The Stony Brook Reservation Parkways are a group of 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 ...
s in
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
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest ...
. They provide access to and within the
Stony Brook Reservation
Stony Brook Reservation is a woodland park in Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts, a unit of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, part of the state park system of Massachusetts. It was established in 1894 as one of the five original reser ...
, a Massachusetts state park. The roadways and the park are administered by 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 i ...
, a successor to the Metropolitan District Commission, which oversaw their construction. The roads consist of the Dedham, Enneking, and Turtle Pond Parkways and West Boundary Road. Two roads within the park, Smithfield Road and Reservation Road, are listed as non-contributing properties.
The park roads were built between 1894 and 1956, and were 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 ...
in 2006.
West Boundary Road
When it was built in 1928, West Boundary Road skirted the western boundary of the reservation, running from Washington Street in the north to Turtle Pond Parkway in the south. This route is now interrupted by a housing development, and the southern end of the roadway ends after at Georgetowne Drive. Most of the rest of its former alignment has been converted to a wide hiking path.
[
]
Dedham Parkway
The reservation's three main parkways meet at a junction within the park known as the Robert Bleakie Intersection, located in the southern part of the park. The Dedham Parkway, a two-lane road, extends southwest from this junction, exiting the park soon afterward. It passes a junction with Georgetowne Drive, and then with Alwin Street, before crossing into Dedham and reaching its southern terminus, a junction with Harding Terrace (the cross street), and Dedham Boulevard (its southerly continuation). The parkway was built in stages, in 1900 and 1912.[
]
Turtle Pond Parkway
Turtle Pond Parkway was built in 1897, and extends southeast from the Bleakie Intersection. It is, like the Dedham Parkway, a two-lane road. It eventually skirts the southwestern edge of the reservation, passing through an intersection with Smithfield Road and Alwin Street. It continues roughly southward, passing the southern tip of the reservation before reaching Boston's Mill Pond Reservation, and its own terminus at a junction with River Street. River Street provides a connection (on the far side of Mill Pond Reservation) to the Neponset Valley Parkway
The Neponset Valley Parkway is a historic parkway in southern Boston and Milton, Massachusetts, United States. It is a connecting parkway in the Greater Boston area's network, providing a connection between the Blue Hills Reservation, Neponset R ...
.[
]
Enneking Parkway
The Enneking Parkway, built in 1897, extends north and east from the Bleakie Intersection. The northern leg extends through much of the reservation, eventually reaching its northern terminus with Washington Street and the West Roxbury Parkway, which continues northward. The eastern leg reaches a junction with West Smithfield Road, before turning into East Boundary Road near the Smith Pond Playground.[
]
See also
*
*
References
{{Dedham
Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Parkways in Massachusetts
Transportation in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Streets in Boston
Historic trails and roads in Dedham, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Boston
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts