Boston Common Frog Pond

The Boston Common Frog Pond is a paved basin centered in the oldest public park in the United States. While it holds no real amphibians today, the name dates to the Revolutionary War, when soldiers stationed on the Common reportedly hunted the pond’s native frogs for food. It began as a natural spring-fed watering hole for cattle, but by the mid-nineteenth century, it was transformed into a decorative basin and the site of an extravagant city water celebration in eighteen forty-eight.