Furnace Brook Parkway

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Furnace Brook Parkway is a historic 3.4-mile parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. It connects the Blue Hills Reservation with the Quincy Shore Reservation at Quincy Bay, and it follows the courses of Furnace Brook and Blacks Creek across central Quincy, ending at Quincy Shore Drive in the Merrymount neighborhood. The parkway is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston and is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). It was built between 1904 and 1916 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Designed in the early 20th century with influence from landscape planners Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers, Furnace Brook Parkway was conceived to link park areas near Boston. Construction began in 1904, with major features including a granite-faced bridge over the Granite Branch railroad (completed 1906) and a stone-and-concrete bridge over Blacks Creek (completed 1916). The parkway opened to traffic on November 18, 1916, and was originally posted at 20 mph; today the limit is 30 mph. Advertising signs have long been prohibited along the road.

Along its route, the parkway passes several historic sites, including the Adams National Historical Park (Old House and Adams Homestead) and the Dorothy Quincy Homestead. It also runs past Merrymount Park and near the Adams family properties and the Adams National Historic Landmarks. The road intersects with Interstate 93 at a rotary, crosses MBTA lines near Newport Avenue, and runs through residential areas, a commercial district, and near a golf course on the north side. Its western end begins near the Blue Hills Reservation, and its eastern end terminates at Quincy Shore Drive.

Notable historical and planning notes include its preservation as part of the Metropolitan Park System, limited advertising, and a 1997 adjustment to the southbound exit from I-93 to accommodate Big Dig traffic. Dirt from that project was used to fill former granite quarries northeast of the parkway, helping to create Granite Links at Quarry Hills north of the parkway. The entire route lies within Quincy, Norfolk County.