Lynn Shore Drive is an historic oceanfront

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled p ...

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

, United States. Composed of a two-lane road, parkland, a seaside pedestrian

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

, and a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation, ...

, Lynn Shore Drive runs for approximately along Lynn's Atlantic Ocean coastline, following the upland boundary of the adjoining

Lynn Shore Reservation Lynn Shore Reservation is a protected coastal reservation in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts. It includes of beaches and recreational areas. From north to south, King's Beach, Red Rock Park and Lynn Beach are located along Lynn Shore Drive and ...

, and connecting

Nahant Nahant () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,334 at the 2020 census, which makes it the smallest municipality by population in Essex County. With just of land area, it is also the smallest municipali ...

with

Swampscott Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts ...

. Known for its scenic views of the open

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Nahant Bay Nahant Bay is an Atlantic Ocean bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ...

, Egg Rock, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Skyline, Lynn Shore Drive is part of the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway and forms the southeasterly edge of the National Register Diamond Historic District. The Lynn Shore Drive seawall is a contributing resource to the National Register District--as are many of the historic homes lining the drive’s inland edge. An early example of a parkway, and distinctive by virtue of its oceanfront setting, Lynn Shore Drive opened to the public in 1907. Prior to the drive’s creation, Lynn’s oceanfront was held largely in private estates and was not accessible to the public. The effort to create Lynn Shore Drive was pioneered in part by George N. Nichols, a Lynn resident who, in 1874—at age 19—petitioned Lynn’s City Council to appropriate for public use the lands along the Diamond District’s oceanfront. Between 1895 and 1903, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Metropolitan District Commission acquired land parcels encompassing a substantial stretch of Lynn’s coastline, laying the groundwork for the construction of Lynn Shore Drive--and the contemporaneous creation of the adjoining Lynn Shore and Nahant Beach Reservations. Lynn Shore Drive is today managed by the Metropolitan District Commission's successor agency, the Massachusetts

Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. Th ...

References

{{Reflist Parkways in Massachusetts