Public Garden - Boston, MA - Olmsted Designed Parks on Waymarking.com

According to Wikipedia;

The Public Garden was established in 1837 when philanthropist Horace Gray petitioned for the use of land as the first public botanical garden in the United States. Grey helped marshal political resistance to a number of Boston City Council attempts to sell the land in question, finally settling the issue of devoting it to the Public Garden in 1856. The Act establishing use of the land was submitted to the voters on 26 April, 1856 where it passed with only 99 dissents.

In October 1859 Alderman Crane submitted the detailed plan for the Garden to the Committee on the Common and Public Squares and received approval. Construction began quickly on the property, with the lake being finished that year and the wrought iron fence surrounding the perimeter erected in 1862. Today the north side of the lake has a small island, but it originally was a peninsula, connected to the land. The site became so popular with lovers that the John Galvin, the city forester, decided to sever the connection with the land.

The twenty-four acre (97,000 m²) landscape, which was once a salt marsh, was designed by George F. Meacham. The paths and flower beds were laid out by the city engineer, James Slade and the forester, John Galvin. The plan for the garden included a number of fountains and statues. The first statue erected was that of Edward Everett by William Wetmore Story in November 1867 on the north part of the Garden near Beacon Street. The bronze statue of George Washington by Thomas Ball which dominates the west side of the park was dedicated on 3 July 1869. The signature suspension bridge over the middle of the lake was erected in 1867.

The Public Garden is managed jointly between the Mayor's Office, The Parks Department of the City of Boston, and the non-profit Friends of the Public Garden.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

Together with the Boston Common, these two parks form the northern terminus of the Emerald Necklace, a long string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. While the Common is primarily unstructured open space, the Public Garden contains a lake and a large series of formal plantings that are maintained by the city and others and vary from season to season.

During the warmer seasons, the four acre (16,000 m²) pond is usually the home of one or more swans and is always the site of the Swan Boats, a famous Boston tourist attraction. For a small fee, tourists can sit on a boat ornamented with a white swan at the rear. The boat is then pedaled around the lake by a tour guide sitting within the swan.

The Public Garden is rectangular in shape and is bounded on the south by Boylston Street, on the west by Arlington Street, and on the north by Beacon Street where it faces Beacon Hill. On its east side, Charles Street divides the Public Garden from the Common. The greenway connecting the Public Garden with the rest of the Emerald Necklace is the strip of park that runs west down the center of Commonwealth Avenue towards the Back Bay Fens and the Muddy River.

Type of Public Space: Park Job Number: 00948 Architect: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
There are no specific visit requirements, however telling about your visit is strongly encouraged. Additional photos of the park to add to the gallery are also nice, but not required. Pictures with a GPS or you in them is highly discouraged.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   10/17/2023 stevepre2 visited it 04/19/2022 Mean1_MrGrinch visited it 07/11/2019 Ours Curieux visited it 04/28/2019 MonkeyAndTheEngineer visited it 09/23/2018 Duodenfer_ visited it 06/12/2018 ORDIMIC visited it 04/16/2018 veritas vita visited it 11/06/2013 urpickle visited it 06/20/2013 50 State Redhead visited it 05/08/2013 Chasing Blue Sky visited it 11/26/2011 petendot visited it 10/03/2011 RIclimber visited it 04/19/2009 run26.2 visited it

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