Quincy Shore Drive is a historic

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

. The road is one of a series of parkways built by predecessors of the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

, to provide access to parks and beaches in the Greater Boston area. Its development was proposed in 1893 by Charles Eliot, who promoted the development of many of the area's parks and parkways. Planning began in 1897, with land acquisition following around 1900. Construction of the road was begun in 1903 and completed in 1907. The northern terminus of Quincy Shore Drive is at Hancock Street ( Massachusetts Route 3A), just south of the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

. It runs northeasterly for about through a neighborhood area, reaching the

Quincy Shore Reservation Quincy Shore Reservation is a public recreation area and protected shoreline on Quincy Bay, Boston Harbor, in Quincy, Massachusetts. Its primary attraction is a beach, accessible along its entire length by Quincy Shore Drive. The largest beach ...

at a junction with East Squantum Street. This section is four lanes wide (two in each direction), separated by a tree-lined median, with additional trees on the sides of the roadway providing an attractive canopy. At East Squantum Street the road turns southeasterly to follow the shore for about . The inland side of the roadway is lined primarily with houses, while the shore side provides angled parking and beach access, and provides dramatic views of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and outer Boston Harbor. This segment is also four lanes, divided by a grassy median. After passing Fenno Street, the road enters Wollaston Beach Reservation, a city-owned park, which it passes through until it crosses over Black Creek and reaches

Furnace Brook Parkway Furnace Brook Parkway is a historic parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. Part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, it serves as a connector between the Blue Hills Reservation and Quincy Shore Reservation at Quincy Bay. First conceived ...

, which provides access to the

Blue Hills Reservation Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts in the United States. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it covers parts of Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham. ...

. It then runs southerly, away from the shore and through a residential area, reaching its southern terminus at Sea Street. The road was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2003.

References

{{Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Parkways in Massachusetts Transportation in Norfolk County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

See also

References