Neighborhood or district of Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. Located near the Milton/Boston border, major streets include Ashmont Ave., Gallivan Blvd., and Dorchester Ave.
The eastern areas of Dorchester are primarily ethnic white, Irish and Vietnamese, while the western half of the neighborhood is the center of Boston's African-American and Cape Verdean community.
In the summer of 1614, Captain John Smith of Virginia fame, entered Boston Harbor and landed a boat with eight men on the Dorchester shore, at what was then a narrow peninsula known as Mattapan or Mattahunts, and today is known as South Boston.
The mother and grandparents of John F. Kennedy lived in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood while John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston.