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The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appears to hang from Boston Neck of the Boston peninsula. In 1989, the Emerald Necklace was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
The Emerald Necklace includes:
Several components of the Emerald Necklace pre-date the plan to unite them. Some links of the Emerald Necklace not only offer an opportunity for recreation in a wooded environment, but are also ecology important that provide bird nest places for and improve the air quality of the city.
The project began around 1878 with the effort to clean up and control the area which became the Back Bay and The Fens. In 1880, Olmsted proposed that the Muddy River, which flowed from Jamaica Pond through the Fens, be included in the park plan. The current was dredged into a winding stream and directed into the Charles River. The corridor encompassing the river became the linear park still in existence today. Olmsted's vision of a linear park of walking paths along a gentle stream connecting numerous small was complete by the turn of the century. The parks conceived by Olmsted, from Storrow Drive south to Franklin Park, were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Olmsted Park System.
Over the past decade, almost $60 million in capital expenditures for parks and waterway improvements have been made in the Emerald Necklace by the City of Boston and the Town of Brookline. These efforts have included improved pathways, plantings and signage, bridge repairs, and the restoration of and buildings. In some areas (especially the woodlands of Franklin Park and Olmsted Park) these efforts have only begun to address the over 50 years of neglect the Emerald Necklace has suffered.
Several dedicated parks organizations, including the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Friends of the Public Garden, the Franklin Park Coalition, and the Arboretum Park Conservancy, were created to protect, maintain, restore and advocate for the Emerald Necklace parks through the work of their staff, the donations of their constituents and the efforts of their volunteers.
Olmsted's original plan called for a U-shaped necklace which terminated at Boston Harbor. The final link, the Dorchesterway, was never realized.
Governed by a board of directors, the conservancy brings together representatives of both the private and public sectors to carry out these goals. Its activities complement the longstanding initiatives of its public partners, the Boston Parks & Recreation Department, Brookline Parks and Open Space and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Conservancy offers a wide range of services to visitors of the Emerald Necklace including events, guided tours, a mobile tour guide, volunteer opportunities and youth programs.
The parks have long been subject to flooding from the Muddy River. The Muddy River Restoration Project will dredge contaminated sediments and implement other major structural improvements, unburying the river and improving its integrity, appearance, and flood control capabilities. Phase I – daylighting the river at the Landmark Center – began spring 2009.
The parks have similarly been attempting to mitigate the spread of Phragmites (an invasive species of grass). Olmsted's initial view of a park with linear composition is being compromised due to the common reed. It has taken a lot of conservation efforts in order to limit this plant's spread, making it more difficult to achieve Olmsted's vision.
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