Around 1878, the great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York City's Central Park, was consulted regarding a plan for Boston's public parks.

His brilliant concept was to unite Boston's existing historic public parks and green spaces, such as Boston Common and the Public Garden, with other natural and preserved spaces in Boston and Brookline into a chain of greenery encompassing 1100 acres (445 hectares).

Starting at historic Boston Common, the Emerald Necklace extends for seven miles (11 km) through the city along Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay, along the Back Bay Fens, Jamaica Pond and the Jamaicaway to the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park well to the south.

You will certainly spend at least a little time in Boston Common and the Public Garden, but if time allows you should also walk from the Public Garden along the shady mall of Commonwealth Avenue.

If you visit Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, you will observe the Back Bay Fens, turned from a swamp into a lovely park.

Arnold Arboretum, almost six miles (10 km) southwest of Boston Common, would take a special trip, but you'd be repaid by a visit to a splendid botanical garden filled with native and exotic plants, flowers and trees. More...

The Emerald Necklace is one example of the priceless legacies bequeathed to later generations by the brilliant thinkers, planners and civic-minded giants of the 19th century who built the United States.

The Emerald Necklace Conservancy works to preserve Olmsted's parks and gardens, organizes events , and publishes information to enrich everyone's enjoyment of this natural treasure. More...

—by Tom Brosnahan

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