, featuring the gardener’s art,was ushered in by Victorians who had new techniques readily available to collect, hybridize, and propagate plants.

Greenhouse-grown plants could assure that displays would be seen at their peak. They beddedout the Garden with intricate floral patterns of blazing color and planted exotic imported trees. Come see for yourself. Admire the rich and unusual array of plants, the lagoon, monuments and fountains, and the Swan Boats managed by the Paget family for 100 years.

franklin park visiting franklin park South of Seaver and Walnut Streets, and the largest single piece of the Necklace (more than 500 acres), the park includes the Franklin Park Zoo, an 18-hole golf course and hiking trails. Take the Orange Line to Forest Hills, then the number 16 bus to the zoo.

going from the common to franklin park, you

experience a common, a garden, a mall, a former tidal marsh, several ponds, a river glen and an arboretum.

Welcome to the “country park,” the largest park and the crowning jewel of Frederick Law Olmsted’s achievements in Boston. Olmsted considered “country parks,” those used “exclusively with reference to the enjoyment of rural scenery,” to be crucial for city

dwellers. But in addition to scenery, Franklin Park

has a woodland preserve and the Playstead, an area for

active recreation and sports. The Greeting, planned as a formal entrance, is now the site of Franklin Park Zoo,

added in 1911. The park encompasses 527 acres, and it took several years to build. It was considered so

important to our physical and mental health that the city raised its debt limit and borrowed $2 million to build

it. Originally, Park Commissioners had hoped to tap into

Ben Franklin’s trust fund for the money to acquire this park, hence its name. Come visit the zoo, play a round of golf, picnic, perambulate, or play ball in Franklin Park’s vast expanses of rolling greens.

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jamaica pond visiting jamaica pond Boston's first drinking-water reservoir, Jamaica Pond today is a great place to jog or walk. Rent a sailboat or go to a summertime concert. Some amazing mansions along the Jamaicaway stretch of the pond.

olmsted and most everyone else agreed that jamaica pond

belonged in Boston’s system of parks, and very few alterations were needed to improve upon this natural feature. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, some of Boston’s wealthiest residents built summer homes to which they escaped from city life, when Jamaica Plain was still “the country.” Later, an ice cutting industry developed. When the land was purchased by the city, the homes and icehouses were removed, and the area restored to what Olmsted described as “a natural sheet of water with quiet graceful shores…” Olmsted then saved much of the existing plants. Tree groupings, shrubs and pathways were added to frame the pond and enhance public use. The pond plunges to more than 50 feet in depth, a kettle hole formed by an ancient glacier. Natural springs make it the largest and purest body of water in Boston. The state stocks the pond, and fishermen come here to catch trout and the indigenous fish: pickerel, bass, hornpout and perch. Today, Bostonians flock to Jamaica Pond for concerts, children’s programs, theatre performances, rowing, sailing, fishing, running, and biking with a view.

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boston common visiting boston common Located between Tremont, Boylston, Charles and Beacon Streets. In the summertime, you'll find plenty of ballplayers, kids enjoying the water sprays at the Frog Pond and office workers loosening their ties at lunchtime. Take the Green Line or Red Line to Park Street or the Green Line to Boylston.

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hear the echoes of 350 years of the most

extraordinary history of America’s oldest park. In 1768, the hated British Redcoats began an eight-year encampment. George Washington, John Adams and General Lafayette came here to celebrate our nation’s independence. The 1860s saw Civil War recruitment and anti-slavery meetings. During World War 1, victory gardens sprouted. For World War II, the Common gave most of its iron fencing for scrap metal. Boston Common continues to be a stage for free speech and public assembly.

Here, during the 20th century, Charles Lindbergh promoted commercial aviation. Anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies were held, including one led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Olmsted never touched

Boston Common, but his sons did. About 1913, their firm supervised the paving of walkways, the replenishing of the soil, and the moving of 15-ton trees. From a utilitarian common ground for activities like grazing, militia formations and public hangings, the Common evolved. Its peaks were leveled, cows were banned, wand trees, fountains and statuary were added by the 19th century Bostonians. The Common became the park-like green space we know today.

