View source for Boston Common

{{Short description|Public park in Boston, Massachusetts}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox park
| type = [[Public park]]
|image = File:Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common 2.jpg
|image_caption = Aerial view of Boston Common in [[Downtown Boston]] in June 2017
| map =
| map_label = Boston Common
| map_width = 208
| area                 = {{convert|50|acre|m2}}<ref name="nrhpinv2"/>
| mapframe-area_km2 = 1
|mapframe-marker-color = #abdb75
| opened                = 1634
| location             = [[Boston]], Massachusetts, U.S.
| designer  = Multiple, including [[Augustus St. Gaudens]]
| embedded ={{Infobox NRHP
| name                 =
| nrhp_type            = nhld
| nocat                = no
| architecture         =
| designated_nrhp_type = February 27, 1987<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1976&ResourceType=District|title=Boston Common|access-date=April 16, 2008|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|archive-date=February 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203083038/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1976&ResourceType=District|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| added                = July 12, 1972 (original, in NRHP also including Boston Public Garden)<br>February 27, 1987 (new, in NHL of Boston Common alone)<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
| refnum               = 72000144 (original)<br>[https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/87000760 87000760] (new)
|embed = yes
}}
}}
The '''Boston Common''' is a public park in [[downtown Boston]], Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites/boston-common.htm|title=Boston Common|year=2006  |publisher=CelebrateBoston.com|access-date=March 26, 2011}}</ref> Boston Common consists of {{convert|50|acre|ha}} of land bounded by five major [[Boston]] streets: [[Tremont Street]], [[Park Street, Boston|Park Street]], [[Beacon Street]], [[Charles Street (Boston)|Charles Street]], and [[Boylston Street]].

The Common is part of the [[Emerald Necklace]] of parks and parkways that extend from the Common south to [[Franklin Park, Boston|Franklin Park]] in [[Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts|Jamaica Plain]], [[Roxbury, Massachusetts|Roxbury]], and [[Dorchester, Boston|Dorchester]]. The visitors' center for the city of Boston is located on the Tremont Street side of the park.

The [[Central Burying Ground, Boston|Central Burying Ground]] is on the Boylston Street side of Boston Common and contains the graves of artist [[Gilbert Stuart]] and composer [[William Billings]]. Also buried there are Samuel Sprague and his son [[Charles Sprague (poet)|Charles Sprague]], one of America's earliest poets. Samuel Sprague was a participant in the [[Boston Tea Party]] and fought in the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. The Common was designated as a Boston Landmark by the [[Boston Landmarks Commission]] in 1977.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Boston_Common_Study_Report_4_tcm3-32547.pdf|title=Boston Common Study Report, Boston Landmarks Commission.|last=City of Boston}}</ref>

The Common is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons".<ref>{{cite web |title=Boston Common |url=http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/bostoncommon.asp |access-date=November 9, 2011 |publisher=City of Boston}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Place Names: Boston English |url=http://www.universalhub.com/glossary/wickedpn.html |access-date=November 9, 2011 |publisher=Adam Gaffin and by content posters}}</ref>

==History==
{{Further|History of Boston}}
===17th century===
[[File:Boston, 1775bsmall1.png|thumb|Boston Common identified at the western edge of this 1775 [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British artillery]] survey of the city with [[Boston Neck]] visible at roughly at 7 o'clock.]]
[[File:USA-Granary Burying Ground0.jpg|thumb|[[Granary Burying Ground]] on Boston Common]]
[[William Blaxton]] was the first European owner of the land. He arrived in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] as chaplain to the [[Robert Gorges]] expedition that landed in [[Weymouth, Massachusetts|Weymouth]] in 1623. Every other member of this colonization attempt returned to England before the winter of 1625. Blaxton migrated five miles north to the [[Shawmut Peninsula]], then a rocky bulge at the end of a swampy isthmus surrounded on all sides by mudflats. Blaxton lived entirely alone for five years on the peninsula that became Boston.<ref name="Webster, Larry">{{Cite web |last1=Friends of the Public Garden and Common |last2=Moore |first2=Barbara W. |last3=Weesner |first3=Gail |last4=Lee |first4=Henry |last5=McIntyre |first5=A. McVoy |last6=Webster |first6=Larry |title=History of Boston Common |url=https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/boston%20Common%20History%20&%20Map_tcm3-30691.pdf |access-date=October 19, 2022 |website=City of Boston}}</ref>

