7 Best Sights in Boston, Massachusetts

Nothing is more central to the city than Boston Common, the oldest public park in the United States and undoubtedly the largest and most famous of the town commons around which New England settlements were traditionally arranged. Dating from 1634, the Common started as 50 acres where freemen could graze their cattle. (Cows were banned in 1830.) Don't confuse the Common with its sister park, the Public Garden, where the Swan Boats glide and flowers bloom three seasons of the year.

On its Tremont Street side, State House employees, downtown professionals, and tourists gather to take a break and enjoy lunch at one of food trucks parked (April through October) at the Brewer Fountain Plaza. A few steps away, the Freedom Trail starts in front of the Boston Common Visitor Information Center. The Common's highest point, near the Parkman Bandstand, was once called Flagstaff Hill and is now surmounted by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, honoring Civil War troops. The Common's only body of water is the Frog Pond, a tame and frog-free concrete depression used as a wading pool and spray fountain during summer and for ice-skating in winter.

Central Burying Ground lends the park an eerie vibe at its site on Boylston Street; in fact, the Common boasts a fair amount of haunted history. Across from the State House, on the Beacon Street side, sits the splendidly restored Robert Gould Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial, executed in deep-relief bronze by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1897. In addition, this is Freedom Trail stop 1.

The six large public parks known as Boston's Emerald Necklace stretch seven miles from the Back Bay Fens to Franklin Park in Dorchester, and include Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Pond, Olmsted Park, and the Riverway. The linear parks, designed by master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted more than 100 years ago, remain a well-groomed urban masterpiece.

Stop, rest awhile, and have some fun. That's the purpose of The Lawn on D, a free-to-all open green space that features a plethora of geometrical swings, games like bocce, corn hole, and ping-pong, and chairs for lounging. In warmer weather, you can often catch a live concert or film screening here, or a public art installation. A concession stand makes sure visitors are well-fed. The only catch? You can't bring Fido.

The Boston Common Frog Pond is a hot spot, no matter the season. In winter (November to March), city dwellers and visitors alike can skate around the man-made pool (skate rentals available), which vibes an atmosphere reminiscent of a Currier & Ives painting. In warm weather, the Frog Pond transforms into a shallow spray pool, free to all. Nearby, a carousel opens for most of the year, and a large playground is open year-round.

Runners, bikers, and in-line skaters crowd the Charles River Reservation at the Esplanade along Storrow Drive, the Memorial Drive Embankment in Cambridge, or any of the smaller and less-busy parks farther upriver. Here you can cheer a crew race, rent a canoe or a kayak, learn to sail, or simply sit on the grass, sharing the shore with packs of hard-jogging university athletes, in-line skaters, moms with strollers, dreamily entwined couples, and intense academics.

Situated on the wonderfully scenic Charles River Esplanade, this acoustic and artful concert venue—100 feet wide and wood inlaid—annually hosts the Boston Pops' famous July 4 concert and dozens of other free, summer classical-orchestra performances, music festivals, film screenings, and other events. It's called a shell, well, because it looks like one.