The Fenway neighborhood of Boston is practically synonymous with the World Champion
Boston Red Sox. During home games, this area is overrun with members of Red Sox Nation. But the neighborhood includes much more than just
Fenway Park--it is made up a residential district, areas for shopping, and other entertainment venues beyond the ballpark, like the
Boston Pops Orchestra. Homeownership is particularly minimal in the Fenway area - just 7%, the lowest number in the city. However, new zoning laws passed in 2004 have led to a building boom that is quickly changing the feel in this neighborhood. Fenway is starting to bustle even when the Red Sox are not playing a game.
With the introduction of the Landmark Center and the Trilogy apartments and shopping complex, the Fenway area is on the rise. As Bostonians are always looking for what the next hot area will be to live in, it is believed that within 10 years the Fenway will be “the” place to live in Boston.
As you walk around the residential areas, mainly made up of big apartment blocks from the early 20th century, at each corner you find a little row of neighborhood shops and eateries, like
Canestaro's and
Church. Small, hidden treasures known mainly to the denizens of Peterborough, Jersey, Queensberry, Kilmarnock Streets.
The area also boasts some lovely parks, like the
Back Bay Fens and green spaces, particularly between the road that gives the neighborhood it's name, The Fenway, and Park Drive.
The Fenway is reclaimed land from the
Back Bay Fens, a generally swampy area that existed at the confluence of the Muddy River, Stony Brook and Charles River. In the 1880s Boston embarked on its great park-building scheme directed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The great landscape architect engineered this area into a picturesque ideal.
You thought the alphabetical streets named for British peers ended with Hereford Street in the
Back Bay? Nope, they continue on into the Fenway area: Ipswich Street, Jersey Street and Kilmarnock Street are next in the sequence.
