new walking tour of so end parks

By Carol Stocker
The New England Landscape Design and History Association (NELDHA) announces the launch of the Self-Guided Walking Tour of parks, gardens and green spaces in Boston. The first of three tours - the South End - is now on the NELDHA website. The Back Bay tour is in the production stage, with the Prudential Center Gardens/Christian Science Plaza to follow.

The South End tour takes the visitor to a neighborhood of historic residential and institutional properties. The tour includes a sampling of the historic garden squares for which the South End is well known, along with newer parks, gardens and green spaces. Four of the parks have “Friends” organizations, which contribute to park maintenance, sponsor seasonal events and thereby add to neighborhood vitality. The tour route is a circuit beginning and ending at the Back Bay MBTA Station on Dartmouth St. and takes the visitor to 11 South End sites.

The South End Tour is free and may be downloaded from the NELDHA website at www.neldha.org/walking-tours. The South End webpage offers two tour versions. The brochure version offers the visitor a compact overview of the area. The detailed version includes more information about each site with links to neighborhood organizations and includes plant lists for 4 of the 11 sites. Maps accompany both tour versions.

The New England Landscape Design and History Association is an independent non-profit membership organization. NELDHA’s mission is to further the education of landscape designers, historians, preservationists and conservationists, to promote their professions, and to communicate to the public NELDHA’s commitment to landscape design, history, conservation, preservation, and stewardship of the land. Go to www.neldha.org for more information.