According to my Eyewitness Travel: Boston guidebook, William Blackstone, an early Bostonian, gifted the city with 48 acres in 1634 to serve as a common (hence its name!) pasture, military drill ground and gallows site.
Despite the Commons' serene appearance, British troops camped here during the Siege of Boston in 1775-1776. While I didn't find a trace of them nor a single duck here, I did see the Frog Pond, a favorite wading pool in the park's center.
Frog Pond in the middle of Boston Commons
This visitor was intrigued by the Frog statues at the edge of the pond.
But, alas, a frog is, by no means, a duck! Crossing the street, I continued my search at the Boston Public Gardens.
Prior to this visit, I had no clue that much of Boston was reclaimed by landfills. (Click on the years listed in this interactive map for more information.) In fact, the Public Gardens were created when the Charles River mudflats were filled in with dirt obtained by reducing the height of Beacon Hill during the early 1830s.
Several landscape plans were purposed for the 24-acre Public Gardens, but the formal design submitted by George F. Meachum was selected as the winner.
Here I found gorgeous flowers as well as...
Mrs. Mallard with her ducklings
Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack & Quack,
the much-beloved characters of Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey.
I even (gasp!) happened upon real ducks!
However, these Swans are not real birds.
Still, gliding around the Public Gardens' lagoon in a Swan Boat while a guide does the pedaling is a very pleasurable way to enjoy the city.
Finally, there is no better view of the Boston skyline, in my opinion, than that found at George Washington's statue.
Unveiled in 1875, this statue commemorates Washington's victory in the Siege of Boston. For over nine months, a makeshift Continental army kept more than ten thousand British troops bottled up in the city. Luckily, Washington tapped Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller with no artillery experience beyond what he read in books, to be one of his generals and Knox didn't let his commander down.
Knox demonstrated his resourcefulness by transporting 59 British cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga in New York over 300 icy, snowy miles to Boston. On the night of March 4, 1776, with wagon wheels muffled by straw, Knox strategically placed the cannon on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor where the British fleet was anchored. The British were astounded to awake the next morning to find with the colonists' guns pointing directly at them. Only a violent storm which arose on March 17th allowed British General Howe to evacuate his troops and sailed away from Boston to Halifax, Canada in retreat.
And that story, my friends, is not a quack but history!
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