Living in Medford, Boston

Medford, a separate city north of Somerville built on two centuries of shipbuilding and rum distilling along the Mystic River, centers its commercial life on Medford Square, where High Street and Salem Street's shops and restaurants meet near the old town common. Tufts University's main campus climbs Walnut Hill along the Medford/Somerville line, its Gothic buildings and Goddard Chapel visible from much of the surrounding neighborhood. The Royall House and Slave Quarters, a Georgian mansion near Tufts, preserves the only known freestanding slave quarters left standing in New England alongside the mansion of the family that once enslaved them. The Mystic River's waterfront trail runs along the water near Medford Square, part of a network of paths that link the river's parks together. The Green Line Extension's Medford/Tufts station, its northern terminus, sits at the edge of the Tufts campus, connecting the city directly into Somerville and Boston.

Medford runs its own city services, tax rate, and school system separate from Boston's, worth checking directly rather than assuming Boston's rules carry across the line.

A walk through Medford Square, an hour inside the Royall House's preserved rooms, and a stroll along the Mystic's waterfront trail trace a city whose history runs far deeper than its status as a Boston neighbor might suggest.