COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP

Learn more about our partnership with the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department, as well as the beauty of the Emerald Necklace

The City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department works in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Town of Brookline and in conjunction with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy to provide upkeep and maintenance and to protect and promote the beautiful Emerald Necklace park system.

With the vital work of these important agencies, not only is the B.A.A. Half Marathon held here, but thousands of pleasure-seekers who enjoy the urban parks throughout the year are the true beneficiaries.

 

EMERALD NECKLACE

It took civic visionary Frederick Law Olm­sted, Sr. (1822-1903) almost twenty years (1878-1896) to create the six parks now known as the Emerald Necklace. The Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Park, Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park stretch five miles from the Charles River to Dorchester and make up over 1,000 acres of parkland. The Necklace comprises half of the City of Boston’s park acreage, parkland in the Town of Brookline, and parkways and park edges under the jurisdiction of the Com­monwealth of Massachusetts. More than 300,000 people live within its watershed area.

The Emerald Necklace is the only remaining intact linear park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., America’s first landscape architect. As such, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Green and open spaces, rivers and ponds, and a wealth and diversity of trees, shrubs, flowers, wildlife habitat, riparian life, bridges and other structures make up this urban jewel. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy was created to protect, restore, maintain and promote the landscape, waterways and parkways of the Emerald Necklace park system as special places for people to visit and enjoy.

Since the event’s inception, a portion of the entry fees has been directed towards the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a non-profit organization working to restore, pre­serve, maintain and promote this historic park system.

The donation benefits the 1,000 acres of greenspace, waterways and parkways so important to our Commonwealth’s quality of life and the health of its citizens.