Boston Common Audio Guide

Boston Common: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Boston Common

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to Boston Common highlights Welcome to Boston Common and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Welcome to Boston Common, the green heart of downtown Boston and considered the oldest public park in the United States. Nearly 50 acres of open space have been kept public since 1634, and you are standing on ground that has been argued over, grazed, drilled on, celebrated and protested on for almost four centuries. What makes the Common remarkable is how many lives it has lived. The National Park Service describes it as a place that shaped the history of conservation, landscape architecture, military and political life, and recreation in Massachusetts. Next door, the adjoining Public Garden shares the title of one of the most visited outdoor public spaces in the city. Over the next few stops, we will look at the people who lived here before the colonists, the unusual bargain that created the Common, the cows that once ruled it, and the many roles it has played since. Let's start by going back to before there was a town at all.

2. 02

   Before 1634: Shells, Stone Tools and a Famous Sale

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to Boston Common highlights Before 1634: Shells, Stone Tools and a Famous Sale and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Long before the word Common meant anything here, this ground was already in use. Boston's city archaeologists have found buried shell middens, thick layers made up of thousands of clam shells, in areas near the Frog Pond and the Parkman Bandstand. These shells were collected from nearby Back Bay and eaten by Native people. Close to those deposits, archaeologists also uncovered Native pottery and stone tools. Think of a shell midden as an ancient kitchen heap that has quietly kept a record of meals for the people who came after. Then comes 1634. Much of the nearly 50 acres that make up the modern Common was purchased by the town from the Reverend William Blackstone. The purchase came with a clear purpose: to preserve the land as an open green space, held in common by the townspeople. The acreage on the western shore of the Shawmut peninsula was set aside for what the record calls the further benefit of the town and its residents. That decision drew the boundaries of the Common we know today. The footprint has changed only marginally since, which is remarkable for a piece of land in the middle of a growing city.

3. 03

   When Cows Ruled the Common

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to Boston Common highlights When Cows Ruled the Common and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Picture this place without manicured paths: rolling, featureless hills and open field, more pasture than park. For more than a century, the Common served primarily as public grazing space. White male landowners in Boston were entitled to graze their cows or sheep here, and cattle and sheep did indeed roam the Common until the 1830s. It turned out to be too popular. The land became overgrazed so quickly that by 1646 the town had to place restrictions on the animals. The record of May 1646 is wonderfully specific: no dry cattle, young cattle, or horse shall be free to go on the Common that year, but one horse of Elder Oliver. Imagine being the one person in town with an exemption. The cows were finally removed in 1830, and that change marks a turning point. As the open field was transformed into a formal park during the nineteenth century, use of the Common by residents increased. A pasture became a place for people to gather, stroll and spend their leisure time, which is still how most visitors use it today.

4. 04

   A Stage for History

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to Boston Common highlights A Stage for History and points out what to notice during your visit.

   Here is the part that surprises people: the Common has often played several roles at once. Over its history it has served as pastureland, burying ground, military encampment, theater for political action and public ground, sometimes all in the same era. Over nearly 400 years, it has witnessed grazing livestock, British encampments, abolitionist gatherings, speeches, food riots, concerts, militia mustering, protests, ice skating, ball games and public executions. That list reads like a summary of Boston's character, from the military and political dramas of the colonial period through the reform movements that followed, to everyday recreation. Throughout the Common and the Public Garden, markers identify sites of historical significance, so keep an eye out for them as you wander. The Common is also where Boston's best known walking route begins. The Freedom Trail starts here, winds through the historic North End and ends at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. It is a stroll of two and a half miles over easy terrain that links 16 significant historical sites, including museums, meeting houses and a ship. The Common itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1972, and designated a National Historic Landmark district on February 27, 1987.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   This section of the Mappu audio guide to Boston Common highlights Before You Head Off and points out what to notice during your visit.

   As you wander on, try reading the Common as layers. Beneath your feet are shell middens left by Native people. Above them is a pasture where townspeople once turned out their animals. On top of that is a formal park that gathers crowds for concerts, skating, games and protests. Look for the historical markers scattered through the Common and the neighboring Public Garden, and notice how little the overall outline has changed since 1634, even as the city grew dense all around it. The Common was bought to be held in common, and you are part of the long line of people who have made use of that idea. If you feel like following the story further, the Freedom Trail begins right here, and the Public Garden is just next door, ready for you to explore.