How to get to The Buttery

We're located at 24 Kenwood St. in Dorchester, near Codman Square (and not far from Fields Corner). Our recommended routes for those new to Dorchester:

Driving from the north or west:

• Take I-93 (the Southeast Expressway) to the Columbia Rd. exit (exit 15).
• Turn right (away from the ocean) on Columbia Rd. at the bottom of the ramp.
• Continue to the first real traffic light (there are two gas stations at this corner), and turn left on Dorchester Ave.
• Continue straight on Dorchester Ave. for a while. Eventually, you will go through a retail district called Fields Corner, which includes a shopping center with a AJ Wright store, a McDonalds, and an America's Food Basket supermarket, and a park with a baseball field.
• Shortly after going through Fields Corner, you will pass a Tedeschi's market on the left. (This will be the second Tedeschi's you pass; the first is shortly before Fields Corner.) Proceed to the first traffic light after that. (Mohawk Realty [with an Indian on the building] and an Irving gas station are located at this corner.) Turn right on Melville Ave.
• Follow Melville until you reach Allston St.; turn left. (There is a longish stretch with no left turns available. Allston is the first left turn after that.)
• WARNING - plot complication!
  There is now a "no left turn Monday-Friday 5-7pm" sign obstructing the turn from Melville onto Allston. Watch out - cops are frequently waiting around the corner just to ticket you. We urge you to come before 5 or after 7 if you are visiting during the week, or to call us for alternate directions.
• Go two blocks to Kenwood St.; turn right.
• Follow Kenwood St. down a hill and most of the way back up. 24 Kenwood is on the right.

From the south:

• Take Rt. 3 north to the Braintree split.
• Take I-93 south (which is really west at this point).
• Exit at Rt. 28 north (exit 5 from I-93).
• Continue straight on Rt. 28. There is one point where you have to take a left turn to go "straight" on Rt. 28; watch out for it. After a while, you reach an intersection with Rt. 138. After that, Rt. 28 is also Blue Hill Ave.
• Continue for about 2 more miles. Eventually, you reach a 3-block-long park on your right. (There is a large tennis building visible in this park.) Immediately after the end of the park, turn right on Talbot Ave.
• Continue on Talbot Ave. through a traffic light and under a railroad bridge. The next traffic light is at a complex intersection with a street coming in sharply from the right, as well as a cross street. The sharp right is Norfolk St.; the cross street is Washington St. (See the map above.)
• Continue straight through the complex intersection. Immediately after crossing Washington St. (within 200 feet), turn left on Centre St.
• Go one block to Seaborn St. Turn left.
• Go two blocks. Seaborn St. ends. Turn left on Kenwood St.
• Go most of the way up the hill. 24 Kenwood is on the right.

From the southwest (i.e., I-95 from Providence, Rt. 1 south of Boston, etc.):

• Get to the beginning of I-93 north (the intersection of I-93 and I-95 in Canton). Take I-93 north (which is really east here; got to love these highway directions...) to Rt. 138 north (exit 2 from I-93).
• Follow Rt. 138 until it ends at an intersection with Rt. 28. At that intersection, turn left to take Rt. 28 north.
• Then follow the directions above, starting with "Continue for about 2 more miles".

From Jamaica Plain and some other in-town locations:

• Get to Forest Hills.
• From most places in Jamaica Plain, you will drive down South St. or Washington St. to get there. When you get to Forest Hills, you want to get onto Route 203 south; this involves a left turn shortly before reaching the T station. From some other locations, it may be simpler to get on the Jamaicaway; see the next paragraph.
• From other places, you will probably get on the road known as the Fenway, the Jamaicaway, or the Arborway, depending on which part of the road you are on. Go south on it. When you reach the rotary where the VFW Parkway (the road formerly known as Route 1) branches off to the right, continue around the rotary instead, and then turn right on Route 203. Take the overpass past Forest Hills.
• In either case, you will end up at a rotary. Alas, the best landmark for this rotary (a former Howard Johnson's restaurant) is no longer there, but there is now a less obvious building with a sign for Bicon Dental Implants. Go three-quarters of the way around the rotary; take a right turn just after you go past the Lemuel Shattuck hospital. This puts you on a road going through Franklin Park.
• Follow the road through the park, going as straight as it lets you (which isn't very; it winds a lot). When you exit the park, turn left immediately on Blue Hill Avenue. (There is a traffic light here.)
• After one block, you reach another light. Turn right on Columbia Rd.
• Take Columbia Rd. to the second traffic light. Turn right on Washington St. There is a Burger King at this intersection.
• Follow Washington St. for a while. You pass a Kentucky Fried Chicken. At the first traffic light after that, turn left on Melville Ave. This intersection features the Dorchester Courthouse (not to be confused with the former Dorchester Courthouse Annex, which is a bit earlier; the Courthouse really looks like one) and a gas station that used to be a Citgo station (and still has the distinctive colors).
• There is one right turn right away, and then a longish stretch of road with no streets on the right. The first street after that is Allston St. Turn right there.
• Go two blocks on Allston. Turn right on Kenwood St.
• Follow Kenwood St. down a hill and most of the way back up. 24 Kenwood is on the right.

