Rose Kennedy Greenway - Newest Boston Park

Explore gardens from the Boston North End to Chinatown

Once upon a time, an ugly elevated highway slashed through the heart of Boston.

Now, the Rose Kennedy Greenway reunites the city.  This spectacular 1-mile long Boston park includes a series of gardens, paths, and activities stretching from the Boston North End to Chinatown.

But now the Big Dig is just a memory. The beautiful Rose Kennedy Greenway meanders through the city where the Central Artery once stood.

The Greenway is named in honor of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, beloved matriarch of the Boston family that produced Senator Edward Kennedy and the late President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy. 

Parts of this newest Boston park opened in November 2007 and Spring 2008, with an official inauguration celebration in October 2008.   Garden benches dot the park's length, and lush gardens filled with flowering perennial flourish.

How the Rose Kennedy Greenway
Changes Boston

If you visited Boston between the opening of the Central Artery in 1959 and 2007, when the Big Dig sank it below ground, you're in for a huge surprise.

Before, if you wanted to walk along the Freedom Trail from Faneuil Marketplace to Hanover Street in the North End, you had to pick your way through the grimy, trash-filled underbelly of the Central Artery.

And who even knew that Boston had a downtown waterfront?

But now, you simply stroll across sun-drenched spaces, admiring the flowers overflowing the gardens along the way.  Of course you can see the city's buildings all around you, but what you'll notice most are the flowers and grass.

What Will You Find Along the Greenway?

If you walk the length of the Rose Kennedy Greenway from the North End to Boston Chinatown, you'll discover four distinct park areas. Each celebrates the Boston neighborhood that it passes through and resonates with details about the city's history.

Let's take a quick Rose Kennedy Greenway tour, starting at the northern end.

North End Park

The North End Park area of the Rose Kennedy Greenway stretches from New Sudbury Street past Hanover Street and almost all the way down to Christopher Columbus Park, reuniting the North End with Downtown Boston.

Design elements feature lots of granite, echoing the favorite North End paving stone.  Some of the granite paving has a kind of wavy pattern - not so great if you're trying to walk on it, but it's probably supposed to evoke the nearby North End waterfront. 

Flat railings line the walkways near Hanover Street.  Take a closer look at their flat top surfaces - you can barely see them in this photo - and you'll see a fascinating Boston history timeline with quotes from North End residents. 

Plenty of benches provides places to sit and enjoy the views or read a book. When the weather is good, you'll see kids running and playing in the wide open spaces, parents with babies in strollers, and groups of friends enjoying the sun.

Tourists stroll along as they follow the Freedom Trail between Faneuil Hall and the North End sites..

Photographers try for the perfect shot. Recently, I've even spotted artists with easels capturing the views.

If you visit with children, this is a great place where they can run and play in the wide open spaces.  Despite the close-by streets, the plantings and elevation provide a surprising amount of separation from the traffic.

The biggest attraction for children, however, is the Carosel - new in 2009.  Located more or less between Christopher Columbus Park in the North End and the entrance to Quincy Market / Faneuil Hall Market Place, the Carosel is a huge hit with children and their parents.

You may want to walk along Hanover Street and pop into one of the nearby North End shops—perhaps buy a loaf of bread and some cheese and olives. 

Or better yet, cross over to Maria's Pastry on Cross Street (which borders the Greenway - you'll easily spot it) for cannolis and coffee to go. 

Then wander back to one of the benches and enjoy an impromptu picnic along with the views.

If you want, you can make a couple of small detours as you progress along the Greenway.

The granite monoliths and 6 glass towers of the moving Boston Holocaust Memorial rise just to the west (toward Downtown) of the Greenway between Hanover and North Streets.

To the east is Christopher Columbus Park, with its vine-covered arbors, the lovely Rose Kennedy Memorial Rose Garden, and popular children's playground.

If you're lucky enough to stop by when the roses are in bloom (usually June), take a few moments and stroll through this special place, one of Boston's loveliest small public gardens.  Sometimes you'll even see a small wedding party posing for photos with the roses as a backdrop.

Wharf District Park

Continue walking south along the Rose Kennedy Greenway past Christopher Columbus Park, and you will be in the Wharf District Park along Boston's Downtown Waterfront.

Plans for using this area as public performance space are still evolving. In the meantime, you'll see plenty of design motifs representing Boston's maritime history, rocky coastline, and even ships bringing immigrants.

Perhaps the most striking feature about this part of the Greenway isn't the Greenway itself, attractive as it is, but the access that it suddenly provides to the waterfront, Boston Harbor views, and the Boston Harborwalk along the water's edge.

After being cut off from the city for almost 50 years, suddenly Boston's Downtown Waterfront is part of the city again.

Forward-thinking property developers have already built or refurbished waterfront hotels and restaurants, and more eateries and Boston nightlife spots open all the time.

Dewey Square Area in the Rose Kennedy Greenway

Continuing south along the Greenway, you'll reach the Dewey Square area where the Greenway intersects with Summer Street. Initial plans for this area fell apart. Current plans include pavilions for performances and other entertainment. In the meantime, grass and other plantings provide a pleasant oasis in an urban landscape.

