Maintained by | Department of Conservation and Recreation |
---|---|
Length | 1.5 mi (2.4 km) [1] |
Location | Emerald Necklace, Boston, Massachusetts |
South end | Arborway in Jamaica Plain |
North end | Route 9 / Riverway in Mission Hill |
Other | |
Designer | Frederick Law Olmsted |
The Jamaicaway (sometimes colloquially referred to as the "J'way") is a four-lane, undivided parkway in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to the nearby neighborhood of Brookline.
The Jamaicaway was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as part of Emerald Necklace of green spaces extending from Boston Common on Beacon Hill to Franklin Park in Roxbury. It connects Riverway in the north with Arborway in the south.
Designed with carriages in mind during an era when Jamaica Plain was a sparsely inhabited streetcar suburb, the Jamaicaway is now a heavily-traveled route for motor vehicles connecting central areas of Boston (especially the Longwood Medical and Academic Area) with areas to the southwest, including Forest Hills, West Roxbury and the densely populated suburbs of Norfolk County. The winding nature of the road, and its heavy use by commuters leads to many vehicle collisions.
Many of the houses which line the Jamaicaway are large and of architectural interest. The oldest houses were created by elite Bostonians for year-round or seasonal use. The person most mentioned in association with the Jamaicaway today is probably James Michael Curley, the Irish American Mayor of Boston whose former house was long easy to spot, even after Curley's death, by the shamrock design incised in its shutters. [2]
The entire route is in Boston, Suffolk County.
Location | mi [1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jamaica Plain | 0.0 | 0.0 | Pond Street / Francis Parkman Drive / Arborway south – Dedham, Providence | Traffic circle; northern terminus of Arborway | |
Mission Hill | 1.5 | 2.4 | Route 9 / Riverway north – Copley Square, Brookline | Interchange; southern terminus of Riverway | |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi |
Roxbury is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of 4.4 square miles (11 km2) in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbury during the formation of West Roxbury in 1851 and became part of Boston when West Roxbury was annexed in 1874. In the 19th century, Jamaica Plain became one of the first streetcar suburbs in America and home to a significant portion of Boston's Emerald Necklace of parks, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
The Back Bay Fens, often simply referred to as "the Fens," is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park system, the Fens gives its name to the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood.
The Southwest Corridor or Southwest Expressway was a project designed to bring an eight-lane highway into the City of Boston from a direction southwesterly of downtown. It was supposed to connect with Interstate 95 (I-95) at Route 128. As originally designed, it would have followed the right of way of the former Penn Central/New Haven Railroad mainline running from Readville, north through Roslindale, Forest Hills and Jamaica Plain, where it would have met the also-cancelled I-695. The 50-foot-wide median for the uncompleted "Southwest Expressway" would have carried the southwest stretch of the MBTA Orange Line within it, replacing the Washington Street Elevated railway's 1901/1909-built elevated railbed. Another highway, the four-lane South End Bypass, was proposed to run along the railroad corridor between I-695 in Roxbury and I-90 near Back Bay.
The Emerald Necklace consists of a 1,100-acre 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 the "neck" of the Boston peninsula. In 1989, the Emerald Necklace was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Forest Hills station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line and three MBTA Commuter Rail lines and is a major terminus for MBTA bus routes. It is located in Forest Hills, in the southern part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Most Providence/Stoughton Line and Franklin/Foxboro Line trains, and all Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains, pass through the station without stopping. Forest Hills station is fully accessible on all modes.
The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston.
Jamaica Pond is a kettle lake, part of the Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The pond and park are in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, close to the border of Brookline. It is the source of the Muddy River, which drains into the lower Charles River.USGS 2005
Olmsted Park is a linear park in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, and a part of Boston's Emerald Necklace of connected parks and parkways. Originally named Leverett Park, in 1900 it was renamed to honor its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted.
Forest Hills is a part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Forest Hills is characterized by hilly terrain and wooded areas within and adjacent to its borders. In general, the area slopes upward from Hyde Park Ave and downward from Walk Hill Street.
Franklin Park, a partially wooded 527-acre (2.13 km2) parkland bordered by the Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and Dorchester neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts, is maintained by the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department. It is Boston's biggest park and the site of Franklin Park Zoo. It was designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in August 1980.
The Arborway consists of a four-lane, divided parkway and a two-lane residential street in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1890s as the southern-most carriage road in a series of parkways connecting parks from Boston Common in downtown Boston to Franklin Park in Roxbury. This park system has since become known as the Emerald Necklace.
The Riverway is a parkway in Boston, Massachusetts. The parkway is a link in the Emerald Necklace system of parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1890s. Starting at the Landmark Center end of the Back Bay Fens, the parkway follows the path of the Muddy River south to Olmsted Park across a stone bridge over Route 9 near Brookline Village. The road and its associated park form Boston's western border with neighboring Brookline and are popular with nearby local residents in both municipalities.
The Fenway is a mostly one-way, one-to three-lane parkway that runs along the southern and eastern edges of the Back Bay Fens in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As part of the Emerald Necklace park system mainly designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century, the Fenway, along with the Back Bay Fens and Park Drive, connects the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to the Riverway. For its entire length, the parkway travels along the Muddy River and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston. Like others in the park system, it is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Pinebank Mansion was a Queen Anne style house sited on a hill overlooking Jamaica Pond in Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1868 by John Hubbard Sturgis, it was the only mansion retained by Frederick Law Olmsted in his plans for the Emerald Necklace park system. It was the only original structure remaining in the park system at the time of its demolition in 2007.
The Muddy River is a series of brooks and ponds that runs through sections of Boston's Emerald Necklace, including along the south boundary of Brookline, Massachusetts. The river, which is narrower than most waterways designated as rivers in the United States, is a protected public recreation area surrounded by parks and hiking trails, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Dorchesterway was a parkway planned by 19th century landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted to be a continuation of the Emerald Necklace park network in Boston, Massachusetts. This plan, however, was never implemented.
Southwest Corridor Park is a linear urban park in Boston, Massachusetts, part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). It extends from the South End and Back Bay neighborhoods south for almost five miles (8 km), ending in the Forest Hills section of Jamaica Plain in what was originally planned to be the alignment for Interstate 95 to Boston. It closely follows the routes of regional Amtrak and Commuter Rail lines and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Orange Line rapid transit rail line, from its Back Bay Station to its terminus at Forest Hills station. It features tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, and walking, jogging, and biking paths.
Park Drive is a mostly one-way, two-lane parkway in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston that runs along the northern and western edges of the Back Bay Fens before ending at Mountfort Street. As part of the Emerald Necklace park system mainly designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 19th century, Park Drive, along with the Back Bay Fens and the Fenway, connects the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and Boylston Street to Beacon Street and the Riverway. For a portion of its length, the parkway runs along the Muddy River and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston's Muddy River Reservation. Like others in the park system, it is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
William J. Devine Memorial Golf Course, colloquially referred to as and contained within Franklin Park, is a municipal golf course in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury. Established on October 26, 1896, it is the second oldest public golf course in the United States. The course is named after William J. Devine, former Commissioner of Boston's Parks and Recreation Department.