Boston Common (also known as "the Common") is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of 50 acres (20 ha) of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charles Street, and Boylston Street. The Common is part of the Emerald Necklace of parks and parkways that extend from the Common south to Franklin Park in Roxbury. A visitors' center for all of Boston is located on the Tremont Street side of the park.

The Central Burying Ground is found on the Boylston Street side of Boston Common. There, one can find the burial sites of the artist Gilbert Stuart and the composer William Billings. Also buried there are Samuel Sprague and his son, Charles Sprague, one of America's earliest poets. Samuel Sprague was a participant in the Boston Tea Party and fought in the Revolutionary War.

The Common's purpose has changed over the years. It was once owned by William Blaxton (often given the modernized spelling "Blackstone"), the first European settler of Boston, until it was bought from him by the Puritan founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the 1630s, it was used by many families as a cow pasture. However, this only lasted for a few years, as affluent families bought additional cows, which led to overgrazing, a real-life example of the Tragedy of the commons. After grazing was limited in 1646 to 70 cows at a time, the Boston Common continued to host cows until they were formally banned from it in 1830 by Mayor Harrison Gray Otis.

Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.

In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).

The Explosion was a punk rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. On February 13, 2007 the band announced that they had left Virgin Records, and on April 30, 2007, that they were to split up. On June 5, the band announced plans for two last shows in Philadelphia, and New York.

Matt Hock and Damian Genuardi met David Walsh through Rama Mayo, owner of indie label Big Wheel Recreation. They started the band in the fall of 1998, with Cave and Colby eventually joining later.

They pressed 250 copies of a demo before going on tour with Kid Dynamite. A roadie gave the demo to indie rock label Jade Tree Records, who signed the band and put out a self-titled EP containing all the demo tracks in 2000.

Their debut full-length, Flash Flash Flash on Jade Tree, was released to glowing reviews. Spin Magazine named it as one of the best 20 albums of 2000, and later named the band one of the top 10 punk acts of 2001. The Explosion also came in 2nd for Best Local Punk Act in the Boston Phoenix. They began touring the U.S. and Europe with the likes of Sick of it All, AFI (A Fire Inside), the Nerve Agents, Avail, Leatherface, US Bombs, Alkaline Trio, The Queers, Social Distortion, Tiger Army, The International Noise Conspiracy, Rocket From the Crypt and Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. They were also featured on the 2001 and 2005 Warped Tour.

James Wyatt RA (August 3, 1746 – September 4, 1813), was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.

Wyatt spent six years in Italy, 1762–1768, in company with Richard Bagot of Staffordshire, who was Secretary to the Earl of Northampton's embassy to the Venetian Republic. In Venice, Wyatt studied with Antonio Visentini (1688–1782) as an architectural draughtsman and painter. In Rome he made measured drawings of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, "being under the necessity of lying on his back on a ladder slung horizontally, without cradle or side-rail, over a frightful void of 300 feet".

Back in England, his selection as architect of the proposed Pantheon or "Winter Ranelagh" in Oxford Street, London brought him almost unparalleled instant success. His brother Samuel was one of the principal promoters of the scheme, and it was doubtless due to him that the designs of a young and almost unknown architect were accepted by the Committee. When the Pantheon was opened in 1772, their choice was at once endorsed by the fashionable public: Horace Walpole pronounced it to be "the most beautiful edifice in England".

Charles Calvin Yancey is a member of the Boston City Council in Boston, Massachusetts. He represents Mattapan and parts of Dorchester. He served as City Council president in 2001. He was also the second African American to hold this position.