Furnace Brook Parkway - History

History

The parkway takes its name from the course of the stream it follows, Furnace Brook, which begins on the eastern slopes of the Blue Hills and meanders for about four miles from southwest to northeast through the middle of Quincy, ending where it meets the Atlantic estuary known as Blacks Creek near Quincy Bay. The brook was named in the seventeenth century for its proximity to the Winthrop Iron Furnace, also known as Braintree Furnace, the first iron blast furnace established in what would become the United States. The furnace and forge operation was started in 1644 by John Winthrop the Younger in the North Precinct of Braintree, which became the separate town of Quincy in 1792.

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