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Jamaica Plain's Five Best Dog Walks

Did I miss one? Let me (and, by extension, my dog Molly) know in the comments.

 

JP is one of Boston's greenest neighborhoods, and an awesome one for walking a dog. Here are my top five walks:

  1. Forest Hills Cemetery. It's one of the nation's oldest garden cemeteries and hard to beat for a lovely dog walk. If you keep to the woods at the edges of the cemetery, it's also pretty easy to let your dog off leash without arousing the ire of the security guards.
  2. Arnold Arboretum. Arguably the single best place in JP to let your dog play with other dogs is Peters Hill. And any route you take through the Arboretum is sure to lower your own nature deficit.
  3. From anywhere in the neighborhood to the Brendan Behan. Hat tip to my dog walking neighbor Karie for pointing this one out. Dogs are always welcome in the Behan, and there's plenty of refreshment available for the human's walk home.
  4. Franklin Park. There are acres and acres of wooded paths for you and your pooch to enjoy.
  5. The Urban Walk. As humans, we sometimes get hung up on the idea that dogs need to be walked in parks. But our Border Collie mutt, Molly, loves to sniff along the sidewalk. And the urban walk lets the human stop at Harvest or other stores while the leashed-up dog gets attention from passersby outside. Win/win!
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Well, that's my Top Five. What did I miss? Tell us in the comments.

Aine Creedon

4:03 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

How about Jamaica Pond? That's a great place to walk your pooch!

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Chris Helms

4:23 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Bad editor! How could I have left out the Pond? For me, I suppose it's the smells around the Pond are just way too interesting for my dog and it's a real pain to keep her moving!

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David Ertischek

5:11 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

I love the photos of Molly! As a non-dog owning person I love going to the Arnold Arboretum and playing with dogs. People are pretty cool with it, especially atop of Peters Hill.

I think the Forest Hills Cemetery is good for walking dogs that like fewer dogs and people on their walk, but then there's also Hibiscus Pond and lots of goose poop for puppies to eat!

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Karie Kirkpatrick

5:30 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Also, the Southwest Corridor Bikepath is a good place to walk and run into other pooches.

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Juli H.

6:29 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Well, it's not really a walk, but the Beecher St Dog Park is great!

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gretchen van ness

7:15 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011

Chris is right about the Pond. Between the ducks and the geese and the people and the other dogs, it's more of a meet and greet and chase, not really a walk!

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L.J. Hummel

12:23 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011

Chris and other dog owners: Try the walk through the Olmstead Park on the other side of Perkins Street from Jamaica Pond around Wards Pond. You can cross Willow Pond Road and loop all the way around Leverett Pond as well. I have even seen deer in there very early on a Sunday morning. In the summer with full vegetation you almost can't believe you're in the city.

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