Merrymount Park Master Plan Implementation Continues

Merrymount Park Master Plan Implementation Continues

QUINCY, MA – August 2, 2021 Mayor Thomas Koch announced that work is continuing on improvements to Merrymount Park with the installation of a decorative wrought-iron fence at Adams Walk in Upper Merrymount Park. The handsome wrought-iron fence was crafted by WovenSteel in East Boston and will match the design of the original entry gate installed more than two decades ago. The original Adams Walk concept was designed by Herbert Kellaway in 1937. Kellaway was an Associate in the landscape architecture firm started by Frederick Law Olmsted. The City updated Kellaway’s Master Plan for Merrymount Park in 1997 and again in 2014. Long-considered the “Father of Landscape Architecture” Olmsted corresponded regularly about the park with his dear friend Charles Francis Adams II, who bequeathed Merrymount Park to Quincy. Olmsted himself could not develop a plan for the park but his Associates Charles Elliot and Kellaway contributed to designs for the park and surrounding areas. Coming later in 2021, is the improvement of Merrymount Parkway (Rt. 3A) which bisects the park. Plans are in place to improve the roadway and sidewalks. Historic lighting and a landscaped traffic island will be added to provide a parkway-feel to this busy roadway. The first phase of utility burial has taken place and will commence with the roadway improvement phase. Also in the design and permitting phase is the replacement of the Rt. 3A bridge across Black’s Creek. The bridge has been deemed in need of replacement by the Commonwealth. The bridge project is tentatively scheduled for 2022. “We are blessed to have such a beautiful and historic centerpiece to our city,” said Mayor Koch. “Merrymount Park contains incredible vistas, ecological diversity, interesting history, and some of the best recreational facilities in Massachusetts. We continue to honor the history of the park and our city through the implementation of the visions of some of the greatest landscape architects in history. A park like this adds tremendously to our quality of life.