2008 Historic Walking Tours
All tours are free and open to the public and are offered on Saturdays at 11:00 a.m. sharp. Tours last approximately one hour and are canceled in case of rain. No reservations are required. Please join us and bring along a friend!
| Tour Date | Location | Tour Date | Location | |
| May 10 | Pondside | July 26 | Hyde Square | |
| May 17 | Sumner Hill | August 2 | Green Street | |
| May 31 | Stony Brook | August 9 | Woodbourne | |
| June 7 | Hyde Square | August 16 | Pondside | |
| June 14 | Green Street | August 23 | Sumner Hill | |
| June 21 | Woodbourne | Sept 6 | Stony Brook | |
| June 28 | Pondside | Sept 13 | Hyde Square | |
| July 12 | Sumner Hill | Sept 20 | Green Street | |
| July 19 | Stony Brook | Sept 27 | Woodbourne |
Green Street
Laid out in 1836, the street played a key role in Jamaica Plain’s development, functioning as a residential, commercial, and transportation conduit in the lives of the district’s residents. Although Green Street was subdivided as early as 1851 for stores, factories and houses it was not extensively developed until the late 1870’s with construction continuing until the early 1900’s. The Bowditch School was completed in 1892 and early in the 20th century the United States Post Office moved from its location on Call Street at Woolsey Square to its new location at the corner of Green and Cheshire Streets.
Leaves from Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, 640 Centre St.
Hyde Square
This tour features residential and architectural history as well as a look at a “workers’ utopia” housing district. Learn about the evolution of Hyde Square from a German immigrant neighborhood to a Latino immigrant one.
Leaves from Hyde Square in front of Bella Luna Restaurant, 403 Centre St.
Pondside
Tour a residential area that includes a National Historic District. View architecture that spans three centuries; the oldest community theater company in the United States; and an elegant 18th-century mansion that once served as the country’s first military hospital. The Jamaica Pond Ice Company once harvested ice shipped throughout Boston and abroad. Pondside resident James Michael Curley (“The Rascal King”) served as Mayor of Boston and Governor of Massachusetts.
Leaves from Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St.
Stony Brook
Explore a fascinating industrial area at the geographic heart of Boston that includes 19th-century tannery and brewery buildings, the homes of early German settlers, and today’s Samuel Adams beer company. In the 1970s, a coalition of community groups joined together to block construction of the Southwest Expressway through Jamaica Plain and other Boston neighborhoods. Today, the Southwest Corridor Park that runs through the Stony Brook neighborhood stands as a testament to the power of community activism.
Leaves from Stony Brook Orange Line T station.
Sumner Hill 
View a sumptuous sampling of 19th-century Victorian houses — one of the finest collections of “painted ladies” outside of San Francisco. The tour includes the ancestral home of the founder of the Dole Pineapple Company, as well as the homes of several early feminists and an anti- racism activist. Sumner Hill was designated a National Historic District in 1987.
Leaves from Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St.
Woodbourne
This neighborhood developed from nineteenth-century summer estates into a model suburban enclave. It contains examples of representative New England architecture with designs by local architects and builders. It also contains an unusual garden city model housing development by the Boston Dwelling House Company.
Leaves from St. Andrew Church, corner of Walk Hill and Wachusett Streets.