Jamaica Plain’s Story: Ponds, Breweries and the Emerald Necklace

Jamaica Plain, known to almost everyone as JP, feels greener than most of Boston. That is partly geography and partly history. The neighborhood grew around a large glacial pond, kept much of its open land, and became the setting for some of the city’s finest parks.

A country village

For its first two centuries, Jamaica Plain was a rural village within the town of Roxbury. Wealthy Bostonians built summer houses near Jamaica Pond, a deep kettle pond left behind by retreating glaciers. The Loring-Greenough House, built in 1760 on what is now Centre Street, is a surviving example of the area’s colonial estates.

In 1851, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury broke away from Roxbury to form the town of West Roxbury. That town was annexed to Boston in 1874, bringing JP into the city.

Brewing in the Stony Brook valley

In the second half of the 1800s, the lowlands along the Stony Brook became one of the busiest brewing districts in New England. German and Irish immigrants worked in breweries that took advantage of the water supply and the rail lines. Most closed during Prohibition or in the decades afterward.

The former Haffenreffer brewery complex, with its brick buildings and smokestack, later found new uses, including as a home for a modern craft brewery. The surrounding area is still known for its old industrial buildings converted into workshops, offices and housing.

Parks that define the neighborhood

Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Emerald Necklace, a chain of connected parks running from the Back Bay Fens to Franklin Park. Several of its links run through Jamaica Plain:

• Jamaica Pond, with a walking path of roughly a mile and a half around the water.
• Olmsted Park, with its smaller ponds and wooded paths.
• The Arnold Arboretum, founded in 1872 and managed by Harvard in partnership with the city. It holds a world-renowned collection of trees and shrubs and is free to visit.
• Franklin Park, the largest park in the system, on JP’s eastern side.

Even in winter, the Arboretum is worth a walk. Bare trees show off their bark and structure, conifers stand out against the snow, and the view from Peters Hill reaches the downtown skyline.

A changing community

JP’s streetcar lines and later the Orange Line made it an accessible place for working and middle-class families. In the late twentieth century, Hyde Square and the surrounding blocks became a center for Boston’s Spanish-speaking community, with Cuban, Dominican and other Latin American businesses along Centre Street. The neighborhood is also known for its activism, from opposing a highway in the 1970s to supporting local businesses and community gardens today.

How to explore

Start at Jamaica Pond, walk the loop, then head down Centre Street toward Hyde Square and the Stony Brook area. Allow time for the Arboretum, which is large enough to fill a full afternoon. Check the Arboretum’s official site for hours and seasonal programs before you go.