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riverway visiting the riverway From Landmark Center (the former Sears Building) to Rte. 9, it runs along the Muddy River. At Rte. 9, bicyclists and pedestrians either have to cross Rte. 9 or take their chances with crazed Boston drivers on the Riverway overpass.

when you walk along the muddy river,

it is easy to mistake it for a natural remnant of the New England landscape. It isn’t. It is wholly man made. Or should we say, Olmsted-made. Under his

bold direction, the river was rerouted, its banks carefully sculpted and planted. Park walks, bridle paths and

carriage roads were laid out to best advantage, and ponds were created where only marsh existed. Although the Fens was the beginning of Frederick Law Olmsted’s

park system, this is the first landscape along the linear

green ribbon where today we can see the original vision of the designer.And what was that? According to

Olmsted’s stepson and associate John Charles Olmsted,

“…a stranger, looking into the valley, might suppose that it bore a natural growth slightly refined by art…” Steep banks and wooded edges preserve a pastoral feeling, screening out the carriageways; now busy roadways

beyond. Originally, Olmsted was not asked to design a park for this area. He suggested it to the Park

Commission as a continuation of the public health

improvements accomplished by the changes to the Fens.

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olmstead park visiting olmsted park From Rte. 9 south to Perkins Street, just before Jamaica Pond. Just south of Rte. 9 is a prime location for seeing ducks, swans and geese. Some great sledding toward Jamaica Pond.

area that would later bear his name: “…the locality is at present very attractive, including, as it does, Ward’s Pond with its verdure-clad, precipitous banks, a steep wooded hill, several groves and two meadows…” Given the inherent beauty of the land, Olmsted made minor changes to it, compared to what was done in the Fens and Riverway. Here, he wanted to reveal the natural features to us. To do this, he designed pathways and planting patterns that would create a series of dramatic vistas that enhance the shapes, proportions and relationships of the landforms before us. Originally, this park was intended to have an educational function, too. South of Willow Pond Road, small pools were carved out to be used for natural history exhibits. When needed funds did not materialize, most of the pools were soon filled in.

On warm summer evenings, Olmsted’s sweeping meadow is the scene of spirited neighborhoods ball games on what is now Daisy Field, while Ward’s Pond remains a peaceful preserve.

frederick law olmsted said of this park

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arnold arboretum visiting arnold arboretum Owned by Harvard University, the Arboretum features thousands of trees, as well as numerous winding paths for strolling. Lilac Sunday, in May, offers a rare chance to have a picnic on the Arboretum grounds. Take the Orange Line to Forest Hill

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the arboretum is a living museum

dedicated to the study and appreciation of woody plants. Upon its 265 acres grow 15,000 trees, scrubs and vines, each of which is scientifically documented and available for teaching and research. The parks story begins with two interesting partnerships.

First, Harvard University curates the collections and maintains the landscape, while the city, which owns the land and has leased it to the school for 1,000 years, maintains roads, walks and walls. The other partnership is that of Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Sprague Sargent. In their collaboration, Sargent was the scientist who collected and sited thousands of specimens by genus (or family).

Olmsted was the designer who laid out the road

system and overall planting scheme to ensure a natural look in harmony with the rest of the Necklace. Thanks to the two men’s dedication, the Arboretum today displays a world-renowned collections of maples, crabapples, lilacs and rhododendrons, as well as the many other trees and shrubs that can grow in our climate. Come anytime; there is always something making a beautiful impression, including the view from the top of Peters Hill, which offers one of Boston’s best vistas.

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OLMSTEAD’S PHILOSOPHY w h a t o l m s te d s ou g h t to a c h i eve

perhaps more than any other person, frederick law olmsted

(1822-1903) affected the way America looks. He is best known as the creator of major urban parks, but across the nation, from the green spaces that help define our towns and cities, to suburban life, to protected wilderness areas, he left the imprint of his fertile mind and boundless energy. Out of his deep love for the land and his social commitment he fathered the profession of landscape architecture in America. Olmsted’s main goal, no matter what he was doing was to attempt to improve American society. He had visions of vast recreational and cultural achievements in the hearts of cities. He did not see parks as just vast meadows, but rather he saw them as places of harmony— places where people would go to escape life and regain their sanity. He wanted these parks to be available to all people no matter what walk of life the person followed. Olmsted had high expectations for his design’s psychology and visual effects on people. He believed that the perfect antidote to the stress and artificialness of urban life was a nice stroll through a pastoral park. He foresaw places with graceful undulating greenswars and scattered growths of trees. He believed and promoted

the idea that such an environment would promote a sense of tranquility.

Olmsted’s vision was that the sense of calmness that would come from the park by his separation of the different landscape themes and conflicting uses. Olmsted believed that the rural, picturesque landscape contrasted with and counteracted the confining and unhealthful conditions of the crowded urban environment and served to strengthen society by providing a place where all classes could mingle in contemplation and enjoyment of the pastoral experience. He sought to screen his “pleasure grounds” completely from the intrusions of daily life by screening them with thick plantings along their borders, separating and excluding commercial traffic, and discouraging all usage of the grounds which were not in harmony with this goal. He also strove to bring the landscape as close to as much of the urban population as possible, so that all could benefit from it.

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