Urban promenade

Marine Park Location: Day Boulevard, South Boston.

A few minutes from downtown Boston you can venture to a historic point of land for an invogorating, seaside promenade. Marine Park, bounded by Farragut Road and William J. Day Boulevard in South Boston, is a verdant wedge at the edge of Pleasure Bay. The park and boulevard mark a peninsula that neatly juts into Boston Harbor; doughty Fort Independence on a rise of land and windswept Castle Island are at its tip. Sundry local joggers and pedestrians make loops around the bright, inviting bay. You can, too, stopping for views of whitecaps on windy days and for the almost unobstructed views of Boston Harbor. At times, Logan-bound airplanes seem to be zooming right at you - a thrill for some, unnerving for others.

Tip for new visitors: If you're traveling from downtown Boston via Summer Street (after crossing Fort Point Channel), the terrain gets slightly woolly around the construction. Stay in the right lane to follow Summer Street to Southie. Otherwise you'll wind up in the Ted Williams Tunnel with an unscheduled arrival at Logan and a $2 toll to return.

Published in the Boston Globe Calendar's 1999 Wandering New England issue.