In 1630, Blaxton wrote a decisive letter to the Puritan group led by [[Isaac Johnson (colonist)|Isaac Johnson]], whose colony of [[Charlestown, Boston|Charlestown]] was then failing from lack of fresh water. Blaxton advertised the excellent natural springs of the peninsula and invited Johnson's group to settle with him on it, which they did on September 7, 1630. Johnson died less than three weeks later and Blaxton negotiated a grant of 50 acres around his home on the western edge of the peninsula from Governor [[John Winthrop]]. This amounted to approximately 10 percent of the available land on the [[Shawmut Peninsula]] and stretched from Beacon Hill to Boylston Street.<ref name="www.thefreedomtrail.org">{{Cite web |title=Boston Common {{!}} The Freedom Trail |url=https://www.thefreedomtrail.org/trail-sites/boston-common |access-date=October 19, 2022 |website=www.thefreedomtrail.org}}</ref>

One of Johnson's last official acts as the leader of the Charleston community was to name the new settlement across the river Boston after his original home in [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Lincolnshire]], England. He had immigrated to [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] with his wife Arbella and [[John Cotton (minister)|John Cotton]], grandfather of [[Cotton Mather]], during the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|Puritan Migration]].

However, Blaxton quickly tired of his [[Puritans|Puritan]] neighbors and the difficulty of retaining such a large plot of land in a town that had grown to nearly 4,000 people by 1633. This led him to sell all but six of his 50 acres back to Winthrop in 1634 for £30 ($5,455 adjusted). The governor purchased the land through a one-time tax on residents amounting to 6 shillings (around $50 adjusted) per person. Those 44 acres became the town commons of Boston and today form the bulk of Boston Common.<ref name="www.thefreedomtrail.org" />

During the 1630s, the Common was used by many families as a cow pasture. This traditional use for a commons quickly ended when the large herds kept by affluent families led to overgrazing and the collapse of the Common as pastureland.<ref>{{cite book | author-link = James Loewen | last = Loewen | first = James | title = Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong | location = New York | publisher = [[The New Press]] | year = 1999 | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780965003179/page/414 414] | isbn = 0-9650031-7-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780965003179/page/414 }}</ref> In 1646, grazing was limited to 70 cows at a time. The Common continued to host cows until they were formally banned in 1830 by Mayor [[Harrison Gray Otis (politician)|Harrison Gray Otis]].<ref>Lowen, James (1994) Planning the City Upon a Hill: Boston Since 1630University of Massachusetts Press (Boston) {{ISBN|0-87023-923-6}}, {{ISBN|978-0-87023-923-6}}, p. 53</ref><ref>[http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=10 Boston Common & Public Gardens – Great Public Spaces | Project for Public Spaces] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108175844/http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=10|date=November 8, 2011}}. PPS. Retrieved on August 21, 2013.</ref>

The [[Granary Burying Ground]] located at the southern edge of the Common was established in 1660. Two years later, part of this land was separated from the Common, with the southwest portion used for public buildings—including a granary and jail—and the north portion dedicated to an almshouse (probably the first in the [[Thirteen Colonies]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Vale |first=Lawrence J. |title=From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0674025752 |place=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, MA]] |page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Vale |first=Lawrence J. |title=From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Public Neighbors |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0674025752 |place=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, MA]] |page=28}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Shurtleff |first=Nathaniel Bradstreetl |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ |title=A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston |publisher=Boston City Council |year=1871 |location=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_UWkUAAAAYAAJ/page/n224 211]}}</ref>

