Sunday Driver: Quinobequin Circuit

The newly dubbed, "Quinobequin Circuit"

Happy Father's Day weekend to all the dads out there! Now, Boston is known for many things. One of its well known and highly regarded attributes is its public parks. These public parks are attached to beautiful parkways. The first parkways in the US were developed by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Beatrix Farrand. Olmsted should be a very familiar name if you are frequenting parks in the Boston or many other public spaces in the United States. Parkways essentially exist because of pleasure travel and the green-spaces they were linked to. Over time, these parkways gave way to the automobile, development, population density and have become heavily traveled commuter arteries that have lost their purpose. I will try and reclaim history in a small way.

I am currently glued to multiple windows and streams watching The LeMans 24 Hours, and looking forward to "insomniacs coverage" in a few hours. I was not going to be out on my usual drive on Father's Day so I thought I would offer up some city "Sunday driving" on a Saturday and pay some homage to the French classic.

The question was: where to go that will have minimal stops and lovely views? Well, why not these very parkways. Therefore, I strapped up, put the ST in sport mode, and did a few laps of the following route, I dub the "Quinobequin Circuit". Some say this name is not historically correct, but all I know is that I am going to use it. The Quinobequin is stitched together public road across three cities. Those watching cars hurdling through the French countryside right now get the idea.

This 13.9 mile loop of the Charles River Basin running through Boston, Watertown and Cambridge strings together several parkways and a defunct racetrack to make a scenic and relaxing ride with some interesting tidbits but with some caveats.

One, as mentioned I had to cheat and drive on Saturday; two, don't do it on a weekday as these roads are heavily traversed by commuter traffic; three, construction delays; four, sections of road are closed to traffic and open for pedestrians on the Cambridge side on Sundays from April to November. So, if you overcome these small impediments, you are good to go. What does that mean in plain English? Go on a Saturday morning at 5am. 

Old Charles River Speedway Headquarters

Back to the racetrack and tidbits. You have your usual items: the Hatch Shell, the Esplanade, the Charles River, Harvard, MIT, the Skyline and the many, many boat houses. However, at the interchange of Eliot Bridge and Soldiers Field Rd. (video reference: Eliot Bypass) there are complete remains of the Charles River Speedway. A former horse racing track that runs to N. Arsenal St./Western Ave. and where the old speedway headquarters still stands.

According to Boston Public Library, "the Speedway was used by driving clubs for special occasions. In 1905, walks, lawns, and playgrounds for public recreation were added. The Speedway was active as a venue for horse shows, horse racing, and horse-drawn carriages and riding clubs into the 1940s.  The Speedway became the leased home of the Metropolitan Driving Club until the late 1950...". Well, isn't that just perfect.

In addition to that nugget of history, this section of the Charles River is where the Head of Charles Regatta is held. This rowing competition (aka boat racin') is "the world's largest two day rowing event". It is a nice way to spend an early fall weekend. Who says Boston only cares about stick and ball sports.

The roads in the loop are generally pretty smooth given that a good portion are limited access roadways. Although the video evidence would suggest I found all the rough bits.There are some interesting sections from a driving point of view, but in this case it is largely a postcard drive especially when it is not raining. Traffic enforcement is hit or miss and you do encounter several State Police barracks, but you should be using your head anyway; even at 5am-especially at 5am as the speed limits are a tease. The temptation is great to let gravity overpower the muscles in your right leg which makes your foot fall further down onto the throttle.

The weather early Saturday morning was not cooperating, much like the weather at LeMans in the early going, so the video quality is not what I hoped. However, you if want a better look go drive it yourself, or the numerous other parkways that are in the Metropolitan Boston area. In any case, I don't work for the tourism board, LeMans is ongoing and as the saying goes, enough with the typing and more with the moving pictures.




Boston Public Library- Charles River Speedway
A look at the old Charles River Speedway
Head of the Charles Regatta