Mattapan Real Estate

Mattapan sits along the Neponset River where Boston meets Milton. Its name comes from the Massachusett language, and the area was long a village within the town of Dorchester, joining Boston when Dorchester was annexed in 1870. Mills on the river and, later, streetcar lines out Blue Hill Avenue shaped its growth, and most of its streets filled in with houses in the first decades of the twentieth century.

Mattapan Square, where Blue Hill Avenue, River Street and Cummins Highway meet, is the commercial hub, with banks, shops, restaurants and the Mattapan branch of the Boston Public Library on Blue Hill Avenue nearby. The trolley terminal sits by the river, the Neponset River Greenway passes close to the square, and the 67-acre Boston Nature Center on Walk Hill Street offers meadows, wetlands and trails.

Rail access improved in 2019 when Blue Hill Avenue station opened on the Fairmount Line, a short walk from Mattapan Square. Together with Morton Street station, it gives direct trains to South Station, so house hunters here can weigh three rail options (two Fairmount Line stations and the trolley) alongside the bus routes that fan out from the square.