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 protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all." The agency is the largest landowner in Massachusetts.
Revere Beach Parkway is a historic parkway in the suburbs immediately north of Boston, Massachusetts. It begins at Wellington Circle in Medford, where the road leading to the west is Mystic Valley Parkway, and the north–south road is the Fellsway, designated Route 28. The parkway proceeds east, ending at Eliot Circle, the junction of Revere Beach Boulevard and Winthrop Parkway in Revere. In between, the parkway passes through the cities of Everett and Chelsea. The parkway was built between 1896 and 1904 to provide access from interior communities to Revere Beach. It underwent two major periods of capacity expansion, in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. The parkway is designated as part of Route 16 west of Route 1A, and as part of Route 145 east of that point.
This is a list of properties and districts in Massachusetts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are over 4,300 listings in the state, representing about 5% of all NRHP listings nationwide and the second-most of any U.S. state, behind only New York. Listings appear in all 14 Massachusetts counties.
Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, and heads north on the east bank of Alewife Brook, crossing into West Somerville and ending at the Mystic River on the Medford town line, where it becomes Mystic Valley Parkway. The entire length of Alewife Brook Parkway is designated as part of Massachusetts Route 16 (Route 16), while the southernmost sections are also designated as part of Route 2 and U.S. Route 3 (US 3). It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation responsible for bridge maintenance.
Mystic Valley Parkway is a parkway in Arlington, Medford, Somerville, and Winchester, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and forms part of Route 16.
Lynn Fells Parkway is a parkway in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The road runs from the end of Fellsway East in Stoneham, eastward through Melrose, and ends in Saugus at US Route 1. The parkway serves as a connector between the Middlesex Fells Reservation and Breakheart Reservation.
Morton Street is a street in southern Boston, Massachusetts. It extends from the southeastern end of the Arborway in Jamaica Plain to Washington Street in the Lower Mills Village of Dorchester. Most of the road is a connecting parkway, signed as part of Massachusetts Route 203, that provides access to Boston's Emerald Necklace of parks. That portion of the road was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
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 River Reservation, and the Stony Brook Reservation. The parkway was constructed between 1898 and 1929 with design assistance from Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The Stony Brook Reservation Parkways are a group of historic parkways in Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts. They provide access to and within the Stony Brook Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. The roadways and the park are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, 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 in 2006.
The Truman Parkway is a historic parkway in Milton and southern Boston, Massachusetts. It runs along the southern boundary of a portion of the Neponset River Reservation and serves as a connection between the Neponset Valley Parkway and the Blue Hills Parkway. The parkway was built in 1931 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway is a historic parkway in Boston, Massachusetts. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Washington Street at the Dedham-West Roxbury border, from where it travels north and then east, ending at a junction with Centre Street, near the Arnold Arboretum. The highway is almost entirely contained within the West Roxbury neighborhood, although it passes through part of the Chestnut Hill neighborhood near its junction with the West Roxbury Parkway. Most of its length, from Spring Street in West Roxbury to its eastern end, is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), a successor to the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) which oversaw the road's construction. The parkway was built in stages between 1930 and 1942, and was designed to provide a parkway connection from the Upper Charles River Reservation to other MDC parks via the West Roxbury Parkway. The DCR portion of the road was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The road formerly carried the designation for U.S. Route 1.
Winthrop Parkway is a historic parkway in Revere, Massachusetts. The parkway, built between 1909 and 1919 and now designated as part of Route 145, runs for about 0.75 miles (1.21 km), from Eliot Circle southeast to the Revere-Winthrop line. Acquisitions for its construction represent the last public purchase of oceanfront lands in Revere. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Winthrop Shore Drive is a historic parkway in Winthrop, Massachusetts. The mile-long parkway runs through the Winthrop Beach Reservation, and is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The parkway is one of a series of ocean parkways that make up a network of parkways connecting major open spaces in the Greater Boston area. Both the parkway and reservation were designed in the mid-1890s by Charles Eliot for the Metropolitan Parks Commission, a predecessor to the DCR. Land was acquired for the parkway in 1899, and construction was largely completed in 1900.
Fresh Pond Parkway is an historic park and parkway, found in the westernmost neighborhoods of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The parkway was built in 1899 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
Nahant Beach Boulevard, also Nahant Causeway and Nahant Road is a historic road on the isthmus connecting Nahant, Massachusetts to the mainland at Lynn, Massachusetts. The road runs from the Lynn Rotary, its junction with Lynn Shore Drive and the Lynnway, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to Wilson Road in Nahant. It passes through Nahant Beach Reservation, a state park offering beach access on the isthmus. The road offers expansive views of the area coastlines and Boston Harbor. Both the park and the roadway are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Fells Connector Parkways are a group of historic parkways in the cities of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts, suburbs north of the city of Boston. The three parkways, The Fellsway, Fellsway West, and Fellsway East serve to provide access from the lower portion of the Mystic River Reservation to the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The latter two parkways continue northward, providing access to the interior of the Fells and providing a further connection to Lynn Fells Parkway. Significant portions of these parkways south of the Fells, which were among the first connecting parkways designed to be part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston by Charles Eliot, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Charles River Reservation Parkways are parkways that run along either side of the Charles River in eastern Massachusetts. The roads are contained within the Charles River Reservation and the Upper Charles River Reservation, and fall within a number of communities in the greater Boston metropolitan area. The Charles River parks extend from the Charles River Dam, where the Charles empties into Boston Harbor, to Riverdale Park in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Most of the roadways within the parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a unit, although Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive are listed as part of the Charles River Basin Historic District.
The Middlesex Fells Reservation Parkways are the roadways within and bordering on the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park in the northern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The park includes portions of the towns of Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester. The roads inside the park and around its perimeter have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other portions of some of the roads are covered by more than one listing in the national register; see Fellsway Connector Parkways and Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District.
West Roxbury Parkway is a historic parkway running from Washington Street in Boston, Massachusetts, where the Enneking Parkway runs south, to Horace James Circle in Brookline, where it meets the Hammond Pond Parkway. The parkway serves as a connector between Stony Brook Reservation and Hammond Pond Reservation. West Roxbury Parkway was built between 1919 and 1929 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The parkway is distinctive in the roadway system developed by the Metropolitan District Commission beginning around the turn of the 20th century in that it was built in collaboration with the City of Boston, and is maintained by the city.
The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over a century. The title is used by the DCR to describe the areas collectively: "As a whole, the Metropolitan Park System is currently eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places", as outlined on the department's website. The DCR maintains a separate Urban Parks and Recreation division to oversee the system, one of five such divisions within the department—DCR's Bureau of State Parks and Recreation manages the remainder of Massachusetts state parks. Direct design and maintenance functions for the parkways and roads within the system are provided by the DCR Bureau of Engineering.