Boston Common took over from the gibbet outside the gate of [[Boston Neck]] as the town execution grounds and was used for public hangings until 1817. Most of these executions were carried out from the limb of a large oak, which was replaced with a gallows in 1769. Those executed included common criminals, military deserters, Indians, captured pirates, and religious dissidents. The most famous victims of the Common's era as an execution grounds were the group of [[Quakers]] known almost immediately after their deaths as the [[Boston martyrs|Boston Martyrs]]. The most famous of the Boston Martyrs was executed on  June 1, 1660. This was [[Mary Dyer]], who was hanged from the oak by the Puritan government of Boston for repeatedly defying a law that banned Quakers from the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]].<ref>Rogers, Horatio, 2009. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=L5_5yIgpa-YC&q=Among+the+most+pathetic+chapters+ Mary Dyer of Rhode Island: The Quaker Martyr That Was Hanged on Boston]'' pp.1–2. BiblioBazaar, LLC</ref><ref>J. Besse, ''A Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers'', 1753, Vol. 2, pp. 203–05.</ref><ref>[[ODNB]] article by John C. Shields, 'Leddra, William (d. 1661)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16267], accessed August 16, 2009</ref><ref name="Webster, Larry" />

===18th century===
[[File:1768 BostonCommon byChristianRemick.png|thumb|[[John Hancock]]'s house across from the Boston Common in 1768]]
The Common's status as a civic property led to its use as a public speaking grounds, frequently used by evangelists such as [[George Whitefield]].

On May 19, 1713, 200 citizens rioted on the Common in the [[Boston bread riot|Boston Bread Riot]] in reaction to a serious food shortage in the city. They later attacked the ships and warehouses of wealthy merchant [[Andrew Belcher (merchant, born 1706)|Andrew Belcher]] who was exporting grain to the [[British West Indies]] for higher profits. The lieutenant governor was shot during the riot.<ref>[[Howard Zinn|Zinn, Howard]]. ''[[A People's History of the United States]]''. New York: Perennial, 2003. p.51 {{ISBN|0-06-052837-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gaskell |first1=Philip |last2=Franklin |first2=Benjamin |last3=LeMay |first3=J. A. Leo |last4=Zall |first4=P. M. |date=October 1984 |title=The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3730147 |journal=The Modern Language Review |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=908 |doi=10.2307/3730147 |jstor=3730147 |issn=0026-7937|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Common was used as a military camp by the British before the [[American Revolutionary War]], and it was from the Common that they set off for the [[Battle of Lexington and Concord]].

[[File:Boston Common Public Garden 1890.jpg|thumb|An 1890 map of Boston Common and the adjacent public garden]]
[[File:Boston common aerial view.jpg|thumb|An Aerial view of Boston Common]]
Firework displays over Boston Common began as early as July 3, 1745 in celebration of the fall of Louisburg, followed by the celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act on May 19, 1766 and the first anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1777 when Son of Liberty "Colonel Crafts illuminated his park on the common" with fireworks, according to the Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 24, 1777. True park status seems to have emerged no later than 1830, when the grazing of cows was ended and renaming the Common as Washington Park was proposed. 

===19th century===
Renaming the bordering Sentry Street to Park Place, later called Park Street, in 1804<ref name="union">{{cite web|url=http://www.unionclub.org/history.html|title=A Brief History of the Union Club|publisher=The Union Club of Boston|access-date=October 4, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401155612/http://www.unionclub.org/history.html|archive-date=April 1, 2012}}</ref> already acknowledged the reality. By 1836, an ornamental iron fence fully enclosed the Common and its five perimeter malls or recreational promenade. Tremont Mall was an imitation of [[St. James's Park]] in London, and had been in place since 1728.

