A new tour company hopes to change perceptions and show out-of-towners what Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain have to offer.
Leonard Lee, the executive director of the Dillaway-Thomas House in Roxbury, is sounding a bit fed up.
He’s relaying a story about a Back Bay organization that was debating whether to hold a morning event at the beautifully restored Colonial-era home, which, after a five-year, $3.6 million renovation is now a pristine museum that shows what Colonial life was like in Roxbury. It’s a beautiful place situated in Roxbury Heritage State Park with sweeping views of the city.
Then he heard the dreaded question.
“They wanted to know if it was safe to have their breakfast event here,” he says somewhat incredulously. “There is this perception that Roxbury is some kind of war zone. It’s because people haven’t spent time here. They don’t know the history we have.”
Leonard Lee, the executive director of the Dillaway-Thomas House in Roxbury, is sounding a bit fed up.
He’s relaying a story about a Back Bay organization that was debating whether to hold a morning event at the beautifully restored Colonial-era home, which, after a five-year, $3.6 million renovation is now a pristine museum that shows what Colonial life was like in Roxbury. It’s a beautiful place situated in Roxbury Heritage State Park with sweeping views of the city.
Then he heard the dreaded question.
“They wanted to know if it was safe to have their breakfast event here,” he says somewhat incredulously. “There is this perception that Roxbury is some kind of war zone. It’s because people haven’t spent time here. They don’t know the history we have.”