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Charles River Reservation
The Esplanade
Location in MassachusettsShow map of Greater Boston areaCharles River Reservation (Massachusetts)Show map of MassachusettsCharles River Reservation (the United States)Show map of the United States
Location	Middlesex, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates	42°22′08″N 71°07′24″W / 42.36889°N 71.12333°W / 42.36889; -71.12333
Area	863 acres (349 ha)
Elevation	13 ft (4.0 m)
Established	1910
Operator	Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation
Website	Charles River Reservation

Charles River Basin Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district

Location	Both banks of Charles River from Eliot Bridge to Charles River Dam, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°21′09″N 71°06′16″W / 42.35250°N 71.10444°W / 42.35250; -71.10444 (Charles River Basin Historic District)
Area	820 acres (330 ha)
Built	1893
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Moderne
NRHP reference No.	78000436
Added to NRHP	December 22, 1978

The Charles River Reservation is a 17-mile-long (27 km) urban preserve and public recreation area located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton, Massachusetts. The reservation is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The portion of the reservation between the Charles River Dam and the Eliot Bridge is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. This includes the park in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston known as the Esplanade.

The Charles River above the Watertown Dam is managed as the Upper Charles River Reservation.

Features

Features of the reservation include the Charles River Dam, the Charles River Basin, the Boston and Cambridge Esplanades, and John F. Kennedy Park.

Charles River Dam

The 1978 Charles River Dam, located behind the TD Garden, controls the water level in the river basin. An earlier dam (see Charles River Dam Bridge), located beneath the Museum of Science, was completed in 1910 with the purpose of creating a fresh water river basin and riverfront park in Boston and Cambridge. As part of the dam construction, fill was added between the Longfellow Bridge and Charlesgate and dedicated as the Boston Embankment, now universally known as the Esplanade. The modern dam houses six pumps that provide flood control protection. The dam's lock system permits travel of recreational and commercial vessels from the river to the harbor year round. A fish passage allows for passage of anadromous fish (alewife, rainbow smelt and shad) during the migration season in late spring.

Charles River Basin and Esplanades

Created in 1910 by damming the formerly tidal river and permanently flooding the tidal marshes and mud flats, the Charles River Basin was designed to provide a "water park" for city dwellers, with access to outstanding river scenery and recreational opportunities on both water and land.

Though entirely designed—and in that sense artificial—the Basin is also a wildlife habitat for hundreds of animal and plant species that play a role in the ecology of the region and enrich the experience of urban park users. Water quality in the once heavily polluted Basin has improved dramatically in recent years, creating better habitat for wildlife and attracting people back to the river.

The character of the Basin changes along this 8.5-mile (13.7 km) stretch, forming three discernible zones: the Lower Basin, from the 1910 Charles River Dam to the Boston University Bridge; the Middle Basin, from the BU Bridge to Herter Park, and the Upper Basin, from Herter Park to the Watertown Dam. The Lower Basin is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long and up to 2,000 feet (610 m) wide. The panoramas in the Lower Basin define the image of Boston and Cambridge. The Longfellow Bridge is a powerful presence in the Lower Basin, as are the slope of Beacon Hill and the gold dome of the State House. Particular park sections within the reservation, such as Magazine Beach and Herter Park, provide intensely used open space for the bordering urban neighborhoods.

The Middle Basin is a zone of transition from urban and formal to rural and more natural. Parkways lining the Charles River Basin separate the esplanades in Boston and Cambridge from the nearby neighborhoods. The largest open space is between the Harvard University athletic fields on the south and Mount Auburn and Cambridge cemeteries on the north. Together, these areas form a critical oasis for migrating birds.

Frederick Law Olmsted's 1889 design for Charlesbank created the first public space along the river. It included a promenade along the water's edge, as well as the first public outdoor gymnasiums in the United States, one for women and girls near the Longfellow Bridge and one for men and boys near Leverett Street (now Leverett Circle).

John F. Kennedy Park

The 5-acre (2.0 ha) John F. Kennedy Park located near Harvard Square is landscaped with plants that bloom at the time of the President's May birthday and a memorial fountain. The park, designed by Carol R. Johnson Associates of Boston, uses materials indigenous to New England including native trees, and the granite fountain and the entrance pillars are inscribed with quotations from the President's speeches.

Riverbend Park

Riverbend Park extends on the north side of the Charles, from the Eliot Bridge to Western Ave. in Cambridge. In 1974 Isabella Halsted (who lived on Memorial Drive) circulated a letter asking if neighbors would support closing the Drive to vehicles on Sundays from spring to fall. She may have been familiar with the closing of sections of Rock Creek Parkway in Washington, D.C. A portion of the drive was blocked off for the first time the following year. For nine years, the private Trust for Riverbend Park raised funds to cover the cost of the road closing. In 1985 the state legislature authorized and funded the permanent closing of the road from April to November.

