The parkway runs roughly north–south from the Middlesex Fells in Winchester, down the Aberjona River valley, and along the east side of the Mystic Lakes into Medford.

It meets Alewife Brook Parkway (and joins with Massachusetts Route 16) at a rotary near where Alewife Brook empties into the Mystic, and then continues to generally follow the course of the Mystic River downstream, crossing it several times before ending at Revere Beach Parkway where both meet Massachusetts Route 28.

The parkway, with surrounding landscape, forms part of Boston's Metropolitan Park District, established in 1893.

The parkway itself was designed in 1894–1895 by the Olmsted Brothers, the noted landscape architects, with Charles Eliot taking a lead role.

It was originally created as one section of a web of pleasure roads designed for their aesthetics, as part of a comprehensive plan for green spaces in and around Boston.