The Common was used for a variety of purposes until its formal conversion into a public park during the 1830s. These uses gradually became more urban as the city developed, shifting from pastureland to military drilling field, execution grounds, public gathering place, and finally parkland.

The park was originally "out of bounds" for Blacks and Indians, a restriction that was fought by the Black community in Boston until it was lifted on July 4, 1836.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayden |first=Robert C. |url=http://archive.org/details/africanamericans00hayd_0 |title=African-Americans in Boston: More than 350 Years |publisher=Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston |year=1991 |isbn=0-89073-083-0 |edition=2nd |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=34}}</ref>

The [[Charles Street (Boston)|Charles Street]] side of Boston Common and the adjacent portions of the [[Public Garden (Boston)|Public Garden]] were initially used as an unofficial dumping ground due to being in the lowest-lying portions of the two parks. This resulted in the portions of the two parks being "a moist stew that reeked and that was a mess to walk over" and driving visitors away from these areas, but the cost of repair prevented the work from being undertaken. This finally changed in the summer of 1895, when the required quantity of soil was made available as a result of the excavation of the [[Tremont Street subway]] which was used to regrade the Charles Street sides of Boston Common and the Public Garden.<ref>{{cite book|last=Most|first=Doug|date=2014|title=The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America's First Subway|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312591328|url-access=registration|publisher=St. Martin's Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312591328/page/233 233–234]|isbn=978-1-250-06135-5}}</ref>

===20th century===
A hundred people gathered on the Common in early 1965 to protest the [[Vietnam War]]. A second protest happened on October 15, 1969, this time with 100,000 people protesting in the [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam]].<ref>Zinn, Howard. p.486</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|url=|title=Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945–1975|date=2018|isbn=978-0-06-240566-1|edition=1|location=New York, NY|oclc=1001744417}}</ref>

Boston Common was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1972 along with the adjacent [[Boston Public Garden]]. The Common was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 with its own listing on the National Register.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=87000760}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Boston Common|date=November 1985 |format=PDF |author=James H. Charleton |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=June 22, 2009}} and {{NHLS url|id=87000760|title=''Accompanying photos: one aerial from 1972 and three from 1985''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(1.43&nbsp;MB)}}</ref><ref name="nhlsum"/> 

Boston Common is managed by the Boston Park Department and cared for by [[Friends of the Public Garden]], a private advocacy group which also provides additional funding for maintenance and special events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/|title=About – Friends of the Public Garden |website=friendsofthepublicgarden.org }}</ref>

==Notable features==
[[File:Boston Common in the fall 04.jpg|thumb|Boston Common in the fall of 2016]]
The Boston Common Frog Pond sits at the heart of the Common and is managed by the [[Skating Club of Boston]] in partnership with the City of Boston.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scboston.org/locations/frog-pond/|title=The Boston Common Frog Pond |website=The Skating Club of Boston |language=en-US|access-date=November 3, 2017}}</ref> Frog Pond is home to a winter ice skating rink and learn-to-skate school, a reflecting pool in the spring and fall, and a summer spray pool and children's carousel.

The softball fields lie in the southwest corner of the Common. A grassy area forms the western part of the park and is most commonly used for the park's largest events. A parking garage lies under this part of the Common. A [[Pope John Paul II Memorial (Boston)|granite slab there]] commemorates [[Pope John Paul II]]'s October 1, 1979 visit to Boston.  The Pope said [[Mass (Catholic Church)|mass]] that day to an estimated 400,000 people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=172133|title=Boston marks 35 years since Pope St. John Paul II's visit|website=The Boston Pilot |date= October 3, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1913 and 1986, prehistoric sites were discovered on the Common indicating American Indian presence long before it was colonized.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/research/spotlight/magazine/06/students/bagley.html |work=Research at Boston University |access-date= August 21, 2013 |title=Joseph Bagley: Fishing in the Frog Pond |date=2006 |first1=Trina |last1=Arpin }}</ref>

