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Jamaica Plain today is one of Boston's great suburban neighborhoods, but it has not always been connected to the city. The area has a rich and colorful history that stretches from its rural, pastoral beginnings in the seventeenth century. Jamaica Plain became a part of Roxbury, and later West Roxbury, and served as a summer playground for influential Bostonians before becoming part of Boston in 1874. Today, the neighborhood is a bustling suburban...
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The streets of Boston's North End, some laid out in the seventeenth century, exude a rich history built by every generation of Boston immigrants since 1630. Home to the Paul Revere House and the famous Old North Church, the North End appeals to locals as well as visitors with its bustling Haymarket and restaurant row.
3) South Boston
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South Boston, a peninsular extension of the Massachusetts mainland, was originally dubbed "Great Neck" by the Puritans who settled Dorchester in 1630. After the year 1804, when the town of South Boston was officially separated from Dorchester, tremendous urban development was begun according to a highly organized grid plan. Anthony Mitchell Sammarco's South Boston chronicles the development of this culturally and economically rich suburb from the...
4) Dorchester
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Dorchester County's special blend of past and present, treasured by locals, appeals also to visitors from all walks of life. Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Jimmy Carter, performers Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Ella Fitzgerald, and Pulitzer Prize-winning authors James Michener and Richard Ben Cramer all enjoyed sojourning here. Dorchester County is surrounded almost entirely by scenic waters: the Choptank and Nanticoke Rivers,...
5) Roslindale
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Once referred to as the "Suburb Superb," Roslindale was at one time part of the town of West Roxbury, which had been set off from Roxbury in 1851. The rapid development of Roslindale, which was annexed to the city of Boston in 1874 and was then known as the South Street District, was largely due to the Boston and Providence Railroad and the streetcars that connected the area to Forest Hills Station. By the twentieth century, Roslindale had developed...
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Part historic treasure and part development frontier, Boston's Fort Point District evolved from a landscape of mud and sea grass into a teeming hub of commercial activity. Its proximity to Boston Harbor and its development as a rail center expanded trade for New England merchants nationally and overseas and caused an array of industries-from molasses distilling to the manufacture of razor blades-to flourish here. Through unique and vintage photographs,...
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The Back Bay was one of Boston's premier residential neighborhoods between 1837 and 1901. From its quagmire beginnings and with the creation of the Boston Public Garden in the 1830s, the Back Bay was envisioned as an urbane and sophisticated streetscape of stone and brick row houses. The major center of the neighborhood became Art Square, now known as Copley Square, which was surrounded by Trinity Church, New Old South Church, Second Church of Boston,...
8) Somerville
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Once a part of Charlestown that could only be reached via "The Neck" (present-day Sullivan Square), Somerville became accessible from Boston with the construction of the Middlesex Canal and the extension of various rail lines in the mid- to late nineteenth century. By 1842, Somerville's population had increased to the point that the town officially separated itself from Charlestown. Over the years, the population continued to grow. With the increase...
9) West Roxbury
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West Roxbury, located along the scenic Charles River, is a community of tree-lined streets and panoramic views, which has undergone tremendous changes since its incorporation as a town in 1851. Formerly known as "Westerly" or "South Street," West Roxbury has grown from a largely rural area, accessible only by train, into a charming neighborhood of Victorian homes that still offers many of the same advantages that attracted people a century ago--the...
10) Charlestown
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Originally settled in 1629, Charlestown became well-known as the scene of the pivotal Revolutionary Battle of Bunker Hill, actually fought on Breed's Hill. Recovering from a devastating fire at the hands of the British soon after the battle, Charlestown went on to become a prosperous neighbor to Boston, eventually being annexed to the larger city in 1874. Today the city is enjoying a tremendous rebirth and the restoration of many of its important...
11) East Boston
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Originally called Noodle's Island, East Boston was once comprised of five islands connected by marshland. Today, many people identify East Boston as the location of Logan International Airport, but it is really much more than that. From colonial times through the late twentieth century, the neighborhood of East Boston has experienced significant developments in the fields of city planning, transportation, and urban development. Until the nineteenth...
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Laid out in 1848 as a rural garden cemetery by Henry A. S. Dearborn, Forest Hills Cemetery celebrates its 160th anniversary in 2008 as Boston's premier arboretum cemetery. Since the mid-19th century, its 250 magnificent acres have been the resting place of people of all walks of life, ethnicities, religions, and races. Among these are poets Anne Sexton and E. E. Cummings, playwright Eugene O'Neill, and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Forest Hills's...
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Originally a narrow, barren strip of land known as the Neck, Boston's South End grew from a lonely sentry post and execution grounds to what is today the largest Victorian neighborhood in the United States. With the filling of the South Cove in the 1830s, the area became one of the greatest planned residential districts of its time, a heritage preserved in unique architectural features such as red brick swell bay facades, elaborate balusters, and...
14) Medford
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Referred to in its beginning as a "peculiar town," Medford was originally a town but a plantation owned by Governor Matthew Craddock. Known as Meadford at the time of its settlement in 1630, the area was a flourishing village located along the Mystic River that boasted numerous farms, fisheries, and shipbuilding. A small town for the first two centuries after it was settled, Medford was conveniently located only a few miles from Boston. Its prime...
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On March 4, 1822, the townsfolk of Boston voted to incorporate their town as the City of Boston. A great change had just taken place, but even greater changes were to come during the ensuing century, as Boston's population grew from 50,000 to 750,000 by 1922 and as it developed from a colonial town into the "Hub of the Universe." Boston: A Century of Progress brings to life one hundred amazing years, from 1822 to 1922. More than two hundred fascinating...
16) Downtown Boston
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Settled in 1630 by English Puritans seeking religious freedom, Boston has always been a city prone to significant and monumental change. Even before it was incorporated as Boston, named after the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, England, the town's name was changed from Shawmut. From that time, Boston has evolved from being the original center of town government at the Old State House to becoming the financial center of New England in the twentieth...
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Nestled between the Neponset River and the Blue Hills Reservation is the postcard-perfect New England town of Milton, Massachusetts. Founded in 1640, its gentle riverbanks were soon transformed by some of the first mills in the colonies, and later an industrial boom drew tides of immigrants from across the seas. Local author and noted historian Anthony Sammarco brings together a fascinating collection of his best columns from the Milton Times to chronicle...
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Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the Massachusetts State House as the "Hub of the Universe." In Boston: A Historic Walking Tour, readers are guided on a series of downtown walking tours that radiate out from this Boston landmark. Featuring different excursions that explore Boston's prominent neighborhoods and districts, visitors and natives alike will see how this city has become one of the country's oldest cultural destinations. Boston's growth and development...
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