474 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
or less customary in parks, such as' a path for pony rid- 
ing, another for goat carriages, smoothly paved places 
for scups and swings and the like. Experience proves 
that sooner or later such things get into parks and the 
prudent designer will plan a suitable concentration of 
them in a place where they will do the general rural 
landscape of the park little or no harm, rather than 
leave them to be scattered here and there haphazard, 
and, often with no regard to the effect upon the general 
design or the need of reserving certain parts of the 
park for quiet enjoyment of the landscape. It was 
for this sort of protection of the park proper that The 
Parade was created as an adjunct to Prospect Park, 
Brooklyn, and Franklin Field as a supplement to 
Franklin Park. 
Another feature of the. plan was the assignment of 
a considerable area along the north or cityward margin 
of the park for use at some future time by a Zoological 
Society for a popular exhibit of living animals. It was, 
however, strongly urged that the collection include 
only hardy animals, or such as would require only 
occasional or slight protection. The occupation of part 
of the park by anything like the jumble of large but 
cheap and unlovely buildings of the usual Zoological 
Gardens, was, of course, repugnant to the designer of 
the park, yet experience indicated that it was more 
prudent to endeavor to guide and select what might 
otherwise be done badly, some day, in response to pop- 
ular demand. However, not even a start was made 
so the idea amounts to nothing more than the assign- 
ment of a site for some such thing. 
The introduction of golf playing is an unwise sacri- 
fice of the pleasure and comfort of many in the quiet 
enjoyment of the park. Not only are the attractive 
and harmless sheep driven out, but the gently rolling 
slopes, with the picturesque slight roughness incident 
to sheep pasturage, and so appropriately suggestive to 
the nerve wearied visitor of the peace and quiet of 
the real country, are replaced by the hard, artificially 
smooth surface made by constant clipping and rolling. 
But what is worse the nerves of the visitor are still 
further irritated by the anxiety as' to being hit by the 
hard and swiftly driven balls. It seems too bad that 
the few scores of people who may be playing golf at a 
certain time should be allowed to practically monopo- 
lize a hundred acres or perhaps two hundred acres of 
the most beautiful park pastures, excluding, or at any 
rate causing discomfort to the thousands of other vis- 
itors who may wish to stroll or play there at the same 
moment. 
Columbia. Road 
Following the connected chain of parks and park- 
ways the next link is Columbia Road. Owing to cer- 
tain exigencies of local politics and city finance, this 
avenue was constructed by the Street Department and 
subsequently its maintenance was put upon the Park ; 
Commission. The two roadways, although wide i 
enough for present traffic, and even for that of the ' 
near future, are certainly not wide enough to afford f 
any adequate expression of dignity or liberality. One 
of the roadways is reserved for pleasure traffic, while 
the other is open to commercial traffic. There is a 
grass’ strip between the two roadways wide enough 
for a double track electric railway and one row of 
trees. 
Dorcheste/tt>ay 
This connects Columbia Road at Edward Everett 
Square and extends to The Strandway, having been 
laid out by the Park Commission. It crosses the Old 
Colony Railroad by a simple but substantial bridge, 
and then turns abruptly towards South Boston. The 
original design was to have it extend by a long curve ; 
to the shore of Dorchester Bay, but the city having 
acquired the road-bed and right of way of the former 
location of the Old Colony Railroad in this locality, 
the less desirable route was followed as a matter of 
economy. 
Probably few of those engaged in determining upon 1 
a park at City Point, the east end of South Boston, j 
had the faintest conception of what was to result from. , 
the imagination of the landscape architect, for there I 
was practically nothing to guide the imagination. There j 
was a small fringe of upland outside Q street with j 
a few small boating establishments and wharves upon 
and attached to it. The rest was mud flats at low : 
water, and shallow water. The first thought was to ! 
have a shore drive and beach, the next to extend the 
drive across the shallow water to Castle Island ; then | 
to run out a point and a long promenade pier at the j 
other end. The beach between the two naturally took j 
on in the mind of the designer a convex curve, hence ! 
followed the idea of Pleasure Bay. Dredging the bay | 
to supply material for filling; adding a great bathing j 
establishment and refreshment pavilion for the popu- 
lace, brought the design nearly to completion. But 
there were many difficulties and a vast expense in- 
volved. The plan is not yet entirely executed even 
with the expenditure of a million dollars, but the plan 
was cordially approved and the city has’ an original 
and magnificent recreation place which is immensely 
patronized on warm, pleasant holidays by the populace, 
but not much visited by the well-to-do of the other 
districts of the city. It is a worthy terminal for one 
of the most varied and picturesque continuous park 
systems of the country. 
Time is lacking for describing other parks and play- 
grounds belonging to the city. As . a concluding state- 
ment, the city has paid out for parks up to a year and 
a half ago just about $18,000,000 and is satisfied she 
got her money’s worth. 