Since 1971, the Province of [[Nova Scotia]] has donated the [[Boston Christmas Tree|annual Christmas Tree]] to the City of Boston as an enduring thank-you for the relief efforts of the Boston [[Red Cross]] and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee following the [[Halifax Explosion]] of 1917.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boston.gov/news/boston-common-tree-arrives-mayor-will-virtually-light-tree-december-3|title=Boston Common tree arrives; Mayor will virtually light tree on December 3|date=November 19, 2020|website=Boston.gov}}</ref>

Both the Common and Public Garden have been developed for recreational and aesthetic purposes: while the Common is primarily unstructured open space that facilitate social and political gatherings, the Public Garden providing a more manicured landscape for promenading.

[[File:Boston Common at sunset.jpg|thumb|View of Boston Common and Park Street church at sunset]]

===Structures===
* The [[Boston Common Tablet]] is installed near the corner of Park Street and Tremont Street.
* [[Declaration of Independence Tablet]].
* Plaque to the [[Great Elm (Boston)|Great Elm tree]] which had been adorned with lanterns to represent liberty, used as a point of fortification, and used for hangings.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites/boston-common-great-elm.htm|title=Boston Common Great Elm|work=celebrateboston.com}}</ref> It was destroyed in a storm in 1876.
* The [[Robert Gould Shaw Memorial]] to [[Robert Gould Shaw]] and the Black [[54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry]] stands at Beacon and Park Streets, the northeast corner of the Common, opposite the State House.
* The [[Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Boston)|Soldiers and Sailors Monument]] is a victory column on Flag Staff Hill in the Common, commemorating [[Civil War (United States)|Civil War]] dead.
* The [[Boston Massacre Monument]] was dedicated November 14, 1888.
* The [[Oneida Football Club Monument]] memorializes the Common as the site of the first organized football games in the United States, played by the [[Oneida Football Club]] in 1862.<ref>Winthrop Saltonstall Scudder, ''An historical sketch of the Oneida football club of Boston, 1862–1865'' (Boston, 1926)</ref>
* [[Brewer Fountain]] stands near the corner of Park and Tremont Streets by [[Park Street station (MBTA)|Park Street Station]].
* [[Boylston station|Boylston]] and Park Street stations were the first two subway stations in the United States; they lie underneath the southern and eastern corners of the park, respectively. Both stations have been in near-continuous operation since the opening of the first portion of the [[Tremont Street subway]] (now part of the [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority|MBTA]]'s [[Green Line (MBTA)|Green Line]]) on September 1, 1897.
* [[Parkman Bandstand]] is in the eastern part of the park, used in musical and theatrical productions.
* [[Parkman Plaza]] features the statues ''Industry'', ''Learning'', and ''Religion''.

<gallery widths="150">
File:Beacon St. Mall, Boston Common, by E. L. Allen.png|Beacon St. Mall, 19th century (photo by [[Edward L. Allen|E.L. Allen]])
File:Old elm tree, Boston Common, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views 3.jpg|Old Elm tree, 19th century
File:GreatElmSiteBoston.JPG|Plaque to the Great Elm tree
File:Robert Gould Shaw Memorial (36053).jpg|''[[Robert Gould Shaw Memorial]]''
File:Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Boston Common (2007).jpg|[[Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Boston)|Soldiers and Sailors Monument]]
File:Boston Massacre Memorial - IMG 9560.JPG|[[Boston Massacre]] Memorial
File:Frog Pond at Boston Common.jpg|The Frog Pond
File:Parkman Bandstand.JPG|[[Parkman Bandstand]]
File:USA-Boston Common.jpg|[[Massachusetts State House|Massachusetts State House/Massachusetts Statehouse ("New" State House)]]
File:USA-Boston Common0.jpg|[[Boylston station]]
File:Boston Common (2014) IMG 2995.JPG|Boston Common
File:Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common 2.jpg|Aerial view of [[Parkman Bandstand]]
</gallery>

