The country is rolling and hilly, the Blue Hills (with the exception of a part included in Braintree in 1712 and now in Quincy) lying in Milton.
In 1712 the Blue Hill lands were divided between Milton and Braintree, and in 1868 part of Milton was included in the new township of Hyde Park.
The son graduated at Brown University in 1826, was a teacher at Braintree for two years, and in 1831 graduated from Andover theological seminary.
The New York, New Haven & Hartford railway crosses the town and has stations at its villages of Braintree, South Braintree and East Braintree, which are also served by suburban electric railways.
In South Braintree are the Thayer Academy (co-educational; opened 1877) and the Thayer public library, both founded by and named in honour of General Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), a well-known military engineer born in Braintree, who was superintendent of the United States Military Academy in 1817-1833 and has been called the "father of West Point."