West Roxbury is Boston at its most suburban: one long main street, blocks of single-family homes, and more open land than most visitors expect, from the Charles River to the city’s highest hill.
Best forA park day by the Charles or in the Stony Brook woods, a pub lunch on Centre Street, and the site of the Brook Farm experiment.
The feelSettled and suburban, with tree-lined streets and a main street of local shops, pubs and banks.
Getting thereCommuter Rail, Needham Line, to Bellevue, Highland or West Roxbury. Or the Orange Line to Forest Hills, then the 35, 36 or 37 bus along Centre Street.
From Downtown CrossingAbout 40 minutes by Orange Line and bus; a little less if you catch a Needham Line train from South Station (about 24 minutes on board to West Roxbury).
ParkingEasier than almost anywhere else in Boston. Side streets usually have room (read the signs), and there are MBTA lots at all three stations.
West Roxbury, in the southwest corner of Boston, is where many Bostonians go for elbow room. It is a suburban community of tree-lined streets and single-family homes. For a visitor, the reason to come is the land: a 100-acre park on the Charles River built on an old landfill, the state woodland where West Roxbury, Roslindale and Hyde Park meet, the site of the Brook Farm experiment, and Bellevue Hill, the highest point in the city.
It is not a place for architecture, museums or nightlife, and the sights are spread out. A car or a bike helps; by transit, build the day around a Needham Line train. Come for a walk or a paddle, then eat on Centre Street.
Getting around
Commuter Rail: The Needham Line has three West Roxbury stations: Bellevue (Colbert Street), Highland (Corey Street) and West Roxbury (LaGrange Street). From West Roxbury station, inbound trains take about 10 minutes to Forest Hills, 19 to Back Bay and 24 to South Station. Trains run every day, about every two hours on weekends. The MBTA lists all three stations as accessible.
Buses: The 35, 36 and 37 run from Forest Hills (Orange Line) along Belgrade Avenue and Centre Street; Centre Street at Corey Street is about 11 minutes from Forest Hills on the 35. Some 36 trips continue to Millennium Park, about 25 minutes from Forest Hills.
Bluebikes: Docks on Centre Street at the Parkway YMCA and at the West Roxbury Post Office, and on Spring Street at Powell Street.
Distances: Millennium Park and Brook Farm are each a mile or so from the Centre Street shops. Plan on a bus, a bike or a car rather than a stroll.
When to go
Late spring through fall is best for Millennium Park and the Charles, when paddlers use the canoe launch and the fields fill up. Fall is good for the Stony Brook woods and Brook Farm. West Roxbury Main Streets runs an art walk in May and June and a holiday market in December. Weekdays are quiet everywhere.
A short history
West Roxbury was part of the town of Roxbury, founded in 1630 alongside Boston. Residents here, far from Roxbury’s first burial ground near today’s Nubian Square, got their own in 1683: today’s Westerly Burying Ground. In 1851 West Roxbury split off as a separate town that also took in what are now Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, and in 1874 the whole town became part of Boston.
In the 1840s, before West Roxbury became a town, it was home to Brook Farm, the utopian community founded by George and Sophia Ripley, which drew writers including Hawthorne and Emerson. Millennium Park is a much newer chapter: the old Gardner Street Landfill was capped with Big Dig soil and opened as a park in 2000.
Local tips
West Roxbury is not Roxbury. They are separate neighborhoods about five miles apart; give drivers and apps the full name or the 02132 ZIP code.
On weekends the Needham Line runs about every two hours, so plan the day around a train. The 35, 36 and 37 buses are the backup.
Brook Farm and Millennium Park are next door to each other, close enough to combine in one walk.
Not every 36 bus goes to Millennium Park; the route splits between the park and the VA hospital, so check the sign on the front.
Address Bellevue Hill, between Lagrange St, Centre St and the West Roxbury Parkway, West RoxburyT Bellevue (Needham Line), about 15 minutes uphill on foot; bus 36 on Centre StAdmission FreeAccess Steep public streets to the summit; the standpipe lot is fenced
Boston’s roof is a quiet West Roxbury hilltop, 330 feet above sea level, the highest natural point in the city and in Suffolk County. Two water standpipes crown it; the older is on the Boston Register of Historic Places, and together they keep the pressure up for West Roxbury, Roslindale and towns to the south. There is no summit park, only residential streets, and houses and trees crowd the top, so the reward is the climb and the standpipes rather than a panorama.
