Boston Common

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See the Historic Sites web page for an interactive location map.

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MANAGEMENT AND WEBSITE

Boston Common is owned by the city of Boston. See the Boston Common web page for more information.

OPERATING HOURS

Boston Common is open 24 hours a day. The Boston Common Visitor Center at 139 Tremont Street is open daily from 8:30 AM to 4 PM.

VISITING BOSTON COMMON

Boston Common is located at the southern end of Boston National Historical Park. It is the main city park for Boston and the oldest city park in the United States, having been created in 1634. It was originally used as a cow pasture, and it wasn’t until the 1830s that cow grazing was permanently banned, allowing the property to be used for recreation and relaxation purposes.

Boston Common

The Boston Common Visitor Center, which is run by the city of Boston, is located Tremont Street. You can get information for all tourist sites in Boston as well as for Boston National Historical Park. This is also the southern terminus of the Freedom Trail®.

Boston Common Visitor Center

Today the park is used for public enjoyment. Concerts and plays are held during the summer, and there is a children’s playground, tennis courts, baseball fields, and numerous memorial statues.

Visitors gather at Boston Common for a free production of a Shakespeare play

Boston Massacre Memorial at Boston Common

Boston Common tennis courts

One of the most popular spots at Boston Common is the Frog Pond. This is what Jethro Bodine would call a “cement pond.” It is shallow, perfect for small children to splash around in. Lifeguards are on duty during the summer. The pond has a concession stand and bathrooms, and other food vendors are nearby. There’s even a carousel. In the winter it freezes over and is turned into an ice skating rink. See the Boston Common Frog Pond website for facility fees and operating schedules.

Frog Pond at Boston Common

Lifeguard watches over the Frog Pond at Boston Common

Boston Common Carousel near the Frog Pond

Another prominent feature is a round pavilion, the Parkman Bandstand. This was built in 1912 and named for George Parkman, a man who left $5 million in his will for the care and maintenance of Boston Common. Today the bandstand is used for concerts and speeches.

Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common

If you head towards the Massachusetts State House—the gold-domed building on the hill near the north end of the park—you will find the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial. Shaw was the commanding officer of the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first black units in the Union Army during the Civil War. The sculpture was done by Augustus Saint-Gaudens during the late 1880s and early 1890s. This marks the start of the Black Heritage Trail, which is part of the Boston African-American National Historic Site.

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry Memorial at Boston Common

At the south end of the park is the Central Burying Ground, a cemetery with graves dating back to 1756, though most remaining graves are from 1790 to 1810. Many of the tombstones are in poor condition and hard to read. The cemetery is open to the public, but there is an iron fence around it that prohibits entry from Boston Common. You must exit the park onto Boylston Street and enter the cemetery at the Boylston Street entrance.

Tombstones in the Central Burying Ground at Boston Common

Graves of James Bancroft (1803) and his wife Sarah (1795) in the Central Burying Ground at Boston Common

Tombstones in Boston Common’s Central Burying Ground

Prominent citizens buried here include artist and composer William Billings and painter Gilbert Stuart, most famous for his portraits of George Washington, including one that now adorns the $1 bill. This painting was never finished and only shows Washington from the shoulders up. The original is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C. Another of his Washington portraits is on display in the East Room of the White House.

Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart on display in the East Room of the White House

When Boylston Street was widened in 1836, many of the graves were removed, and the bodies were reinterred in a granite tomb. Likewise, when the Boylston subway station was constructed in 1895, many more graves had to be removed, and these bodies were reinterred in a mass grave.

Mass grave at Boston Common’s Central Burying Ground

Vault doors on the side of the mass grave in Boston Common’s Central Burying Ground

The following is a short documentary on the history of Boston Common.

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