[2][3] The original Nlaka'pamuctsin (Thompson Salish) name of Boston Bar was rendered in English-style spelling as Quayome, which appears commonly on frontier-era maps and in diaries and newspapers of the day.

[4] Across the Fraser River is the small town of North Bend, which could only be accessed by rail or by aerial ferry until January 1986 when the two lane bridge was built.

It is notably the first place inland up the Fraser Canyon where rainfall levels are markedly lower than the rainier stretches from Yale and Spuzzum north to Hell's Gate.

One consequence of the climate is that Boston Bar is in the range of the northern Pacific rattlesnake, which is common in areas farther upstream along the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, such as Lytton.

[6] Boston Bar experienced wildfires during the 2021 Western North America heat wave, with firefighters battling them.