Upham’s Corner, Jones Hill, Hancock Valley, and Savin Hill
The recorded history of Dorchester began with the arrival of English setters on the ship Mary & John in 1630. Dorchester was an agricultural town until the eighteenth century when waterpower harnessed from the Neponset River allowed industry to thrive. Boston needed land to expand for its increasing population and annexed the main part of what is now South Boston in 1804 and the Andrew Square area in 1854. The remainder of the town was annexed on January 1, 1870.
For the first two and a half centuries after English settlement, Dudley Street from Roxbury to Dorchester was the only land route from Boston to Dorchester and points south. Two major roadways now serve the area. Dorchester Avenue, a nearly straight north-south line, built as a turnpike, is on the eastern side of Dorchester, not far from the coast. Columbia Road meanders from Franklin Park through Upham’s Corner to South Boston in a northeasterly direction. The T’s red line, the descendant of the Old Colony Railroad serves the east, and the Fairmount commuter line, formerly the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, serves the west. It runs through the Upham’s Corner neighborhood. Since Dorchester encompasses such a large area geographically, the trail is divided into three separate sections beginning with this neighborhood.
Dorchester undoubtedly had many notable women residents over the centuries whose stories remained undiscovered. Some of the women who appear in this tour of northern Dorchester lived in the town at the time of the American Revolution. Many others lived in Dorchester after annexation. The women who appear on the trail had an influence on society and are important to the cultural history of Dorchester, Boston, and the wider world. The list includes artists, businesswomen, doctors, musicians, philanthropists, reformers, teachers, and writers. The stops on the tour represent where the women lived or worked during a period of their lives, although the sites may now look very different from the way they did when they were alive and contributing to the culture and history of their storied neighborhood.
