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DOWNTOWN BOSTON
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Boston Common

Boston Common (sometimes erroneously called ‘the Commons’) was used for public hangings until 1817, protests and as a cow pasture during the 1630s, until cows were formally banned in 1830 (due to overgrazing) by Mayor Harrison Gray Otis. Mayor Otis was involved in a major financial scandal during the site selection for the Massachusetts State House and was the ultimate ‘one-percenter’ of his time with personal wealth equivalent to $5.6 Billion in today’s money
Park Street Station

Park Street Station, the humble…second subway station in America, at the eastern corner of the park
Robert Gould Shaw Memorial

The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Afro-American 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry stands at Beacon and Park Streets, the northeast corner of the Common, opposite the State House. It was intended to depict only Colonel Shaw and not his troops. Originally only the names of the fallen white regimental officers were engraved, while those of the black soldiers were added only much later on the reverse side
Great Elm tree
Plaque to the Great Elm tree (or Hanging Tree); the Great Elm was situated on the southeast corner of the Frog Pond just at the base of the path which leads up to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (see below) and was used for the public hangings of Quackers, witches and adulterers up until 1769. It was destroyed in a storm in 1876