Boston Common

In 1634, four years after John Winthrop and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settled the Shawmut Peninsula and created Boston, the colonists bought a 48-acre tract on the lower slopes of Beacon Hill from Reverend William Blackstone, an Anglican hermit who had been the area’s sole inhabitant for nearly a decade, and immediately set it aside as an English-style commonage for the use of all the town’s people. During its first two centuries, it was not simply a tree-lined public park but a place of public rallies and celebrations, recreations such as promenading, ball playing, and sledding, and also a military training field, cow and sheep pasture, public punishment site, and burial ground. For eight years, British redcoats camped and drilled there, and many were buried there during the occupation leading into the American Revolution. Although a tree-lined pedestrian mall appeared in 1728, the most conspicuous foliage was the ancient Great Elm, which served as a protective shelter and meeting place and, in the 17th century, as the colony’s hanging tree. By the mid-19th century, as the American parks movement took root in Boston, new tree-lined walks, commemorative statues and plaques, fountains, and iron fences and gates gradually gave the place a more modern appearance, while it continued to host rallies and demonstrations, ball games, festive celebrations, musical concerts, and quiet strolls. The ancient Frog Pond, now paved, became a site for wading and ice skating. Throughout its history, it has served the dual role of meeting ground and public park, reflecting both Boston’s past and America’s as well.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States