Arnold Arboretum

The Arnold Arboretum is part of the "Emerald Necklace" - the string of parks that snakes from the Boston Common to Franklin Park. It started out as the Bussey Institute - Harvard's Agriculture School on farmland donated by Benjamin Bussey. Harvard has a 999 year lease for the land from the City of Boston. The annual rent is $1. The Arboretum is open to the public and is a wonderful habitat for walking, running or just being at one with nature. And since it's an arboretum, all the trees are conveniently labeled so you know what kind you are hugging. There is a Visitors' Center in the Hunnewell Building - just inside the Arborway gate. Along with exhibits explaining the history and mission of the Arboretum. The annual Lilac Festival on Mother's Day is a riot of colors and fragrances and is not to be missed. The Arboretum also offers horticultural and landscape architecture classes on a regular basis. Arnold Arboretum

The Peters Hill tract of the Arboretum is located in Roslindale, at least according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority neighborhood boundaries and ZIP code data. According to the master plan for the arboretum, Peters Hill is zoned as a part of Jamaica Plain (source). Peters Hill has an elevation of roughly 240 feet and offers views of the downtown Boston skyline. There are three main entrances to this section of the arboretum: the Peters Hill Gate, on Bussey Street near Walter Street; the Mendum Street Gate, at the corner of Mendum Street and Fairview Street; and the Poplar Gate, at the corner of Bussey Street and South Street. It is also possible to enter the arboretum using a set of stone steps on Walter Street just north of Mendum Street. These stairs bring you through the Walter Street Burying Ground, a cemetery dating to 1711, under the jurisdiction of the city's Historic Burying Grounds Initiative. The Arboretum also includes a tract of land to the west of Peters Hill known as Weld Hill, bounded by Walter Street, Weld Street, Centre Street, and the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center. Unlike the rest of the arboretum, which is owned by the city, this land is owned by Harvard University. After several years of negotiations with the neighboring residents, Harvard began work in early 2008 on a 43,500 square foot research facility in the Weld Hill area. Roslindale