Mission Hill

Summer Events Schedule

 

 

 

 

Mission Hill: The what

Mission Church                              
August 23-End of October
Farmer’s Market
Brigham Circle
Huntington Avenue and Tremont Street
Thursdays, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sample and purchase fresh produce from two local farms: Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, which uses no chemical pesticides or fertilizers, and MacArthur Farm in Holliston, 2004 winner of the Massachusetts Tomato Contest.
www.mass.gov/agr

August 31
Woodland Restoration and Orchard Care
McLaughlin Historic Orchard and Playground
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Earthworks Boston, an organization dedicated to bettering urban environments, offers up this volunteer opportunity as part of its Urban Wilds Restoration Program. Help keep the orchard prosperous and safe for all while marveling at the assortment of apples, pears, cherries, plums and other fruit plants. 
Free, pre-register at www.earthworksboston.org or 617.442.1059.

September 27
Dinner on Main Streets
Mississippi’s
103 Terrace St.
6-9 p.m.
This annual event serves to raise funds for the local Main Streets program. Enjoy food by Blue Water Catering and bid in the silent auction featuring local artists’ artwork and gift certificates to restaurants and salons in Boston. 
Tickets $40
www.missionhillmainstreets.org


EVENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.


Mission Hill: The where

Diablo Glass and Metal Center   
Created in 2001 as a public glass arts studio, Diablo offers beginner classes on the delicate glassmaking process. One of its highlights is a wine and cheese tasting on August 25 with a team of four professional glassblowers blowing Venetian-style wine glasses. Whether you’re interested in basic glassblowing, throwing a birthday party or organizing a field trip, Diablo is not to be missed.
123 Terrace St.
www.diabloglassandmetal.com

Puddingstone Park
One block up the hill from Brigham Circle, is the City of Boston’s newest park, spanning 5.5 acres of Mission Hill’s Ledge Site. The park, the vision of Mission Hill residents, houses winding walking paths, a beautifully landscaped lawn and meadows, benches to take in dramatic views of the Boston skyline and a dog run where Fido can run around unleashed. The park is aptly named after the stones quarried from its location. Puddingstone is open May 1-July 31 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., from August 1-September 30 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from October 1-April 30 from dawn to dusk.
St. Alphonsus Street
www.missionhillnhs.org/open_space

Mission Church (Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help)
The early Mission Hill neighborhood was home to several breweries and to their owners and staff, much of whom were German Catholic immigrants. In 1869, the Catholic Church of Boston invited the German order of the Sons of St. Adolphus to establish a mission in the Parker Hill area. That mission grew from a nondescript wood structure to the massive Romanesque-style edifice that dominates the hill, and the neighborhood, today. Its present building was built out of Roxbury puddingstone, which was quarried next door.
1545 Tremont St.
www.themissionchurch.com

American Brewing Company
Among the many breweries dotting Mission Hill’s Stonybrook’s neighborhood was this richly-decorated, Queen Anne-style complex. Designed by architect Frederick H. Footman in 1891, American Brewing was formed by Irish immigrant John W. Kinney, a local wholesale liquor dealer who became a major developer of the beer industry in and around Roxbury. Prohibition effectively ended brewing here in 1929 and the building was eventually transformed into the American Brewery Lofts. 
251Heath St.
www.bostonhistory.org/m_mission

Mission Hill: The skinny

• Famous residents of the neighborhood include former Boston Mayor and Massachusetts Governor Maurice Tobin and “Queen of Disco” singer Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines).
• The McLaughlin Historic Orchard and Playground was once a farm owned by the Parker family in the 1700s. Peter Parker, whose name is synonymous with Spider-man, married Sarah Ruggles, whose family owned large areas of the land including most of what became known as Parker Hill, which later became Mission Hill. If only Parker had his name’s alter-ego’s strength; he was crushed to death by a barrel of his own apple cider.
• Much of Mission Hill’s development is owed to the numerous educational and medical institutions surrounding the neighborhood. Many of its residents are doctors, nurses and medical researchers, graduate and college students as well as other people who work to keep such institutions thriving.
  

• Mission Hill’s triangular historic district is one of just eight such districts in Boston. Its 71 buildings, bordered by Huntington Avenue, Tremont Street and Worthington Street, illustrate the neighborhood’s development from the 1870s through the 1910s.