Explore the indoor and outdoor spaces along Boston's waterfront that are rightfully yours to enjoy!

In Boston, public access to the waterfront is your legal right. The Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, oftentimes referred to as Chapter 91, protects your rights to access and use the waterfront. Chapter 91 became law in 1866 (oldest law of its type in the USA) and is based on Massachusetts Bay Colony ordinances of the 1640s.

Indoor and outdoor public spaces along the waterfront are legally known as Facilities of Public Accommodation (FPA). FPA spaces range from public bathrooms to services such as restaurants and museums to outdoor public amenities (e.g., docks, grills) that enhance public access to the waterfront and provide fun things to do.

To learn more about FPA spaces, check out TACC's Instagram video or maps of amenities on the South Boston Waterfront, Downtown Waterfront, or East Boston.

The Harborwalk is a 43-mile linear park along Boston's shoreline and a great way to explore the waterfront; it is open to the public free of charge. The Harborwalk stretches from the Neponset River in lower Dorchester to Constitution Beach in East Boston via Charlestown, the North End, Downtown, Seaport, South Boston, and Dorchester. You can use Boston Harborwalk online tool to explore public amenities–from restrooms to grills–along the Harborwalk.

At TACC, we advocate for waterfront access and indoor and outdoor amenities that are responsive to community needs and interests by participating in public meetings and writing comment letters on a range of waterfront development and open space projects. TACC works to engage more community voices in public planning processes. For the Fort Point 100 Acres Open Space Concept Plan, Waterways participants contributed their ideas about essential amenities in a destination park. For the Waterfront Civic/Cultural Planning Study, TACC partnered with the city's consultant to ensure community perspectives were fully included. TACC also collaborated with the Boston Waterfront Partners to develop an Equity Rubric for Waterfront Development.

Access to the waterfront has documented health benefits; the waterfront is also a major economic driver with high-road jobs located both on and near the water. Through intentional public programming on the waterfront and in the community, TACC expands awareness of and access to benefits in three areas:

Health: Access to green space like parks is well-documented as beneficial for both individuals and urban environments. Research on the benefits of blue space (areas with water such as the Charles River, Boston Frog Pond, or Boston Harbor) shows even more significant positive impacts. Blue spaces have been found to reduce stress, promote mental well-being, encourage physical activity, and proximity to bodies of salt water can help soothe asthma symptoms.

The waterfront is also a respite from urban heat, which is made worse via the urban heat island effect. Through community workshops and tabling, TACC educates community members on what we can do to stay cool, from immediate and personal actions like identifying neighborhood cooling spots to the advocacy and city planning levels where we discuss climate adaptations that can reduce the heat island effect.

Through Waterways programming, you can:

• Learn more about the mental and physical health benefits of blue space.
• Come together with friends and family to try recreational waterfront activities (e.g., kayaking, sailing, dragon boat padding) in large events with instruction, smaller kayaking affinity groups, or on your own through the TACC library pass program that provides free access to kayaks and other vessels.

Also, TACC tables at community programs to share this information, learn from the community, and expand access to our programs and the waterfront. Invite us to your programs!

Employment: In Boston, the waterfront is a source of high-road jobs; these jobs include traditional maritime jobs (e.g., able seaman on a vessel, operations in a marine terminal) and coastal climate resilience jobs (e.g., building critical flood and coastal protection infrastructure) as well as water proximate jobs in the life sciences/biotech industry. As a member of the Greater Boston Climate and Coastal Resilience Workforce Alliance, TACC is delivering workshops and conducting outreach in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and East Boston to increase awareness of waterfront careers and pathways to employment in the sector.

If you are curious about waterfront careers, reach out to us reach out to us or attend an upcoming "What We Mean by Blue/Green?" workshop.

Connected Economy: Strengthening economic connections between Roxbury and the waterfront is important to addressing persistent inequities in the City of Boston. Through comment letters, research, policy, and sharing information about economic opportunities, TACC advocates for stronger economic connections between Roxbury and the waterfront through the use of Facilities of Public Accommodations by Roxbury businesses, either as BIPOC-owners or BIPOC-led operators; strategies to support workforce development; and procurement from BIPOC-owned businesses.

Recognizing the importance of the region's maritime industrial economy and the needs of waterfront communities, TACC collaborated with the Boston Waterfront Partners on the study, Strengthening the Urban Harbor: Policy & Investment Recommendations for Boston's Working Ports (January 2025), that examines current conditions and challenges facing Designated Port Areas (DPAs) in Boston's evolving urban landscape. Boston has four DPAs in South Boston, East Boston, Mystic River, and Chelsea Creek. Boston's working ports, much of which lie in DPAs, face unprecedented challenges. Competing regulatory, economic, and real estate priorities in Boston have subjected these vital maritime industrial zones to enhanced political scrutiny and significant market pressure.

TACC is committed to building on the important work of opening up shared experiences on the waterfront to include activities that address persistent racial and socioeconomic inequities in the City of Boston and positively contribute to the shared prosperity of all of Boston's neighborhoods and residents.