Scenic Reservation

Varying in size from small municipal sites to large suburban parks of several thousand acres, scenic reservations are wilder and less manipulated than urban parks. These lands are set aside to celebrate and protect natural scenic beauty of a region. Often municipal reservations protect a particular landscape feature, while larger reservations preserve an expansive natural landscape with multiple features. Constructed elements in reservations are kept minimal, usually to necessary user amenities such as trails or unpaved roads. Popular activities in these parks are hiking, camping, fishing, swimming, and boating. Rustic building designs and natural plantings are typical. The Metropolitan Park system around Boston conceived of by Charles Eliot in the early 1890s was the prototype of linked systems of such natural areas or reservations set aside for public use.