Public Garden (Boston, Massachusetts)

Infobox_nrhp | name =Boston Public Garden
nrhp_type = nhld


caption = The Public Garden looking east from the Arlington Street entrance, with the skyline of Boston's financial distirct
location= Boston, Massachusetts
locmapin = Massachusetts
area =24 acres
built =1634
architect=
architecture=
designated= February 27, 1987cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1977&ResourceType=District
title=Boston Public Gardens |accessdate=2008-04-16|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = July 12, 1972 (original, in NRHP also including Boston Common)
February 27, 1987 (new, as NHL of Boston Public Garden alone)cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Local
refnum=72000144 (original) 87000761 (new)The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to the Boston Common.

History

The Public Garden was established in 1837 when philanthropist Horace Gray [ [http://www.bahistory.org/HoraceGray.html Horace Gray: Father of the Boston Public Garden ] ] 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. [ Kellogg p 345 ] 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. [ Kellogg p 347 ]

The twenty-four acre (97,000 m²) landscape, which was once a salt marsh, was designed by George V. 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.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/87000761.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Boston Public Garden] |32 KB|date=November, 1985 |author=James H. Charleton |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/87000761.pdf "Accompanying five photos, from 1985 and undated"] |32 KB]

In Literature, Art, and Film

* In the E.B. White novel, The Trumpet of the Swan, Louis plays his trumpet in the Public Garden.

Description

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.

tatues and structures

Several statues are located throughout the Public Garden.

* Located at the Arlington Street gate is the equestrian statue of George Washington, which faces Commonwealth Avenue.
* A set of bronze statues based on the main characters from the children's story "Make Way for Ducklings" is located between the pond and the Charles and Beacon streets entrance.
* John Quincy Adams Ward's "Good Samaritan" Ether Monument commemorates the first use of ether as an anesthetic. [ [http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=boston@33&cur_section=sig&property_id=51905 Boston Public Garden | Boston Sights ] ]
* Just north of the "Good Samaritan" is Daniel Chester French's memorial to the Boston philanthropist George Robert White entitled "The Angel of the Waters", created in 1924.
* Along the south walk in the park is a statue of Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) an orator and abolitionist.
* Colonel Thomas Cass, commander of the 9th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry which served in the American Civil War is also memorialized on the south walk.
* Next to the statue of Cass is a statue of Charles Sumner a congressman from Boston during the Civil War
* The walk also has a statue of Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish citizen who fought in the American Revolution as a Colonel.

* The Public Garden is also home to the world's smallest suspension bridge. [ [http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=boston@33&cur_section=sig&property_id=51905 Boston Public Garden | Boston Sights ] ]

Care and upkeep

The park is maintained by the City of Boston. A group of neighborhood volunteers that terms themselves the Rose Brigade tends several rose bush within the park.

Transportation

The Public Garden is easily accessible from the MBTA Green Line's Arlington Station. Other nearby subway stops include the Green Line's Boylston Station and the Red Line's Park Street Station. Public parking is located underneath Charles Street.

Gallery

See also

* List of botanical gardens in the United States

References

External links

* [http://www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org/ Friends of the Public Garden]
* [http://fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=boston@33&cur_section=sig&property_id=51905#Fodors_Review Public Garden. Fodors.com] . May 22, 2005.
* [http://www.swanboats.com/new/public_garden.shtml The Swan Boats of Boston - The Public Garden] . May 22, 2005.
* [http://ben-yosef.com/pics/bostonpublicgardens/ Photos of the Public Garden]