Continue past Dewey Square, South Station, and the huge Federal Reserve Building and you'll reach the southern anchor of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Chinatown Park.

Chinatown Park

As you reach the 3-4 small gardens making up the Boston Chinatown Park section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the straight path develops curves.

Continue strolling along the now-winding path, and you’ll forget that you’re in the middle of Boston. 

I must confess that this is my favorite part of the Greenway.

Tall ornamental grasses wave gently in the breeze, bamboo rustles.  If you visit in late May or early June, you can enjoy the blooms of peonies and rhododendrons, plants ubiquitous in both China’s and Boston’s landscapes. 

In contrast to all of this undulating green, large red steel frames evoke bamboo scaffolding seen everywhere in China while echoing both the linear designs of adjacent buildings as well as the still-distant Chinatown Gate at Essex Street. 

Other elements such as a structure echoing the shape of the sail on a Chinese boat symbolize the passage of the Chinese to Boston.

You'll pass plenty of benches where you can sit quietly and read a book.

Turn another corner as the path bends, and you’ll first hear and then see water—a waterfall running into a pool and then a stream. 

Ahead, the path widens into a plaza facing the Chinatown Gate.

If you have children with you, they'll immediately spot the red-fenced playground just to the south of the gate. 

While they play on the swings, you can watch an on-going checker or mahjong game nearby, or join one of the groups of tai’ chi enthusiasts.

Of course, Chinatown offers its own array of tasty treats—perhaps you’d like some bubble tea, or a steamed bao from one of the nearby bakeries. 

Or if you've walked the whole length of the Greenway, you may want to reward yourself with a delicious meal at one of Chinatown's many restaurants.

How to Explore the Rose Kennedy Greenway

What’s the best way to explore the new Greenway? 

If you’re anywhere near any part of it, simply go for a stroll.  Look at it from different directions and angles, from far away and up close. 

Even if you’ve never been to Boston before . . . and especially if you have been . . . squint your eyes and imagine in place of the Greenway an ugly, elevated multi-lane highway, assaulting you with noise and honking and the smells of car exhaust fumes . . . and now take that image and imagine it gone. 

Open your eyes again . . . and you’ll see that it really is gone.  It is a miracle, a big one.

Like so much of Boston, the Rose Kennedy Greenway is best enjoyed on foot. You can easily reach it by subway.

Although it's only a mile long, don’t expect to walk from one end to the other as quickly as you might normally walk a mile—you’ll linger in many areas and observe the blooming flowers, the views of the harbor and the city, the architecture of the buildings that used to be obscured by the highway, birds flitting through the newly-planted trees.

As this area evolves as time passes, you’ll want to explore and enjoy it again and again.

What's in the Future
For the Rose Kennedy Greenway?

Future plans include the possible construction of 2 museums, a YMCA, and a variety of public performance and gathering places.  Additional shops, restaurants, and other businesses are expected to appear along this prime urban real estate.

The City of Boston's Crossroads Project focuses on improving the walks and streets reknitting the North End and Waterfront with the rest of the city.

All of these plans sound fine, but they're icing on the cake.  The Greenway is special because it reunites major city neighborhoods - and it's a lovely and varied park.

Boston's Mayor Menino is also focused on keeping the Greenway bathed in as much sunlight as possible - not an easy feat in a city with tall buildings and eager developers.  Current plans include limiting heights of new buildings that might impact the Greenway.

Insider tips

Unless you want to walk the length of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, you'll probably find the North End Park and the Chinatown Park the most interesting areas to visit.

If the North End Park is your destination, you may also want to visit Faneuil Hall / Quincy Marketplace and the Boston Holocaust Memorial on the Downtown side of the Greenway.  On the other side, be sure to explore some of the North End.  You may even want to explore Freedom Trail sites such as Paul Revere's House and Old North Church.

South of the North End Park and just on the other side of Christopher Columbus Park, you'll find the very popular New England Aquarium.  You'll also see see several access points for Boston Harborwalk.

If you go to the Chinatown Park, of course Chinatown is also a great destination for farther explorations. Or you can walk through Chinatown on Essex Street to Boston Common.

Or, you can walk back up the Greenway to the Evelyn Moakley Footbridge (right before you get to the Wharf area), and walk across it to the Seaport District in the South Boston neighborhood.  Two terrific museums are nearby: the Boston Children's Museum at 300 Congress Street (you can't miss it - just look for the giant milk bottle) and Boston's newest museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art on Fan Pier.

Details and Directions to the Rose Kennedy Greenway

Open: At all times
Location: The northern edge of the Rose Kennedy Greenway is Old Sudbury Street. At this point, its eastern edge is Cross Street, which becomes Atlantic Ave. In some areas, Atlantic Ave becomes Surface Artery North. The western edge (starting at Cross Street) is Surface Road, which later becomes (in some spots) Surface Artery South. Confused? Welcome to Boston's road naming conventions! Fortunately, the Greenway is fairly wide in most places and easy to spot. It ends at the Chinatown Gate at Essex Street.
Closest T stations: Blue Line/Aquarium or Orange and Green Lines/Haymarket at the northern end, Red Line/South Station at the southern end
For more information: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, 617-292-0020

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