By T:

• Take the Ashmont branch of the Red Line to Shawmut. (Don't get on a Braintree train.)
• Leave the station; you're on the south side of the building. Walk straight ahead until you reach the end of the building on your right (Epiphany School).
• Turn right on Sharp St (unmarked). Walk to the end of the street; turn right on Allston St.
• Go a very short distance to Kenwood St. Turn left.
• Follow Kenwood St. down a hill and most of the way back up. 24 Kenwood is on the right.

By T shuttle bus (when the Red Line isn't running):

• Take the Red Line to the point where the shuttle buses begin. Most often, that is the JFK-UMass station. Get on the bus.
• Ask the driver to let you off at Centre St. They're supposed to do that, as it is the closest point to Shawmut Station that they get to. Alas, sometimes they use drivers who aren't familiar with Dorchester, or who don't even have a clue about what Shawmut Station is. So you may need to know how to recognize the right spot....
• The shuttle bus route runs along Dorchester Ave. (known as Dot Ave by the locals). After a while, it passes through Fields Corner, a large retail district. On your right, you will see a shopping center with a McDonalds, a grocery, and some other stuff. A bit later, you pass a Tedeschi's market on the left. (That will be the second Tedeschi's you pass; the first is shortly before Fields Corner.) The first traffic light after that is Melville Ave.; the second light is Centre St., which is where you want to get off the bus.
• Once you're off the bus, you want to go right on Centre St. (that is to say, the direction that was on your right when you were looking forward from the bus). A bit up the street, there is a fork in the road; go left at the fork, staying on Centre St. A short distance later, you reach a T intersection. You are, amazingly enough, at the intersection of Centre St. and Centre Ave.! To make it even more confusing, Centre St. continues by turning right at the T intersection, and Centre Ave. ends. Anyhow, turn right at the T intersection (not to be confused with an intersection with the T).
• After a very short distance, you reach Nixon St. Ignore Nixon (just as all us 70s survivors liked to do anyway) and continue straight ahead. You walk over the MBTA right of way; you can see Shawmut Station to your right. Then you pass a parking lot and an auto body shop. Shortly after that, you reach Allston St.; turn right.
• Follow Allston St. for two blocks. Turn left on Kenwood St. Follow it down the hill and most of the way back up; 24 Kenwood St. is on the right.

The maps below show the suggested routes. The first map is a highway overview, showing the exits from I-93. The second map is a neighborhood overview. The third map is a detail of our neighborhood. The red lines show the driving directions from the north and west. The blue lines show the alternate Dorchester Day driving directions from the north and west. The purple lines show the Dorchester Day driving directions from the south and southwest. The dark green line, shown only on the neighborhood detail map, shows the walking directions from Shawmut Station. (The light green line showed a detour around construction; it is no longer necessary.) The pink line shows the route from the suggested bus stop on Dorchester Avenue, for use when the Red Line isn't running.

If you get lost, give us a call at (617) BUT-TERY (that's 288-8379) and we'll tell you how to get here.

New for 2008: a link to an interactive Google Map. We also still have the old-fashioned non-interactive maps:

Alternate directions for Dorchester Day

The directions from Jamaica Plain, and the directions from the south and southwest don't use Dot. Ave. And the T operates normally during the parade, though the trains may be more crowded than usual.

Otherwise...

From the north and west:

• Get to the Central Artery (I-93 southbound). You'll go through the South Station tunnel (unless you're coming via the Mass. Pike, in which case you enter just after the tunnel).
• Take the next exit after the Mass. Pike; it's currently labeled Exit 18, Mass Ave./South Bay. (Warning: this exit is in an area being affected regularly by the Big Dig, so it's hard for us to provide precise directions.) This puts you on a small road running parallel to the highway, with Jersey barriers on both sides of you.
• After a bit, there is an intersection with another road, and break in the barriers on the right; immediately after that, there is a right turn for Mass. Ave. Take that turn.
• When you reach a traffic light (at Mass. Ave.), turn left.
• Continue on Mass. Ave. until it ends; there is a brake place on the right at this intersection, and a KFC and a Store 24 across the street. Turn right on Columbia Rd.
• Go straight on Columbia Rd. for a while; you will go through a retail district (Uphams Corner), under a railroad bridge, and then up a hill.
• At the top of the hill, you will intersect Washington St.; there is a Burger King at that intersection. Turn left on Washington St.
• Follow Washington St. for a while. You pass a KFC (yes, another one). Shortly after that, you will see the Dorchester Courthouse (not to be confused with the Dorchester Courthouse Annex, which is a bit earlier; the Courthouse really looks like one) and a gas station that used to be a Citgo station; turn left on Melville Ave. at that intersection.
• There is a longish stretch of road with no streets on the right. The first street after that is Allston St. Turn right there.
• Go two blocks on Allston. Turn right on Kenwood St.
• Follow Kenwood St. down a hill and most of the way back up. 24 Kenwood is on the right.

If you miss the Mass. Ave. turn (not that hard to do), you will reach the South Bay shopping center after a bit. Take a right turn into the shopping center, and drive all the way through it, emerging through the exit at the other end onto Mass. Ave. Turn left, and pick up from "Continue on Mass. Ave. until it ends".

There are also times when the road through Franklin Park is closed. This happens when there are large festivals in the park, such as the Caribbean and Puerto Rican festivals. When that road is closed, the directions from Jamaica Plain won't work, and there is no easy-to-describe direct alternate route from there; you'll just have to take one of the other (roundabout) routes.