Welcome to Belmont

Belmont is a town in Middlesex County just west of Cambridge, known as the Town of Homes because it is almost entirely residential. Its tree-lined streets spread out from three small commercial centers, Belmont Center, Cushing Square, and Waverley Square, and climb toward Belmont Hill in the northwest.

About Belmont

Belmont was created on March 18, 1859, from parts of Watertown, Waltham, and West Cambridge, the town now called Arlington. The railroad came first: the Fitchburg Railroad reached the area around 1843, and villages grew up around the stations at what are now Belmont Center and Waverley. One of the strongest backers of a new town was John Perkins Cushing, its largest taxpayer, who helped pay for incorporation on the condition that the town be named after his 200-acre estate, Bellmont.

The early town was a landscape of fruit farms and market gardens whose celery, tomatoes, and berries were sold at Faneuil Hall market. In 1880 a section around Fresh Pond was annexed to Cambridge. Through the early 1900s the farms gave way to houses, and the town took on the residential character it has today. Belmont borders Arlington, Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham, and Lexington.

Getting Around

The Fitchburg Line commuter rail stops at Belmont station in Belmont Center and at Waverley station in Waverley Square. MBTA bus routes 74 and 75 run from Belmont Center to Harvard, and route 73 connects Waverley Square with Harvard. Route 2 runs along the town's northern edge.

Belmont Real Estate

Belmont real estate is mostly single-family and two-family houses, with condominiums in converted houses and smaller buildings near the squares. The town's historic resources survey identified several areas with a distinct character:

• Belmont Hill, northwest of Belmont Center, developed gradually from the 19th century with houses on larger lots in styles from Federal and Second Empire to Colonial, English Revival, and International Style
• Belmont Park, a subdivision built mostly between 1894 and 1899, with Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival houses
• Payson Park, near Cushing Square, developed between 1886 and 1920 with Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, English Revival, and Craftsman homes
• Clark Hill, laid out in 1909, with English Revival and Craftsman houses, stone walls, and landscaped lots
• Snake Hill, seven early Modern houses designed by architect Carl Koch in the 1940s

Parts of Belmont Center fall within the Pleasant Street Historic District and the Common Street Local Historic District.

Living in Belmont

Belmont Center is the civic heart of town, with shops and restaurants along Leonard Street and Concord Avenue near the commuter rail station. Cushing Square, where Common Street, Trapelo Road, and Cushing Avenue meet, has early 20th-century commercial blocks, and Waverley Square serves the southwest corner of town near the Waltham line.

Open space is close at hand. Mass Audubon's Habitat Education Center and Wildlife Sanctuary covers 88 acres of forest, meadow, and ponds with walking trails, and the Western Greenway, a 12-mile footpath loop, connects Belmont with Waltham and Lexington.

To see homes for sale in Belmont, browse the listings below or contact Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Warren Residential.