Fun Boston

Discover the story

The stories behind places you already know

Short histories, one place at a time. Every date has a source, every source is linked, and every story shows when it was last updated.

House rules

Sources are named in the text.
Disagreements between sources are shown.
No invented "archival" images.

Schematic map of Boston Common and the Public Garden Hand-drawn, not-to-scale diagram. Boston Common, labeled 1634, lies east of Charles Street with Frog Pond near its center and the State House across Beacon Street. The Public Garden, labeled 1837, lies west of Charles Street with a lagoon and footbridge. A dashed orange walking route links six numbered stops: 1 the Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial on Beacon Street, 2 Frog Pond, 3 the Charles Street crossing, 4 the duckling sculptures near Beacon and Charles, 5 the lagoon bridge, 6 the George Washington statue at the Arlington Street gate. BEACON STBOYLSTON ST PARK ST TREMONT ST ARLINGTON ST CHARLES ST STATE HOUSE 1837 PUBLIC GARDEN 1634 BOSTON COMMON FROG POND 123456 N not to scale, drawn by hand for Fun Boston

Places · Beacon Hill & Back Bay

The Common and the Garden: 203 years apart

A 1634 cow pasture and an 1837 botanical garden on reclaimed land, one street apart.

4 sources · Updated Sept. 28, 2026

More Boston stories will appear here when their sources are checked.

How we write history

We start with the institutions that look after a place, such as the National Park Service or a park's own friends group, then check them against each other. When they disagree, we say so in the story rather than quietly picking one.

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