Roslindale

Why go

Roslindale kept what a lot of Boston neighborhoods lost: a walkable square where the train station, the branch library, the bakery and the market green all sit within a few minutes of each other. Residents historically called it Boston’s “garden suburb,” and the description still fits. Side streets climb into quiet, leafy hills, and the southern end of the Arnold Arboretum, including Peters Hill and its wide view of the downtown skyline, is a short walk up the road.

There are no museums and little nightlife beyond a handful of restaurants and bars. Come for a slow morning or a long lunch, or pair it with Jamaica Plain by walking through the Arboretum.

Getting around

• Commuter Rail: Roslindale Village station, on the Needham Line, is at 1 Belgrade Avenue, right by the square. Inbound trains reach Forest Hills in about 3 minutes, Back Bay in about 12 and South Station in about 17. Trains run seven days a week; on weekends they come about every two hours.
• Orange Line and buses: The Orange Line ends at Forest Hills, roughly a mile and a half from the square. Most buses heading southwest from Forest Hills, including the 30, 34, 35, 36, 37, 50 and 51, pass through or beside Roslindale Square, and the ride takes only a few minutes.
• Bluebikes: There are docks in Roslindale Village on Washington Street and on South Street.
• On foot: The square is flat and compact. Peters Hill is steep.
• Accessibility: The MBTA lists Roslindale Village station as accessible.

When to go

Saturday morning is the square at its liveliest, with the farmers market running from early June to late November. Weekday afternoons are quieter. In May the Arboretum holds Lilac Sunday on Mother’s Day, a tradition more than a century old. Fall brings color to Peters Hill and a dumpling festival in Adams Park and Birch Street Plaza, run by Roslindale Village Main Street, usually on a Saturday in early October.

A short history

Roslindale was part of the town of Roxbury, founded in 1630, and then of West Roxbury after that town split off in 1851. In 1870, when residents applied for a post office, the local name, South Street Crossing, was rejected. A well-traveled resident, John Pierce, suggested Roslindale, because the area reminded him of Roslin, near Edinburgh, with “dale” for the valley among the hills. The town of West Roxbury, Roslindale included, became part of Boston in 1874.

Better train service turned it into a commuter “garden suburb.” Irish and German families were settled here by the 1870s, followed by Italians, then Greek and Syrian-Lebanese families after the world wars, and more recently Dominican and Central American newcomers. The Arboretum, founded in 1872, became public parkland under an 1882 agreement in which Harvard gave the land to the City and leased it back for a dollar a year for 1,000 years. In 1985 the square became the testing ground for an urban Main Street program; within three years it counted dozens of storefront improvements and new businesses, and Roslindale became the pioneer for the 20 Main Streets districts now working across Boston.

Local tips

• The road by Peters Hill Gate is now Flora Way; map apps may still call it Bussey Street.
• You can walk in from the Orange Line: from Forest Hills, cross the Arboretum’s Bussey Brook Meadow, which links the station area to the Roslindale side of the Arboretum.
• Save your picnic for Lilac Sunday. On every other day the Arboretum does not allow picnicking.
• Weekend trains on the Needham Line are few; on a Saturday or Sunday, the Orange Line plus a bus is usually the more flexible plan.