Charlesgate Alliance

The Charlesgate Alliance, established in 2017, is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to serving and improving Charlesgate Park and its surrounding neighborhoods in the Back Bay, Kenmore, and Fenway. We are working with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Esplanade Association, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), and with the support of area residents, neighborhood and other groups. We have a particularly close relationship with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, who works with us on what is now known as the Charlesgate Revitalization Project.

Charlesgate Park, defined by Charlesgate East and West, Storrow Drive, and the Massachusetts Turnpike, was once known as the Beacon Street Entrance to the Back Bay Fens, the starting point of the design for Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace park system. Its function as an entrance to the parks and as a connector between neighborhoods was severely impacted by the construction of the Bowker Overpass in 1965. MassDOT is now working to improve the Bowker Overpass experience, inspired largely by the work of the Alliance. See the presentations for the October 26, 2023 25% public hearing here and the July 11, 2024 75% public hearing here. For a detailed history of the area, click here.

Groundbreaking Event

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) had a groundbreaking event for the Boston Bowker Overpass Bridge Superstructure Replacement and Widening Project on October 8th. Opening the ceremony was Carrie Lavallee, Chief Engineer for MassDOT. Lavallee noted that one benefit of the project would be the daylighting of the Muddy River when the offramp from the Bowker to Commonwealth Avenue is eliminated at the end of the project. Lavallee was followed by MassDOT Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt. Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan then spoke about the importance of the project.

Pam Beale and Parker James, co-founders and board members of the Charlesgate Alliance, Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and Alison Badrigian, director of projects and planning for the Esplanade Association, were invited to take a shovel for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

Project Place Helps Us Clean the Park!

The Charlesgate Alliance employs the non-profit social service organization Project Place to help keep the Charlesgate area clean spring through fall. We also pay for a cleaning program during the winter months. Thanks to board member Maddy Segal for overseeing Project Place.

Here is a July 2022 piece on Chronicle about the project, featuring our architects, Dan and Marie Law Adams of Landing Studio and Parker James, co-founder of the Charlesgate Allliance.

Wow! The Wall is Gone!
The vision for the park created by the Landing Studio with your help is finally beginning to happen. The wall removal was funded by a matching grant between the DCR and the Charlesgate Alliance with additional support from the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. This could not have happened without the many dedicated, generous, and patient individual donors to the Charlesgate Alliance.

The City of Boston made a video with one of our co-founders, Pam Beale, as a result of the Alliance being awarded CPA money in 2019. Parker James is the other co-founder.

While the Alliance works with its partners on big plans to improve the park, we have also made some significant interventions to improve the park’s appeal today. Starting in the Summer of 2018, we introduced red plastic Adirondack chairs as a seasonal way to get people to think of the area as a park again, not just as a pass-through. Since the Summer of 2019, we have employed the non-profit social service organization Project Place to clean the park and tend to the Charlesgate chairs. In June 2022 we planted 15 new trees in The Grove section of the park, the first new trees in many years. In April 2024 we planted 5 trees to replace ones that did not survive the initial first planting and long hot summer. In April 2026 we planted 14 new trees. The areas for new trees are specifically chosen to avoid construction areas that MassDOT may need for Bowker Overpass improvements. Huge thanks to our many generous donors who have made these tree plantings possible. Also, thanks to board member Margaret Pokorny, who oversees the tree plantings and tree care.

Landing Studio Designs

Landing Studio is the architectural firm hired by Charlesgate Alliance and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy in conjunction with DCR to develop concept designs for enhancements to Charlesgate Park. Initial funding for the Alliance and the Conservancy to hire Landing Studio came from community residents and a matching grant from the Solomon Foundation. Public meetings began in 2017. Subsequent funding has included contributions from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston’s Community Preservation Act.

You can view presentations from our past meetings as downloadable PDFs.

The illustration below is a proposed design idea for what Landing Studio calls the Bowl and Bridge area of Charlesgate. For more background information, please see the PDF of Landing Studio’s presentation at the April 9th Talk about DCR Charlesgate meeting.

There is an area of Charlesgate that we think would be great for a dog park.

The Muddy River-to-land connection could be improved.

Areas under the Bowker Overpass could be used for activities and take advantage of the ceiling that it provides.

This part adjacent to the Bowker Overpass by Newbury Street could have a pedestrian and bicycle bridge to alleviate the isolation in “The Circles” area of the current park.