Recreation

The reservation's multiple recreational opportunities include cycling on the Charles River Bike Paths, motorized and non-motorized boating, playgrounds, picnicking, swimming pools, tennis courts, ice skating, and concerts at the Hatch Memorial Shell. Sailboat rentals are offered through the non-profit Community Boating, Inc. A quarter mile (400 meter) Braille trail is located in Watertown, near the foot of Irving Street.

References

^ "Charles River Reservation". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
"2012 Acreage Listing" (PDF). Department of Conservation and Recreation. April 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 7, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
^ "Charles River Reservation". MassParks. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
"Introduction" (PDF). Charles River Basin Master Plan. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
"Character and History" (PDF). Charles River Basin Master Plan. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
Zaitzevsky, Cynthia (1992). Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System. Harvard University Press. p. 92. ISBN 9780674318311.
"John F. Kennedy Memorial Park". Carol R Johnson Associates. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
Haglund, Karl (2003). Inventing the Charles River. MIT Press. p. 266. ISBN 0262083078.
"Charles River Reservation". Department of Conservation and Recreation. Archived from the original on March 10, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
"Sailing". Charles River Reservation. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
Braille Trail officially open at Watertown Riverfront Park, Joanna Duffy, watertown@wickedlocal.com, July 21, 2016, accessed February 13, 2018

External links

Charles River Reservation Department of Conservation and Recreation
Dr. Paul Dudley White Charles River Bike Path Map Department of Conservation and Recreation
Charles River Basin Map Department of Conservation and Recreation
Charles River Watershed Association
Esplanade Association
Charles River Conservancy
Newton Conservators

v t e Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
Coastal reservations	Belle Isle Marsh Boston Harbor Islands Castle Island Dorchester Shores Fort Revere Lynn Shore Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Webb Memorial Weymouth Back River
River reservations	Alewife Brook Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Elm Bank Hemlock Gorge Mystic River Neponset River Pope John Paul II Squantum Point Park Upper Charles River
Woodland reservations	Beaver Brook Blue Hills Breakheart Hammond Pond Middlesex Fells Quincy Quarries Southwest Corridor Stony Brook Wilson Mountain
Heritage state parks	Lynn Roxbury
Parkways and roads	Alewife Brook Arborway Blue Hills Blue Hills Reservation Charles River Reservation Day Boulevard Fellsway Fellsway East Fellsway West Fenway Fresh Pond Furnace Brook Hamond Pond Hull Shore Drive Jamaicaway Lynn Fells Lynnway Memorial Drive Morrissey Boulevard Mystic Valley Nahant Beach Boulevard Nantasket Avenue Park Drive Quincy Shore Drive Revere Beach Riverway Soldiers Field Road Stony Brook Storrow Drive Truman VFW West Roxbury Winthrop Winthrop Shore Drive
Department of Conservation and Recreation Greater Boston List of Massachusetts State Parks

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling
National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory
Other National Park Service units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore
National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island
Wild and Scenic Rivers	Assabet Concord Sudbury Taunton Westfield
Other protected areas	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State parks

Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Governor Thomas Dudley Great Brook Farm Greycourt Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck
Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain
Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

State forests

Wildlife management areas

Wildlife
management areas

Wildlife
sanctuaries

The Nature Conservancy
Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Roger and Virginia Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations

Audubon Society wildlife sanctuaries

Other
Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary Old Harbor Wildlife Refuge

Category
Boston
Emerald Necklace
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Commons

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

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v t e Parks in Boston
Parks	Arnold Arboretum Back Bay Fens Belle Isle Marsh Reservation Billings Field Boston Common Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Boston National Historical Park Bremen Street Park Cardinal Cushing Memorial Park Castle Island Charles River Esplanade Charles River Reservation Charlestown Naval Shipyard Park Charlestown Veterans Memorial Park Chestnut Hill Reservation Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park City Square Park Commonwealth Avenue Dorchester Park Dorchester Shores Reservation Emerald Necklace Forsyth Park Fort Independence Fort Warren Franklin Park Franklin Park Zoo Galvin Memorial Park Harambee Park Harriet Tubman Park Jamaica Pond John Harvard Mall Kevin W. Fitzgerald Park Langone Park Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection Mary Ellen Welch Greenway Millennium Park Nashua Street Park Neponset River Reservation North End Parks North Point Park Olmsted Park Paul Revere Park Piers Park Boston Public Garden Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Roxbury Heritage State Park Roxbury High Fort Southwest Corridor Park Stony Brook Reservation Temple Street Park Thompson Square Upper Charles River Reservation Webb Memorial State Park Winthrop Square

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