Jamaica Plain Real Estate

Jamaica Plain grew up along Centre Street, a colonial-era road, as a country retreat for the old town of Roxbury. It split off with West Roxbury in 1851 and joined Boston in 1874. Railroads and later streetcars turned it into one of the country's early streetcar suburbs, and the brewery buildings of the Stony Brook valley still stand. Today it holds some of the largest pieces of Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace.

Most errands happen on Centre Street, from Hyde Square past JP Center to the Monument, and along South Street toward Forest Hills. A loop around Jamaica Pond is a local ritual, the Arnold Arboretum fills the southern end, and Franklin Park sits on the eastern edge. The Southwest Corridor Park follows the Orange Line, so plenty of people walk or bike to the train rather than drive.

JP is really a collection of smaller pockets, including Pondside, Sumner Hill, Moss Hill, Hyde Square, Stony Brook and Forest Hills, and each has a different mix of houses and lot sizes. Walking a few blocks around a listing tells you more about it than the ZIP code ever will.