FREEWALKERS BOSTON WALKING TOUR Revere Beach, Revere to Copley Square, Boston (approx. 12 miles) July 22, 2017, 8:30 AM OVERVIEW This walk begins at the northern end of the MBTA Blue Line at Wonderland Station in the City of Revere. It passes through beaches, a marsh, a new greenway, and a section of the Boston neighborhood of East Boston; includes a subway ride below Boston Harbor; continues along the Boston Harborwalk warves; crosses over the Charles River Locks; continues through the new Paul Revere and North Point Parks, in Charlestown and Cambridge, respectively; crosses the Charles River on the old dam; continues along the Charles River Esplanade; and ends at the Boston Marathon finish line in Copley Square. 12 13 miles. 1
STAGE 1 < 3 miles Three-mile long Revere Beach is American s first public beach, completed in 1896. This is the location of the annual International Sand Sculpting Festival. Fifteen artists from 6 nations will be completing work, begun on Wednesday, for a July 22, 2 pm judging. http://reverebeachpartnership.com/sand-sculpting-festival/ 1. Meet at the upper plaza of the Wonderland Blue Line T Station, one flight up from the subway tracks.http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps /subway/lines/stations/?stopid=15415&lat=42.41 3963&lng=-70.990986 2. Facing the ocean, cross the walking bridge and continue to the sidewalk running along the beach at Revere Beach Boulevard. Turn right and begin the walk. 3. At the end of the beach, follow the traffic circle around (to 2 o clock) and continue onto the middle road, which will become State Rd. (Note that signage is very scarce here. Do not follow Dolphin or Atlantic on your left, nor go up the ramp, which veers off to the right.) Continue on State Rd. as it becomes Bennington Street by the Beachmont T Station (ethnic food shops and an Italian bakery on your left). You will pass a school on your left on your way to Belle Isle Marsh Reservation in East Boston. 4. Turn left to enter the reservation and follow the path around to the right until it reaches a boardwalk observation area, and have a look. Return to the path, and follow it around to the right (counter clockwise), possibly stopping at the observation tower on your way back to the entrance. Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, now a nature preserve in the shadow of Logan Airport, is the last of Boston s salt marshes. Its protected waters are nurseries to fish and shellfish, and habitat to many salt marsh plants and wildlife rare to the metropolitan area. East Boston is a neighborhood of the City of Boston, home to about 40,000 residents as well as Logan Airport. Originally 5 islands combined through landfill, in the 19 th century East Boston was known for its ship-building industry, (note the memorials to ship builder Donald McKay), and later, as an immigration intake center. It has long provided modest housing for the latest immigrant arrivals, from Canadians to the Irish (first home of the Kennedy family) to Russian Jews to, in recent years, Italian, and now Latin American immigrants. Accessed from Boston proper through vehicular and subway tunnels, East Boston recently has been discovered by both college students and upscale developers, placing new pressures on a neighborhood that has long contended with airport noise and expansions. The neighborhood has benefited from recent investments by the City, MBTA and Massport -- including upgraded T stations, Boston s newest branch library, the East Boston Greenway, and the Bremen St. and Piers parks, all of which we will visit. For history: https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/east_boston_brochure_tcm3-19117.pdf 2
STAGE 2: approx. 1 mile 1. Exit reservation and turn left on Bennington St. You will soon pass the Suffolk Downs T Station on your right. Continue to follow Bennington St. as it curves, staying to the right of the New England Casket Company. 2. Soon after passing the Orient Heights T Station on your left, cross and take a left on Saratoga St. Take the first right onto Bayswater St. and another immediate right onto Barnes Ave. to arrive at Constitution Beach. Constitution Beach is a ¼ mile manmade beach, completed in 1952 on a protected inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. 3. Follow the path in the park around to the left, continuing along the beach. Turn right at the passage between the playground and the blue roofed beach pavilions, (BATHROOMS IN MIDDLE BUILDING), and cross the service road to pick up the East Boston Greenway Connector. STAGE 3: >3 miles Started in the late 1990 s with the collaboration of many landowners and funders, the East Boston Greenway transformed an abandoned Conrail right-ofways that had become dumping grounds, as well as land reclaimed following the Big Dig, to a linear path/park system that incorporates several Blue Line stations. Portions opened in 2007, and extensions were completed by 2016. 1. After the connector passes the Wood Island T Station, follow it to the right, cross Frankfort St. and take a left across Lowell St. Continue on the connector as it passes through a gate at the right, picking up the East Boston Greenway. 3
