West Roxbury

West Roxbury is a quiet neighborhood with a suburban feel on Boston’s southwestern edge. In the 1840s, it was home to Brook Farm, a transcendentalist utopian commune that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Blithedale Romance.” Today, West Roxbury is known for its civic activism, youth programs, and tree-lined streets. The transformation of a former landfill into the sprawling Millennium Park exemplifies the area’s development. Though its reputation as a white, working-class enclave persists, West Roxbury has become more racially diverse over time.