Talk:Back Bay Fens

This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

United States: Boston Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Massachusetts - Boston (assessed as Mid-importance).

I am a local, but I have never understood this term. After reading the article, I still don't. Are "Back Bay", "The Fens", and "Back Bay Fens" distinct entities, or 3 versions of the same? Are either "Back Bay Fens" or "The Fens" subsets of "Back Bay"?

Parts of the article claim the Fens is just the park...but later on it lists a whole bunch of things (Berklee, for example), which locals routinely refer to as being "in Back Bay".

Still not getting it.

66.3.106.5 (talk) 23:35, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Fens in Boston is a park. As such, the name should be singular. The Fens in Britain are a series of wetlands, and are thus plural. The first sentence of the article "the Fens... are [a parkland], is correct when it calls the area a parkland - singular. So why is it treated a plural? I'll leave this up for a while, come back, and change it if no one puts up a good objection. MarkinBoston 02:45, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

What do the locals say? We are here to report, not to dictate on the basis of what, theoretically, should be. Local usage should control. I see you are "inBoston". Can you ascertain prevailing usage? If not, my advice is: if in doubt, leave it alone. Personally, I find it hard to believe anyone would say, out loud, "the Fens is...", just as one would not say "whose woods this is"; it offends the ear. Hertz1888 03:18, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A puzzling answer. And yes, I am a local.

From the Emerald Necklace Conservancy site linked in the article:

"The Fens, like all landscapes, has changed over time."

The Fens is a place - singular - not a collection of this fen and that fen. Very simple, and easy to believe.MarkinBoston 22:18, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can somebody please clarify the proper pronunciation? Is it like 'fence' or 'fenz'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by BillMcGonigle (talk • contribs) 18:05, 28 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I propose that

Boston, Lincolnshire, is situated within the Fens. Was this the origin of Boston, Massachusetts's Fens? Not currently mentioned in the article, curious if there are any sources out there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.103.124.141 (talk) 21:31, 17 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Back Bay Fens/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following

Substituted at 02:17, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20041014021800/http://www.fenwayvictorygardens.com/history.html to http://www.fenwayvictorygardens.com/history.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018.

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 04:27, 21 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

See related discussion re: war memorials at Talk:World War II Memorial (Boston). Thanks! ---Another Believer _(Talk) 01:24, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I search this article for word "acres" and no hits. Nor do I see any other metrics. The only numeric entities in the article, before it delves into the blow-by-blow of individual features, are years. I find that astounding. We are talking about the Emerald Necklace here.

What is the size of Back Bay Fens?

Jimlue (talk) 03:03, 20 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

• I don’t know its size. Maybe you can find a source with that information and add it. EEng 10:20, 20 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure where to put these, if anywhere. Putting them here for others to use if they see fit. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 01:15, 19 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

• Actually, longtime residents of Boston might suggest that indecent images of the Fens might be more on point [1] EEng 03:40, 19 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
  • Recently learned that fact about Belle Isle Marsh, too. I didn't actually realize this was still a thing that happened until some years ago when I actually asked Reddit "what's with all the guys just standing around by themselves in the woods of [a NYC park]" and was properly informed. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 12:43, 20 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]