West Roxbury - MA - Images of America Author:Anthony Mitchell Sammarco Once known as Westerly, or South Street, this community of tree-lined streets along the Charles River has maintained its small-town charm even as it has grown from rural roots over the past century and a half. West Roxbury was also the home of Brook Farm, a Utopian community founded by Reverend Ripley that attracted such literary figures as Nath... more »aniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Horace Greeley.« less