Middlesex Fells Reservation Parkways

Ten road segments around and through the Middlesex Fells Reservation make up this parkway district, spanning Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham and Winchester. They include East Border Road, Fellsway East, Fellsway West, Hillcrest Parkway, South Street, Pond Street, South Border Road, Ravine Road, and Woodland Road with Elm Street. Landscape architect Charles Eliot proposed border roads in the 1890s to mark reservation edges and keep neighboring development from harming the park. Building began in 1896, and several routes followed older roads that were improved or realigned. Fellsway West and Fellsway East were extended or rebuilt in the early 1930s. Most roads are simple two-lane paved routes about 24 to 30 feet wide, with granite curbing, small miters, and in places medians and rotaries. Woodrow Road, as the busiest road, has landscaped medians. Wooded slopes, rock outcrops, and views of Spot Pond and other water bodies define the setting. Interstate 93 in the 1960s cut off North Border Road and altered the northern Fellsway West, which are left out.