Unspecified/General

On the western edge of downtown Boston immediately west of Boston Common at the corner of Beacon, Charles, Boylston and Arlington Streets, the Boston Public Garden is the first public botanical garden in the United States and one of the most beloved small urban parks in New England. The 24-acre formal garden was established in 1837 by an Act of the Massachusetts General Court on a piece of made land created through the gradual filling-in of the marshy bay just west of the Common. The garden was conceived by the Boston horticulturalist Horace Gray as an explicitly ornamental botanical garden, distinct from the more utilitarian Common immediately to the east. The current formal landscape design was largely completed in 1859 by the celebrated landscape architect George F. Meacham, with later refinements by the great Frederick Law Olmsted (the designer of New York's Central Park). The result is a small but exquisitely composed Victorian-era pleasure garden, with curving pathways, formal flowerbeds, mature European and American specimen trees and the celebrated central four-acre lagoon. The garden's most beloved feature is the celebrated fleet of Swan Boats that have plied the lagoon every summer since 1877. The eight-person pedal-powered boats, built around the swan-themed designs originally created by the Paget family of Boston (who continue to operate the boats to this day as the longest-running family-owned tourist attraction in the United States), provide one of the most photogenic and quintessentially Bostonian experiences available in the city. The garden's mature tree collection includes more than 600 individual specimens representing 80 distinct species, with several remarkable European Elms and American Elms dating from the original 1859 plantings. The seasonal floral displays, particularly the spring tulip beds and the autumn dahlia displays, draw photographers throughout the year. The garden also houses several historically significant statues. The equestrian statue of George Washington by Thomas Ball (dedicated 1869) is one of the finest of the genre in the United States, while the iconic Make Way for Ducklings bronze sculpture by Nancy Schon (1987) depicts the mother duck and her eight ducklings from the celebrated 1941 Robert McCloskey children's book.

Type: Outdoors

Address: 4 Charles Street, Boston, MA, United States

Telephone: 617-635-7383

Website: friendsofthepublicgarden.org

Opening Date: 01/01/1837