Boston Swan Boats

Parents, kids and lovers have been riding graceful, pedal-powered swan boats in Boston’s Public Garden for more than 130 years. Young, white-shirted attendants on shiny brass seats within large, sculpted swans supply the energy to move six rows of passengers on two-hulled swan boats around the lagoon in the Public Gardens.

It’s been this way since 1877. “I love them,” said Paula Simpson, an Army nurse from Cleveland on her first visit to Boston. She is stationed at Fort Devins, a training base about an hour west of Boston.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Simpson said. “I had a couple hours and I thought I’d drive over to Boston and take it in. I walked around a bend and they caught my eye. They’re really cool.” 

In the 1870s, a man named Robert Paget received a boat-for-hire license from Boston. By 1877, he had developed a bicycle-like, foot-powered device to turn a paddle wheel on a catamaran.

He put a deck on what look like two long canoes yoked together with iron bars, then put wooden benches on the deck and created white swans to hide the mechanism and give an operator a place to sit.

Paget’s descendants still operate the swan-boat operation.

Passengers often arrive with children and grandchildren. The gentle Swan Boats have become a Boston tradition, famous in children’s stories like Make Way for Ducklings and The Trumpet of the Swan. They are billed as the only vessels of their kind in the world.

The six-bench swan boats have a decidedly vintage look.

Polished-brass poles are located in front and rear, red-white-and-blue bunting is draped and American flags fly. There is a heavy brass grab rail or tow rail on bow and stern, complete with brass fittings. A rudder is in the water, right behind the operator and swan.

Ticket prices are equally vintage. Adults are only $2.75 and ages 2–16 are $1.50. Under age 2 is free.

A larger, two-swan, two-operator swan boat is docked at the lagoon with a “Circa 1910” banner at its bow.

The 1837 Public Gardens were the first public botanical garden in the U.S.  With its quiet lagoon, many flowers and hanging trees, it is in the heart of Boston, next to the more pasture-like, and busier, 1634 Boston Common.

HelloBoston Tip: Depending on the weather, swan boats operate daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are for sale on the Lagoon dock.

- by Dan Sheridan, Boston Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)