Dating from 1634, Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States.
In Fallout 4, the area is not as large as its real-world counterpart but includes several corresponding landmarks, which I've matched up on the map and discuss below:
- The first marker of the Freedom Trail
- Swan's Pond
- Massachusetts State House
- Boylston Club
- Prost bar
- Park Street station
- Gazebo
There's a holotape that pokes fun at the small size of the game's Boston Common. Found on the third bench of the swan boat, the recording features a fictional pre-war groundskeeper complaining about "developers" who reduced the size of the Common and public garden in the city, leaving him very little grounds to upkeep.
The character is actually voiced by Fallout 4 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo, who grew up in Boston, and the "developers" could also be interpreted to mean the Bethesda developers who made the in-game area so small.
1. Start of the Freedom Trail
Boston Common is where the Freedom Trail begins in both Fallout 4 and IRL Boston.
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| Boston Common as seen in Fallout 4: The start of the Freedom Trail (near the fountain), gazebo (center), State House (golden dome in the background, right) and Park Street station (far right) can all be seen here. PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith (me) |
2. Swan's pond
As most Fallout 4 players already know, Swan's Pond is home to a unique super mutant behemoth named Swan, who uses a swan boat as a shield, and who drops several pieces of the "swan boat fragment" junk items that can be scrapped for fiberglass (5), plastic (1) and steel (1).
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| Swan boat in Fallout 4 - PS4 screen capture by Jewelsmith |
But what they may not know is the swan boats are a real fleet of pleasure boats that have operated in the Boston Public Garden adjacent to Boston Common for over 140 years. They are a Boston tradition and symbol of the city that are made of, yes, fiberglass, just as they are in the game.
The first IRL swan boat was created by Robert Paget in 1877, after seeing Wagner's opera Lohengrin where a knight rescues a damsel by riding a swan across a lake. Paget capitalized on the growing popularity of the newfangled bicycle and combined the two - swan and cycle - in a pontoon that could be pedaled around the pond.
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| Real-life swan boats in Boston, photo by Bill Golladay CC BY-SA 4.0 |
3. Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of real-world Boston.
This "new" statehouse was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch and built on land that had once belonged to John Hancock, famous signer of the Declaration of Independence and first governor of Massachusetts. It was completed in 1798 at a cost of $133,333.
The "old" statehouse still exists along the Freedom Trail IRL, just as it exists in the game where we know it as ghoul mayor Hancock's house in Goodneighbor.
Like its video game counterpart, the IRL State House is located north of Boston Common.
The location contains raiders and mirelurks, including a mirelurk queen, in Fallout 4.
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| Fallout 4 in-game photo by SierraX courtesy of the Fallout Wiki |
4. Boylston Club
The Boylston Club in Fallout 4 is what remains of a private social club for politicians and other "esteemed gentlemen" who are able to afford the annual $500,000 fee. It's the only location in the game where players can find bottles of poisoned wine, presumably left behind when members committed suicide after the nuclear bombardment.
While maps of the fictional Commonwealth wasteland and IRL Boston are very similar, there is not a "Boylston Club" in the real world. There is, however, a Boylston Street which runs along the south edge of Boston Common, and situated on this street are a posh 5-star hotel and an 80-year-old cigar shop in the same general vicinity as the game's Boylston Club.
According to the cigar shop's website, their tobacco blending skills appeal to "politicians, actors, celebrities and gentlement of all callings..." Inspiration for the Boylston Club or just a coincidence?
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| Street sign in Fallout 4 indicating the intersection of Boylston, Tremont and Essex streets. Swan's Pond and the fountain where the Freedom Trail begins can be seen in the background. Screen capture by Jewelsmith |
The Boylston Street at Boston Common is named after Ward Nicholas Boylston (1747-1828), a merchant, philanthropist and benefactor of Harvard University.
5. Prost bar
"Prost" is the German word for "cheers" and, yes, the Cheers bar exists IRL. Previously known as the Bull & Finch Pub, it inspired the popular sitcom of the same name, which ran from 1982 to 1993.
The Prost bar in Fallout 4 is a replica of the bar in the TV show. Baseball items throughout the location are a nod to main character Sam Malone, bar owner and former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox.
Two skeletons at the corner of the bar, one wearing a postal uniform, represent characters Cliff and Norm. Other skeletons possibly represent Frasier (who went on to have a show of his own), Sam, Diane and Carla.
6. Park Street station
Located next to Swan's Pond, this metro station can be used to access Vault 114 and rescue Nick Valentine during the "Unlikely Valentine" quest in Fallout 4.
Park Street station also exists in the real Boston Common as part of the MBTA subway system, and is a transfer hub between the Green and Red Lines.
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| IRL gazebo photo by MobiusThree CC BY-SA 3.0 |
7. Gazebo
In Fallout 4, it's the location of a Grognak the Barbarian comic book, next to a skeleton and some radioactive barrels.
The real gazebo was built in 1912 and is called the Parkman Bandstand in honor of George F. Parkman, who bequeathed $5 million in his will for the care of Boston Common and other city parks. Parkman was the son of George Parkman, a doctor who donated land for Harvard Medical School's first campus.
I'll be writing about other Fallout 4 locations, and researching their real-world inspirations, in the months to come. Let me know if there's a location you'd like to learn more about.
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