South of Boston Discovery Area

South of Boston Discovery Area. . , Boston's park system was created by the Metropolitan Parks Commission in 1893, and represents the crowning accomplishment of landscape architect Charles Eliot and journalist Sylvester Baxter. After the Commission's first two years almost seven thousand acres of reservations, parkways and waterfront lands encircled the city. The reservations, parks and parkways of the Metropolitan Parks Commission are recognized as the first regional park system in the United States., At an early stage Charles Eliot was a proponent of protecting the Quincy Shore because of the dynamic views across the islands of Boston Bay to the city beyond and the long stretch of beachfront. Quincy Shore Drive construction began in 1903, and was completed in 1929 as the culmination of connecting the Blue Hills Reservation with Wollaston Beach via Furnace Brook Parkway. It was meant to provide access to the shore and define the boundary of the reservation., Other parks easily accessible from south of Boston range in size from the Blue Hills Reservation, with more than 7,000 acres, to the 7-acre Abigail Adams Park. They include Brook Farm, Cutler Park, Hancock Woods, Wilson Mountain, Hammond Pond, Lost Pond, Hemlock Gorge, Southwest Corridor Park, Fowl Meadow, Stony Brook Reservation, Neponset River Reservation, Pope John Paul II Park, Carson Beach, Victory Road Park, Tenean Beach, Nantasket Beach Reservation, Fort Revere, and the Boston Harbor Islands.