View source for Jamaicaway

{{short description|Parkway in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Attached KML|display=title}}
{{Infobox street
| name                    = Jamaicaway
| marker_image            = 
| native_name             = 
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| alternate_name          = 
| image                   = Jamaicaway south from Burroughs Street, July 2011.jpg
| image_size              = 
| image_alt               = A suburban parkway
| image_map               = 
| caption                 = The Jamaicaway in 2011
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| other_name              = 
| former_names            = 
| part_of                 = 
| namesake                = 
| type                    = 
| owner                   = 
| maint                   = [[Department of Conservation and Recreation (Massachusetts)|Department of Conservation and Recreation]]
| length_mi               = 1.5
| length_ref              = <ref name=googlemaps>{{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.3131788,-71.1215001/42.3319046,-71.1129137/@42.312782,-71.1208231,17.58z/am=t/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-71.11973!2d42.3137519!3s0x89e3796d3c379eb5:0x2216e6f3a4c4ae39!1m0!3e0 |access-date=May 25, 2019}}</ref>
| length_notes            = 
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| area                    = 
| addresses               = 
| location                = [[Emerald Necklace]], [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]
| postal_code             = 
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| coordinates             = 
| direction_a             = South
| terminus_a              = [[Arborway]] in [[Jamaica Plain]]
| direction_b             = North
| terminus_b              = {{jct|state=MA|MA|9|road|[[Riverway]]}} in [[Mission Hill, Boston|Mission Hill]]
| junction                = 
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| designer                = [[Frederick Law Olmsted]]
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| website                 = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}
The '''Jamaicaway''' (sometimes colloquially referred to as the "'''J'way'''") is a four-lane, undivided [[parkway]] in the [[Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts|Jamaica Plain]] neighborhood of [[Boston, Massachusetts]], adjacent to the nearby neighborhood of [[Brookline, Massachusetts|Brookline]].

==History==
[[File:Jamaicaway Bridge from the southwest, September 2022.JPG|thumb|left|Bridge over [[Massachusetts Route 9]] completed in 1936]]
The Jamaicaway was designed by [[Frederick Law Olmsted]] as part of [[Emerald Necklace]] of green spaces extending from [[Boston Common]] on [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] to [[Franklin Park, Boston|Franklin Park]] in [[Roxbury, Massachusetts|Roxbury]]. It connects [[Riverway]] in the north with [[Arborway]] in the south.

Designed with [[carriage]]s in mind during an era when Jamaica Plain was a sparsely inhabited [[streetcar suburb]], the Jamaicaway is now a heavily-traveled route for [[motor vehicle]]s connecting central areas of Boston (especially the [[Longwood Medical and Academic Area]]) with areas to the southwest, including [[Forest Hills, Boston|Forest Hills]], [[West Roxbury, Massachusetts|West Roxbury]] and the densely populated suburbs of [[Norfolk County, Massachusetts|Norfolk County]]. The winding nature and narrow lanes of the road, and its heavy use by commuters leads to many vehicle collisions.

Many of the houses which line the Jamaicaway are large and of architectural interest. The oldest houses were created by [[Boston Brahmin|elite Bostonians]] for year-round or seasonal use. The person most mentioned in association with the Jamaicaway today is probably [[James Michael Curley]], the [[Irish American]] [[List of mayors of Boston, Massachusetts|Mayor of Boston]] whose former house was long easy to spot, even after Curley's death, by the [[shamrock]] design incised in its shutters.<ref>O'Connor, Thomas H. Bibles, ''Brahmins, and Bosses: A Short History of Boston.'' Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston, 1984.</ref>
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==Major intersections==
The entire route is in [[Boston]], [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]].{{jcttop|nocty=yes|length_ref=<ref name=googlemaps/>}}
{{Jctint
|location_special=[[Jamaica Plain]]
|mile=0.0
|road= Pond Street / Francis Parkman Drive / [[Arborway]] south – [[Dedham, Massachusetts|Dedham]], [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]]
|notes=Traffic circle; northern terminus of Arborway
}}
{{Jctint
|location_special=[[Mission Hill, Boston|Mission Hill]]
|mile=1.5
|road={{jct|state=MA|MA|9|location1=[[Copley Square]]|city2=Brookline|road|[[Riverway]] north}}
|notes=Interchange; southern terminus of Riverway
}}
{{jctbtm}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1988-48-3-restoring-boston-s-emerald-isles.pdf Restoring Boston’s "Emerald Isles"]
*[https://www.nps.gov/frla/index.htm Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site]
*[http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/ The Emerald Necklace Conservancy]
*[https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/19/killed-early-morning-jamaicaway-crash/Qlhs8ULkVJDrYRcklZoX3L/story.html "2 Killed in Early Morning Jamaicaway Crash" - October 19, 2014 - Boston Globe]

{{Emerald Necklace|state=uncollapsed}}
{{Streets and squares in Boston}}
{{Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston}}

[[Category:Jamaica Plain, Boston]]
[[Category:Emerald Necklace]]
[[Category:Parkways in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Streets in Boston]]