Lynn Fells Parkway

Lynn Fells Parkway, Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

Lynn Fells Parkway near Warwick Rd, Melrose
Location Melrose, Saugus, and Stoneham, Massachusetts
MPS Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston MPS
NRHP Reference # 03000380
Added to NRHP May 9, 2003[1]

Lynn Fells Parkway is a parkway in Greater Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The road runs from the end of Fellsway East in Stoneham, eastward through Melrose, and ends in Saugus at US Route 1. The parkway serves as a connector between the Middlesex Fells Reservation and Breakheart Reservation.[2]

The parkway was proposed in 1897 as part of a wide-ranging series of interconnected parkways in the greater Boston area. The original proposal by the Olmsted Brothers landscape design firm was that the parkway would connect the Middlesex Fells to the Lynn Woods Reservation in Lynn, but the full proposal was never implemented. The first portion of the parkway, from the Stoneham-Melrose line to Main Street in Melrose, was built between 1906 and 1908, although a particularly difficult section, built on swampy land near Ell Pond Park, was not completed until 1911. Lack of funding stalled construction of additional sections until 1929, when construction to Route 1 was begun. Plans to continue the parkway to Lynn Woods only advanced as far as acquiring and grading a right of way from Route 1 to Walnut Street, part of which is now taken over by the figure-eight interchange between the two roads.[2]

The Melrose/Saugus portion of the parkway was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 9, 2003, listed along with other roadways of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.[1] Contributing elements to the National Register listing, in addition to the roadway, are the tree canopy that shades much of the road, and the 1930 girder bridge that carries the road across railroad tracks between Vinton and Tremont Streets in Melrose.[2]

Christmas Lights

The street is well known for their over the top Christmas displays in Saugus, MA. Several houses on the Lynn Fells Parkway have thousands of lights and yard decorations lighting up their homes. The street gets traffic jams during the Christmas season due to the amount of lights the big houses on the Lynn Fells Parkway in Saugus has. There is one house (#401), that is home to an Elvis Presley fan named Mike Conlon. His house has one of the best Christmas displays in greater Boston according to residents of that particular area. It has 100,000 lights, mostly blue and cool white lights since 2010. There are tons of snowmen, trees, a giant Santa, LED lights, a "Peace on Earth" sign complete with doves, Christmas toys, and so much more. His backyard is even decorated! A river (called the Saugus River), crosses through the front yard of his house and two other houses near Kelly's Roast Beef. Those houses are so intensely lit with Christmas lights that you can't even park on the Lynn Fells Parkway.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 "NRHP nomination for Lynn Fells Parkway". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
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