===Neighboring structures===
[[File:Casa l'Estáu dende'l Boston Common.jpg|thumb|[[Massachusetts State House]] overlooks part of the Common]]
* The [[Massachusetts State House]] stands across Beacon Street from the northern edge of the Common.
* The [[Boston Public Garden]], a more formal landscaped park, lies to the west of the Common across Charles Street (and was originally considered an extension of the Common).
* The [[Masonic]] [[Grand Lodge of Massachusetts]] headquarters sits across from the southern corner of the Common at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont Streets.
* Across from the southern corner of the Common, along Boylston and Tremont Streets, lies the campus of [[Emerson College]].
* Across from the Common, to the southeast, [[Suffolk University]] has a [[dormitory]] on Tremont Street.

==Notable recurring events==
* [[File:Women's Pole Vaulting in Boston Common 2017.png|thumb|Women's Pole Vaulting on the Boston Common during Boost Boston Games 2017]]Frog Pond Skating Spectacular at the Boston Tree Lighting and First Night Boston, featuring skaters from [[Skating Club of Boston|The Skating Club of Boston]]
* [[Commonwealth Shakespeare Company]]'s Shakespeare on the Common
* [[Boston Lyric Opera]]'s Outdoor Opera Series
* [[Ancient Fishweir Project]] Installation Event
* Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition's [[Freedom Rally]]
* Lighting of the Christmas tree gifted by [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
* Fireworks display on the evening of December 31 as part of Boston's [[First Night]] celebration

==See also==
* [[Alameda Central]]
* [[Boston martyrs]]
* [[Common land]]
* [[Granary Burying Ground]]
* [[King's Chapel Burying Ground]]
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston]]
* [[List of parks in Boston]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''The public rights in Boston Common: Being the report of a committee of citizens''. Boston: Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1877 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nHoFAAAAQAAJ Google books]
* Barber, Samuel. ''Boston Common: a diary of notable events, incidents, and neighboring occurrences'', 2nd ed. Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1916. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_p4QUAAAAYAAJ Internet Archive]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Boston Common}}
* {{Official website|https://www.boston.gov/parks/boston-common}} – Boston Parks and Recreation
* "[http://www.aviewoncities.com/boston/bostoncommon.htm A View on Cities]," article on Boston Common
* [https://www.nps.gov/bost/index.htm Boston National Historical Park]
* [http://www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org/ Friends of the Public Garden], an advocacy group formed in 1970 to preserve and enhance Boston Common
* New York Historical Society. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112160526/http://emuseum.nyhistory.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/id/37115 Afternoon Rainbow], Boston Common from Charles Street Mall. Watercolor by George Harvey, 19th century
* BPL. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5727551677/in/set-72157626612547979/ Illus. by Winslow Homer]
* City of Boston Archives. [http://cityofbostonarchives.tumblr.com/post/31055013359/ticket-for-july-4-1883-bicycle-race-committee Ticket for July 4, 1883 bicycle race]
* City of Boston, [https://www.cityofboston.gov/landmarks/publications/ Boston Landmarks Commission] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130420064135/http://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Boston_Common_Study_Report_4_tcm3-32547.pdf Boston Common Study Report]
{{Coord|42|21|18|N|71|03|56|W|format=dms|display=title|type:landmark_region:US-MA}}

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box
| before = First location – beginning of trail
| title = Locations along Boston's [[Freedom Trail]]
| years = '''Boston Common'''
| after = [[Massachusetts State House]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Boston Common}}
{{Emerald Necklace}}
{{Parks in Boston}}
{{BostonMA}}
{{Boston landmarks}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Boston Common| ]]
[[Category:1634 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony]]
[[Category:Busking venues]]
[[Category:Emerald Necklace]]
[[Category:Historic districts in Suffolk County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:History of Boston]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Boston]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Boston]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boston]]
[[Category:Parks in Boston]]
[[Category:Urban public parks]]