2. Turn right to check out Boston s newest branch library; enjoy its air conditioning, bathrooms and water fountains. 3. Continue down the Bremen St. Park from the library door in the direction of the Boston skyline. You will pass the Airport T Station on your left. 4. As the park ends, bear left to rejoin the East Boston Greenway. 5. When you come to the new residential construction, take a left onto Marginal St. into the Jeffries Point neighborhood. (You are not far from the Maverick T Station.) 6. Turn right to enter Piers Park. Continue to the water s edge, take a left and then a right to walk out onto the pier for the best views of Boston Harbor, from South Boston almost to Charlestown. Enjoy the sculpted markers. Piers Park, located in the Jeffries Point neighborhood of East Boston, provides the best view of the Boston skyline. The park was built by Massport in 1995, and incorporates historic seawalls dating from 1870. 7. Return to Marginal St. on the opposite side of the park, and turn right to enter the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina. Continue through until you see the first of several potential refreshment and/or lunch spots: Downeast Cider Brewery (building 32 http://downeastcider.com) KO Pies (http://www.kocateringandpies.com/location/east-boston) The Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina includes a funky mix of mostly maritime industries and uses and art. It is the future home of the Watershed, a satellite museum to be developed in a dilapidated industrial space by the Institute of Contemporary Art, and open to the public free of charge beginning in 2018. 8. Continue through and out of the shipyard, take your first left on Jeffries St. and then a left on Sumner St. Stay right at the fork. You will pass the historic Brophy Park on your left, as well as Pakistani and Indian restaurant, Italian pizza, and Salvadoran and Italian bakeries. As part of Eastie Week, on July 22, between 10 and 2 pm, there will be a Garlic Festival at the tiny Eastie Farm at 294 Sumner St. 9. Continue into Maverick Square, which surrounds the T station to find a variety of Mexican, Salvadoran, Italian, sandwich, and other food choices. 10. Take the Blue Line in the direction of Bowdoin, crossing below Boston Harbor. Get off at the first stop Aquarium T Station. For those without T passes, a single ticket can be purchased at a machine for $2.75 with cash or credit. 4
STAGE 4: approx. 2 miles 1. Exit Aquarium T Station and walk towards the water. Take the path that passes around to the left of the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel. (PUBLIC BATHROOM ARE LOCATED AT THIS HOTEL ENTRY.) 2. Follow the walkway around to your right, with the water on your right and Christopher Columbus Park on your left. You are on the Boston Harborwalk. 3. After you pass the park, you will be briefly on Atlantic Ave., which soon becomes Commercial St. 4. At Battery Wharf St., take a few minutes (1/3 of a mile) to visit this historic -- though rebuilt -- wharf. Take the entry to Battery Wharf to the right of Café Amalfi. Follow the walkway around the double wharf towards the left, returning to the same point in front of Battery Wharf Hotel. 5. Turn right and continue in the same direction as before on Commercial St. Walk past the park on your right until you arrive at the entrance between two ball fields. (Look for the sign that commemorates the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.) 6. Turn right towards the water, and then left when you meet the Harborwalk at the water s edge. You will pass under the old Washington Street Bridge that leads to Charlestown. 7. When you reach the end and are facing the TD Garden (home to the Boston Celtics and Bruins) across a fence, take a right into and through the small parking area. (You are now accessible to North Station, served by Green and Orange MBTA Lines.) You will pass in front of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge and onto a path over the Charles River Locks. Continue into Paul Revere Park, in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. The Charles River Dam, also known as The Gridley Dam, was completed in 1978 to replace the 1912 Charles River Dam Bridge where the Science Museum is now located and which now permanently keeps one lock open. With three locks, the new dam prevents sea water from entering the Charles River freshwater basin during high tides, while controlling the surface level of the Charles River basin, as well as its Back Bay Fens and Muddy River tributaries. At the end of the dam's walkway you will see the "Charlestown Bells", an interactive art installation by Paul Matisse. 5
STAGE 5: approx. 3 miles 6. Take a right after the State Police building along Storrow Drive, and then the first right into the park. 7. You will very soon be facing a brick building. Go right, through the parking lot, and pick up the path that hugs the river. 8. At the Hatch Shell concert stage, take a right across the boat basin to continue at the edge of the Charles River Basin. Across the river on your right, in the City of Cambridge, you will see MIT ahead of you; Harvard is around the bend. 9. When the path ends, take a left and continue onto the Fairfield Street Footbridge over Storrow Drive into the Back Bay. This is one of many areas we are walking that was created by landfill. 10. Continue on Fairfield St. and take a left on Commonwealth Ave. Walk through the middle of the Commonwealth Mall for two blocks. 11. Turn right at Dartmouth St. and walk two blocks to Copley Square on Boylston St. 12. Cross Boylston St. and turn right. Just between the old and new wings of the Boston Public Library (on your left), you will see the blue and yellow finish line of the Boston Marathon on the street surface. Congratulations! 13. Continue 1/2 block to the Solas Irish Pub at 710 Boylston St. Look for fellow walkers on the second floor. 6