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Rural Boston
By adamg on Thu, 10/13/2016 - 10:48am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
Bonus UHub points if you can identify the one part of Boston that still doesn't have paved roads.
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Comments
Unpaved roads
There are still unpaved roads in West Roxbury I believe. Somewhere up behind the quarry?
There is a small enclave
in JP off Centre St that is basically inside a forest and the streets are not paved, just dirt roads. Beautiful homes.... Not sure if it has a specific name (I'm sure it does) but I have walked through there many times.
What can I redeem my bonus points for?
You're talking about the Parley Vale
More of it is paved then used to be. There's also a micro-hood off of Lamartine called Glenvale that used to be unpaved, but I believe it is now.
Adam is probably reffering to the Grove in West Rox. One of my daughter's friends lives there. Private roads - no pavement, no city sewers.
There's lots of unpaved single roads left in Boston. Our property backs onto one here in Roslindale that has a half dozen homes along it (they have city sewer service though, unlike the Parley Vale or the Grove).
I agree that Adam was
I agree that Adam was probably talking about the Grove. I can think of a couple of dirt roads here in Readville (mostly just a block or so long), and a few in Rozzie off of Poplar, near Metropolitan and Grew.
ALDER STREET in Roslindale
There are a handful of roads in Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury that remain unpaved
Rail corridor in JP
Really just a wild guess. And looks like the Arnold Arboretum in the background.
EDIT: Actually the buildings look a little more like the Dorchester along the rail line there. Doesn't explain the hill in the background though.
I think it is
This is probably about where the gate from Forest Hills where the path to Bussey Meadow is, with the gambrel roofed houses on the right being the backs of the houses on Asticou Rd.
The Groves
West Roxbury.
Back of Asticou?
Bussey Brook Meadow, Blackwell Footpath?
Not the only unpaved place...
Goldsmith Place in JP is also unpaved. I looked at buying a house there in the late 1990s. Just checked Google Street view and most of it is still dirt.
Oh, and there's a street near Roxbury Latin
In West Roxbury. But what makes the area I was thinking of unique is that it's an entire neighborhood of unpaved streets (also an entire neighborhood that isn't connected to BWSC sewers).
Is it cheating to have
Is it cheating to have searched UHub?
http://www.universalhub.com/2014/citizen-complaint-day-our-dirt-roads-ar...
Yep, that's the place I was thinking of
The good ol' Grove.
Agreed - Back of Asticou from the Arbs
Agreed - Back of Asticou from the Arbs - and the area of Boston with unpaved roads is called "The Grove" in West Roxbury.
Wild Guess
Looks like it could possibly be somewhere in Dorchester near the Neponset River, maybe around the Butler Street area?
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Looks like the area where the
Looks like the area where the Neponset ave fire station was built, as it was on the other side of the street.
Paved street
THE GROVE WESTROXBURY
Back in the day
people just chucked random curb stones out the car window, And we ilked it!
Marshall Street
Marshall Street is off of Union Street (Union Oyster House). It's where the Green Dragon is, and it's still cobblestones, not asphalt. Walk on it every morning!
The Answer
Thanks for playing, folks! This is Chocorua Street (or Road) in West Roxbury on November 16, 1950. This road no longer exists, but it was located in Forest Hills, and is close to today's Needham Branch of the MBTA. We think the houses on the top right are on present day Asticou Road.
Nothing is Lost Forever
Plug 7-9 Chocorua Street into Bing, and it will show you a "property" located on what is today the Blackwell footpath in the Arnold Arboretum. This makes sense, as Asticou runs parallel to the footpath, and in the picture you can see the marsh, and Busey Hill off in the distance.
http://www.homefacts.com/address/Massachusetts/Suffolk-County/Jamaica-Pl...
Google Maps vs Bing Maps
Chocorua Street doesn't compute in Google maps (perhaps as it should). In Bing maps it shows as coincident with the bike path below Asticou Rd. Since I don't frequent the area this is helpful. I wonder if this is right where the bike path meets Washington St. Angle of photo doesn't seem right for being too far up from Washington St.
And there is Ward Maps
This maps shows that there is nothing called Washington St on that side of the street. Looks like Chocorua was more or less were Washington St is now.
http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=4167
I didn't want to believe this...
Since the wandering footpath doesn't show on the ward maps, the building at the end of the gambrel-roofed triple-deckers is gone and, what could those spired-buildings in the distance be?, but I found this old aerial photo:
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:s1784w88w
1924 ward map:
http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=1331
I guess the mansard roofed building is part of Mayor Andrew J. Peters' estate.
Nice find
I guess we could do worse than an at-grade New Washington Street after all.
Don't worry folks. The city
Don't worry folks. The city will get to pave those streets soon. Call 311 and remind them.
Every time I see these old pics
I notice a lot of trash strewn about. What's up with that?