Middlesex Fells Reservation Parkways

History

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, United States. 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.

The Middlesex Fells Reservation is one of the oldest and largest of the parks in the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston. The reservation was created in 1894 with a gift of 450 hectares (1,100 acres) of land from The Trustees of Reservations to the Metropolitan Parks Commission, predecessor organization to the Metropolitan District Commission and today's Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). By 1897 the park had been expanded to some 3,000 acres (1,200 ha). This area included some existing roadways, which became internal roadways of the park. The border roads that surround the park followed a principle articulated by landscape designer Charles Eliot, who was instrumental in the preservation of the Fells, that such roads clearly delineated the bounds of the park, and provided its neighbors with pleasing views.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.