What is the biggest myth about the Common?
That Quakers were hanged on the limbs of the Old Elm. Quaker executions most likely took place at Boston Neck, and most pirate executions took place along the waterfront, not at Boston Common. A few criminals were hanged at Boston Common after the American Revolution. A gallows was later erected at the old Charlestown State Prison Street in the 1820s or 1830s as a permanent place for executions.
