Sanctuary Hills Sanctuary Hills , often referred to as Sanctuary , is a location and settlement in the Commonwealth in 2287 . History . Built sometime in the 2070s , Sanctuary Hills was a friendly suburb of Concord , located on a small island about a mile north of the town and accessible only by a wooden bridge , consisting of 14 prefabricated homes . Before the Great War Sanctuary Hills was the home of the Sole Survivor , who lived in the House of Tomorrow with their spouse Nate / Nora , their son Shaun , and their robot butler Codsworth . On Saturday October 23rd , 2077 , many families were just beginning their weekend mornings when their radios and television sets began reporting nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania at 9 : 42 am . At 9 : 47 am , Boston was hit by one atomic warhead , and Sanctuary Hills was hit by the subsequent atomic blast seconds later . Select citizens that had spaces reserved fled to Vault 111 , just through the woods surrounding the community , to escape the atomic fire . After the war Sanctuary Hills was largely left to decay , with several of the original homes collapsing and the others falling in to various states of disrepair . Its only residents during the post war era were radroaches , bloatflies , Codsworth , and the Vault - Tec rep for a very short period of time . Upon return to the town following cryogenic stasis , Sanctuary Hills will often become the first settlement in The Commonwealth to fall under the Sole Survivor ' s control . The ruins of the development became a prospective settlement for the survivors of the Quincy Massacre , led by Preston Garvey , who are trapped in the nearby Museum of Freedom in Concord . After the quest When Freedom Calls , Sanctuary Hills becomes the first new Commonwealth Minutemen settlement after their destruction at Quincy . The settlement is equipped with the pre - existing crafting stations : Layout . Sanctuary Hills is accessible by a small footbridge from Vault 111 and original main road over the larger bridge crossing the Misty Lake river , leading to Concord , via the Red Rocket fueling station . The village itself is built along a single road , which ends in a cul - de - sac . The site is populated by several houses which , by 2287 , are in various states of decay . To the west of Sanctuary Hills the Misty Lake is located and is the source to the two rivers surrounding the small island of Sanctuary Hills . There are multiple safes and lootable items to be found in Sanctuary . Starting from the bridge leading out of the community , there is a floor safe ( Advanced ) hidden under a dresser in the blue house to the north of the road . In the yellow house at the curve of the street , there is a terminal ( Novice ) and a safe ( Novice ) with a makeshift bomb on the top and tension trigger affixed to the left hand side . In the blue house next to the yellow one is a Nuka - Cherry in the fridge , a first aid box in the bathroom and a locked suitcase ( Novice ) in the bedroom . In the Sole Survivor ' s house , the player character can find an issue of Grognak the Barbarian on the kitchen table and the " You ' re SPECIAL ! " book under the dresser in Shaun ' s room . There is a safe ( Novice ) in the house and a root cellar around the back of the following house down the street ; just before the roundabout . The house south of the roundabout has a floor safe ( Novice ) hidden under the baby bed . The root cellar is a shelter built under a neighboring property , two houses up from the House of Tomorrow in 2287 . It appears that the owner was not able to reserve a space in a vault and so made his own shelter . The door can be found at the back of the house , just before the cul - de - sac in the northeast of Sanctuary Hills . It is next to a bush of wild mutfruit plants . There is a duffle bag containing leveled loot on the roof of the same house , accessible via the fallen tree to the rear of the house . Appearances . Sanctuary Hills appears only in " Fallout 4 " . Additionally , it is mentioned in the Game Show Gauntlet quest in " Fallout Shelter " .