Aim for the towers from Bellevue station, about 15 minutes uphill, or from the West Roxbury Parkway edge of Stony Brook Reservation, whose woods run up the hill’s east side. Keep to the sidewalk; these are people’s front yards. Combine it with Millennium Park, whose own hilltop, across the neighborhood, has the view this one lacks.
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Brook Farm Historic Site
Historic SitesIf you have time
Address 670 Baker St, West RoxburyT Bus 52 (Baker St); West Roxbury (Needham Line), about 1 mileHours Sunrise to sunsetAdmission FreePhone 617-698-1802Webmass.gov/locations/brook-farm-historic-siteAccess Natural-surface walking trails through fields, woods and wetland
Brook Farm is a pilgrimage for readers: meadow, woods and Sawmill Brook, the stream that named it, where George and Sophia Ripley ran one of America’s best-known utopian experiments from 1841 to 1847. Members split farm work and study, ran a respected school and drew visitors such as Emerson and Margaret Fuller. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an original shareholder; he found he could not write there, soon left, and later turned the place into The Blithedale Romance. The community never recovered after its new communal hall, the Phalanstery, burned down in March 1846 as its completion was being celebrated.
Nothing of the commune stands; the land later held Camp Andrew, a Civil War training ground, and a Lutheran orphanage. Enter by the Gethsemane Cemetery road off Baker Street, and pair the walk with Millennium Park next door.
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Millennium Park
Parks & GardensWorth a visit
Address 300 Gardner St, West RoxburyT Bus 36 from Forest Hills (Orange) to Millennium ParkHours Daily 6 a.m.–11:30 p.m.Admission FreePhone 617-635-4505 (Boston Parks)Access Paved paths climbing a broad hilltop park; canoe launch on the Charles
Millennium Park is 100 acres of proof that a dump can become a destination. The old Gardner Street Landfill was capped with earth dug out for the Big Dig, the same trick that remade Spectacle Island in the harbor, and Mayor Thomas Menino opened the park in December 2000. The grassy hilltop has some of the widest views in the city, across the Charles River to the Blue Hills, and on a breezy day the sky over it fills with kites.
Below the summit are 25 acres of playing fields, playgrounds, a canoe and kayak launch onto the Charles, and wetlands that draw birders, so bring binoculars. Paths run on into the fields and woods of Brook Farm next door. Come late on a clear afternoon for the long light over the river.
Where to eat
Restaurants in West Roxbury
Centre Street is West Roxbury’s main street, lined with pubs, diners, bakeries and family restaurants within a short walk of the Needham Line stations. A few more places, including a Lebanese dining room, sit out on the VFW Parkway.
1249 VFW Pkwy, Boston, MA 02132 · T Route 52 bus (Baker St at VFW Pkwy), or route 36 to Spring St at Baker St, an 8-minute walk
Tue–Fri 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 4–9 p.m., Sat noon–9 p.m., Sun noon–8 p.m.; closed Mon · 617-325-3254 · alwadiboston.com
Opened in 2010 as West Roxbury’s first Lebanese restaurant, Al Wadi is a dressy room for mezze and grills. Share hummus, kibbeh and makanek sausages, then a mixed grill or lamb chops, and finish with knefeh. Many dishes are gluten-free. Weekends bring live music; reserve on Resy (required for six or more). Closed Mondays.
B
Himalayan Bistro
Nepali and Indian · $$
1735 Centre St, Boston, MA 02132 · T Bellevue (Needham Line), 6-minute walk; Routes 35, 36 and 37 buses
Open since 2006 and billed as Greater Boston’s first Nepali restaurant, this Centre Street dining room serves Nepali dishes alongside a familiar Indian menu. Order momo dumplings, khasi ko sekuwa (grilled boneless mutton), Nepali chow mein or goat curry. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; call ahead or order online for takeout.
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Porter Café
Gastropub · $$
1723 Centre St, Boston, MA 02132 · T Bellevue (Needham Line), 5-minute walk; Routes 35, 36 and 37 buses
A neighborhood gastropub that opened in 2011 in the Centre Street building rebuilt after the 2007 fire that killed two Boston firefighters. Order crispy fish tacos, smoked haddock chowder or pork schnitzel with a local beer. Dinner and late-night only, from 4 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. on weekends; book on Resy or walk in.
D
Rox Diner
Diner · $
1881 Centre St, Boston, MA 02132 · T Highland (Needham Line), 3-minute walk
A busy breakfast-and-lunch diner on Centre Street since the mid-2000s, making its toast with bread from Roslindale’s Fornax. Order Eggs Bolly, a Benedict built on corned-beef hash, the Irish breakfast with black and white pudding, or chocolate-banana-mascarpone pancakes. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; go early on weekends.
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