Established in 1837

Two centuries separate the creation of the Boston Common and the Public Garden, and what a difference that period made.

In 1634 the Common was created as America’s first public park; it was practical and pastoral with walkways built for crosstown travel. In contrast, the Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America. It was decorative and flowery from its inception, featuring meandering pathways for strolling.

Founded in 1634

Here the Colonial militia mustered for the Revolution. In 1768, the hated British Redcoats began an eight-year encampment. George Washington, John Adams and General Lafayette came here to celebrate our nation's independence. The 1860s saw Civil War recruitment and anti-slavery meetings. During World War I, victory gardens sprouted. For World War II, the Common gave most of its iron fencing away for scrape metal. 

King’s Chapel is Boston Proper’s oldest burying place. Like the majority of Boston’s burying grounds, it has always been under municipal control, not affiliated with any church. The site is said to be part of Isaac Johnson’s estate, an early settler. In 1688, Royal Governor Andros seized a portion of this property to construct the town’s first Anglican church, King’s Chapel. For many years, the site was known as the Chapel Burying Ground, due to its proximity to the church.

The Granary Burying Ground was the third burial site in Boston Proper, established in 1660. Town officials set aside part of what was then the Boston Common for burial space to help alleviate overcrowding in the near-by King’s Chapel Burying Ground. First, the space was known as the South or Common Burying Ground, and then the Middle Burying Ground (after the opening of Central Burying Ground). The Granary Burying Ground took its present name in 1737 when a granary, a small building used to store grain, was moved to the site presently occupied by the Park Street Church.

At the time of its creation, Central Burying Ground was established to alleviate serious overcrowding at King’s Chapel, Copp’s Hill, and Granary Burying Grounds. Petitions requesting a new burying ground were made to the Board of Selectmen as early as 1740. In 1748, after several additional requests and petitions in town meetings for a new burying ground, the selectmen appointed a committee to research a suitable parcel of land at the south end of town. At that time, the south end of Boston was only a little tail to the larger central town, so there was not much land to choose from.

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