Boston Freedom Trail

1. Boston Common

Boston, MA

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Established in 1634, Boston Common is the world’s oldest city park. Not only does it hold lively ultimate Frisbee teams and ice skaters, it’s also the starting point of the Boston Freedom Trail. The Common anchors a series of parks that connects the neighborhoods of Boston, known as the Emerald Necklace. The park consists of 50 acres of land bordered by Beacon, Boylston, Charles, Tremont, and Park Streets. A visitors' center for the Freedom Trail is located on the Tremont Street side of the park. William Blaxton, the first European settler of Boston, owned the property, until he sold it to the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, the land was used as a cow pasture. Wealthy Bostonians abused the Common because no limits on the number of cows were in place. Because of this practice, the residents lowered the number of cows allowed to pasture to 70 in 1646. In 1830, Mayor Harrison Gray Otis banned the use of the Common for grazing. The British Army camped in Boston Common and it was from here that they departed to fight in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April, 1775. Earlier residents of Boston used the Common for public executions of those accused of witchcraft and heresy. Ann Hibbins, an accused witch, was executed here on June 1656. Mary Dyer was also hung from a large oak tree for preaching Quakerism to the Puritans in 1660. Gallows replaced the tree in 1769, and public hangings continued at the Boston Common until 1817. A section of the park called the Central Burying Ground, found on the Boylston Street side of the Common, served as the final resting place of Revolutionary War figure, Samuel Sprague. Sprague participated in the Boston Tea Party and also fought in the War. His son, Charles, one of America’s earliest poets, was also buried here. Throughout the years of its use as public space, Boston Common was the location of many public demonstrations, speeches, and other gatherings. On May 19, 1713, citizens rioted in the park as a reaction to the food shortage in the city. In the 20th century, prominent figures, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pope John Paul II, and Gloria Steinhem gave speeches at the Common.