Connecting Communities Along the Neponset River
Uniting the communities of Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Milton, the Neponset River Greenway Trail is a 9-mile-long, paved, multi-use path that connects a series of parks along the River. It’s a great way to walk, bike, and enjoy the outdoors in an otherwise urban area.
One Trail, Shared by All
The Neponset Greenway Trail began taking shape in the early 1990s through community advocacy and careful planning to transform former industrial land along the Neponset River into a vibrant public space.
Highlights include Pope John Paul II Park, the Harvest River Bridge, boardwalks near Mattapan Square, and waterfront views at Tenean Beach and Port Norfolk.
Parks and reservations along the Neponset Greenway Trail include:
- Victory Road Park
- Tenean Beach
- Senator Joseph Finnegan Park
- Pope John Paul II Park
- Neponset II Park
- Ryan Playground
- Neponset Esplanade Park
- Martini Memorial Shell Park
- Various parcels of marshland, meadow, hills, and more
The Neponset River Greenway Trail Northern Extension completes the connection from Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester (Savin Hill) to Paul’s Bridge at the Hyde Park–Milton border.
This new “northern” segment spans approximately three-quarters of a mile along Route 93, linking Tenean Beach with Morrissey Boulevard and passing landmarks like Boston Bowl, Victory Park, and the rainbow gas tank.
Features include benches, newly planted trees, and a scenic boardwalk overlooking the Neponset Estuary.
Only a few more key greenway extensions are needed to reach the goal that many advocates have shared for decades: the Neponset Greenway connecting from Castle Island to the Blue Hills Reservation.
GREENWAY HISTORY: It has been a long, winding road
Written by Bill Forry, Executive Editor, Dorchester Reporter, July 9, 2025
Decades of advocacy, land-takings, policy-making and tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have created the 8.2-mile Neponset Greenway as we know it today. Here’s a brief look back at key milestones.
1991
The Neponset River Greenway Council is formed by the non-profit group Boston Natural Areas Network to advocate for the creation of a greenway system along the river in Boston and Milton, much of routed along a former commercial rail right-of-way that ran parallel to the Mattapan hi-speed trolley and was fenced off for decades.
May 1, 2001
The 72-acre Pope John Paul II Park opens in Neponset. The park (shown above under construction) is built on the site of a former landfill and drive-in movie theater and includes a 1.5 mile looped trail which constitutes the first usable section of the Greenway. Construction on other elements of “phase one” of the Greenway begins in September 2001.
January 2002
A 3.5-mile segment of the Greenway along the former railway opens to the public between Port Norfolk and Central Avenue in Milton. A key element for safety, a signalized pedestrian crossing at Granite Avenue, opened in 2006.
2008
Gov. Deval Patrick announced that a new section of Greenway trail will be created between Mattapan Square and Paul’s Bridge, dubbing it the “Neponset River Esplanade. This segment opens for public use in 2012.
View photos of the Neponset Greenway construction, 2015
May 2017
A 15-acre waterfront park opens in Port Norfolk on what was— for decades— an abandoned paper mill site. The park, named for the late state Sen. Joseph Finnegan and his family, includes a 0.5-mile segment of the Greenway with a route to nearby Pope Park.
June 2017
After several years of planning and some pushback from neighbors in Milton, a new 1.5-mile “missing link” of the Greenway opens to the public. The section includes the Harvest River Bridge that allows passage over the river between Milton and Mattapan’s Ryan Playground. It also includes a boardwalk that spans the river and trolley tracks near Mattapan Square. More on the construction efforts here.
Greenway Trail Gets National Recognition, 2019
July 2025
The latest section of the Greenway, a .07-mile connection between Tenean Beach and Morrissey Boulevard, opened to the public on July 3.
Read article: “A look back at the Greenway Trail’s history” by Bill Forry, Executive Editor of the Dorchester Reporter.
–BILL FORRY
While the Neponset River Greenway is fantastic for recreation, it can be challenging to navigate without clear directions to parks, train stops, or major intersections.
Advocacy for the installation of wayfinding signage along the trail has been ongoing for several years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, NepRWA and the Neponset River Greenway Council collaborated with MassDCR to install phase one of wayfinding signs along the Greenway, providing directions. In 2025, NepRWA installed new Greenway trail maps in multiple DCR kiosks along the Greenway.
Our goal is to continue working with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (MassDCR) to add more wayfinding and educational signs about the Neponset River, its ecosystems, and its history.
Through our partnership with the Neponset River Greenway Council and MassDCR, we’re able to make improvements and expand public access to the Trail.
Neponset Greenway Mural Projects, 2024/ 2025
In 2024, a new mural was added to Pope John Paul II Park in Dorchester—the first new mural along the Neponset River Greenway in more than a decade.
The 20-foot-wide by 8-foot-tall mural is located opposite an older mural painted by the Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) Youth Conservation Corps in 2008.
Visitors using the multi-modal Neponset River Greenway can see the mural on the right-hand side of the tunnel beneath I-93, as the trail winds southwest from the playground past soccer fields and out of the park. Read more…
Building on that project, NepRWA and the Greenway Council turned their attention to preserving existing public art along the Trail.
In 2025, they worked with Dorchester-based artist Vincent Crotty, the Milton-based Blue Hills Bohemians, and Greenway Council volunteers to restore a mural located on the Greenway Trail next to the Mattapan Trolley bridge at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Originally painted in 2006 by BNAN, the mural shows a river scene of several waterbirds, fish, beavers, and woodland animals found along the Neponset. It even shows the Baker Chocolate Factory in the distance.
The project sparked interest in continuing to preserve the Greenway’s other murals and exploring opportunities for new public art along the Trail. These projects help make the Neponset River Greenway a more vibrant and engaging place to walk, bike, and roll.
Get a link to the Greenway mural on Google Maps.
For more information on Vincent’s work, check out his website at vincentcrotty.com
If you have any questions about the trail or mural projects, reach out to NepRWA Greenways Program Director, Andres Ripley, at ripley@neponset.org.
Harvest River Bridge, 2017
Considered to be one of the many gems of the Neponset Watershed, the Greenway section between Mattapan Square and Central Ave is used by thousands of people on a weekly basis.
As the newest section of the Greenway that was completed in 2017, it connects Mattapan and Milton via the beautiful Harvest River Bridge. This section has made the local community increasingly aware of the Neponset River, and has connected people from diverse backgrounds with a common interest in getting outside in their own neighborhoods.
On June 30, 2016, the “Harvest River Bridge,” designed to join the Mattapan portion of the Neponset Greenway to the Milton side, was installed over the Neponset River. This is the second of two bridges recently added to the Greenway, the first being the canopy walk bridge over the Mattapan trolley.
The bridge marks a major milestone in the Neponset River Greenway Trail, which will soon provide a recreational continuous corridor from Fowl Meadow to Boston, and allow the public to enjoy the Neponset as never before.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE HARVEST RIVER BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION.
