Back Bay Fens section of Emerald Necklace Park

I have a job for the City of Boston. The Emerald Necklace Park system is really beautiful, but it could better for all, just as their designer, Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned. Boston’s planners can start with pathways that are consistently accessible to wheelchair-users.

Olmsted was a landscape architect in the 1800’s whose dream was to give city residents common ground to come together to relax and escape from the pollution and congestion of the city. The Emerald Necklace Park, in Boston and Brookline, consists of nine distinct parks unified by seven miles of paths, and was designed by Olmsted over 100 years ago. What started with the Boston Common, Public Garden and Commonwealth Avenue Mall grew to incorporate the Back Bay Fens, the Riverway, Jamaica Pond, the Arboretum and Franklin Park.

Office of Emerald Park Conservancy

There is a small, wheelchair-accessible building nestled into the Back Fens section of the park called “The Emerald Necklace Conservancy.” For $2, you can get a detailed map of the park space and pathways – but they are missing any handicap-accessible notations whatsoever. I called the office and spoke with someone who confirmed that this was a huge missing piece; she referred me to the Director of Historic Parks for Boston Parks and Recreation. No one answered the phone when I called in the middle of the day on a weekday, and the website for Boston Parks and Recreation has no information that I could find on wheelchair accessibility for the Emerald Necklace Parks. I find this incredibly surprising. I sent an email to Boston Parks and Rec with my questions and concerns.

Unpaved section of Emerald Necklace Park in the Fens

I did my own reconnaissance, and it’s not great for a wheelchair. Discrete parts of the park are accessible for a wheelchair: the Arboretum has access and paved paths, as does Jamaica Pond. Parts of the Back Bay Fens would work for a wheelchair, but the paths are either pavement or flattened dirt paths. If it was a nice day, for example not too wet and therefore muddy, you could park at the Museum of Fine Arts or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and venture across the parkway to take in a bit of the Fens, but you wouldn’t get too far before the pavement was torn up or the paths became downright inaccessible.

Squeaky wheels get grease, so if you care about Boston, and it’s outdoor spaces, and whether it’s accessible to all, then please go on line to Boston Parks and Rec and send them an email too!