Real Estate near Fenway Park -- Live Among the Buzz of Boston

Speaking of the public transportation. There's a little bit of construction going on.

The dramatic, giant-arched bus canopy at the center of the square is fully glassed-up. Commuters can now get from there to the train station without risk of impaling themselves on construction materials. In the station, handsome steel-and-glass enclosures surround stairs to the platforms. Above ground, paved walkways guide bus riders safely out of the terminal and onto the streets.

All of the traffic lanes heading into the square are open, and cars move smoothly, even on a busy Monday afternoon. The sidewalks - and the intersection of Commonwealth, Beacon, and Brookline - are paved in handsome brick. Trees and grassy islands have appeared.

Kenmore is still rough around the edges. The ground is dug up in places. The spot where an elevator will carry people from the bus stop to the subway station is still a hole (the elevator is due to arrive next month). Frowsy old bus shelters squat beneath the flashy new one. Awkward signs, some of them handwritten, direct commuters to the B Line or beg their pardon for the inconvenience.

But if you can get past these distractions, the Fenway area of Boston is a great place to call home.

Anyway, the Fenway area is so named because it used to be covered with fens. A "fen" is "low land covered wholly or partly with water unless artificially drained". This area of Boston (like much of the rest of Boston) used to be either marshes or under water entirely until it was either filled in or drained. Actually, on a side note, you might be interested to look at maps of Boston from the 1600s and 1700s to see how much of Boston used to be underwater before they filled it all in- hence parts called "Fenway" and "Back Bay". So, the Fenway part of Boston used to be fens (and parts of it still are).