Building / Landmark · 1897 · Boston

Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial

Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ bronze masterpiece (1897) honoring Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts, the celebrated Black regiment of the Civil War.

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Photograph · Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Why it matters

Part of the connected record of this place — 5 relationships link it into the wider graph, each one a thread worth pulling.

Open the full civic recordCurrent pulse, routes, recommendations, and memory

Living object

Now, then, future

Every object is temporal: what it feels like now, what it used to mean, and what it can become next.

Now

busy but readable. Best now: one good detour.

Then

1588: Puritan lawyer and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1588–1649), who led the 1630 fleet and framed the settlement as “a city upon a hill.

Future

2026: America’s 250th — July 4, 2026.

Current modegolden hour

Historical echoJohn Winthrop

Connected eventBoston 400 — The Quadricentennial (2030)

Pulse

How it feels right now

Current energybusy but readable

Best nowone good detour

Best timegolden hour

serendipitous

Rain scoreexcellent

Indoor escapes within a few blocks.

Laptop friendlinessdecent

Coffee, libraries, bookstores, and campus edges.

Student presencehigh

How strongly the nearby graph reads as campus life.

Tourist pressurelow

Fame, landmark pull, and visitor-facing assets.

Historic densitylight

Older records and historical edges around this object.

Serendipityhigh

Different kinds of things hiding within a short walk.

Turn this into a walk

Routes with a point of view

Already a walkThe Other Revolution

The north slope of Beacon Hill was the center of free Black life in pre-Civil War America — the churches, schools, and safe houses where abolition was organized. This is the revolution the Freedom Trail walks past.

50 min · 5 stops · 20 min walk →Make it walkableShow me the best 45 minutes from here

Turn the surrounding graph into a short, walkable next move.

Nearby · editorially filtered →

What should I see next?

Chosen moves from here

01The right next stopThe Freedom TrailClose enough to feel spontaneous, different enough to change the texture of the visit.4 min walk 02Hidden in plain sightOrpheum TheatreA quieter stop nearby that rewards a second look.Museum / Cultural 03Same story, different centuryPark Street StationA time jump that keeps the civic argument going.Transit stop 04Follow “Black History Boston”African Meeting HouseThe Black Heritage Trail and beyond — a century-long fight to make the first revolution’s words true. From the oldest Black church building in America to the regiment that marched to war, the people and places of abolitionist Boston.Building / Landmark 05The connection you would miss on a mapBoston CommonA civic relationship that is easier to understand once you see the graph.Park / Public space

The editor's hand

Human recommendations

The Civic Graph Editorial DeskEditorial standardLook for the older layer before you move on. This object is connected to more than its facade suggests.First Subway in America (1897) →

Civic memory

What this meant before

18971897Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial enters the civic record here.1863The 54th Marches Out (1863)On May 28, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts — the North’s first Black regiment, recruited at the African Meeting House — marched down Beacon Street past cheering crowds to war.1806African Meeting HouseThe oldest surviving Black church building in America (1806), the organizing hall of Beacon Hill’s free Black community and of the abolition movement; Frederick Douglass recruited the 54th Regiment here.1798Massachusetts State HouseCharles Bulfinch’s 1798 capitol crowned with a dome gilded in 23-karat gold; built on John Hancock’s former cow pasture.

Established: 1897
Address: Beacon St at Park St, Boston
Graph connections: 5

Plan your visit

Get there

T · Transit Uber Lyft Walk

On the Innovation Trail◆1897 · America goes underground — The first subway in the United States opens.

In the graph 5 relationships — first-class data, not links

Explore Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial in the interactive Graph Explorer — click to expand every connection →

Adjacent to

Boston Common4 min walk

African Meeting Housethe regiment’s story The 54th Marches Out (1863)the moment in bronze

Near

Massachusetts State Housedirectly opposite

Located in

Boston

Nearby what sits within a few minutes’ walk

Historical event · 1 min walk

The 54th Marches Out (1863)

Building / Landmark · 1 min walk

Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial

Building / Landmark · 1 min walk

Robert Gould Shaw and Fifty-fourth Regiment Memorial

Historical context

The 54th Marches Out (1863)1863

An unexpected connection

Shaw / 54th Regiment Memorial is linked, through the graph, to Boston — city, 6 min walk away. The kind of thread you only find by following the connections.

Keep exploring graph-powered — every path below is a real relationship, not a guess

NearbyA few minutes’ walk away

The 54th Marches Out (1863)Historical event Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment MemorialBuilding / Landmark Robert Gould Shaw and Fifty-fourth Regiment MemorialBuilding / Landmark Site of the MA Branch Office of the National Woman's PartyBuilding / Landmark Site of the Massachusetts Man Suffrage Association OfficeBuilding / Landmark

More landmarksOther landmarks in the graph

Granary Burying GroundBuilding / Landmark Fenway ParkBuilding / Landmark Faneuil HallBuilding / Landmark Old State HouseBuilding / Landmark Old South Meeting HouseBuilding / Landmark

From the Gilded AgeOf the same period

Park Street StationTransit stop Boston MarathonRecurring event First Subway in America (1897)Historical event Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Co. BuildingBuilding / Landmark Hotel SomersetBuilding / Landmark

Visitors also exploreReached through the same connections

Beacon HillNeighborhood Founding of Boston (1630)Historical event Boston Public GardenPark / Public space The Freedom TrailAttraction The EmbraceBuilding / Landmark

One record, 1 framing cross-property publishing — never duplicated

Boston400.com · you are here

How we know graph confidence — we explain our certainty, not just assert it

Verified byThe Civic Graph Editorial Desk

Verified

How this is scored →

✓Source qualityBest source is primary / institutional

✓Independent corroboration2 sources across 2 tiers

✓Human-reviewedEditorially verified

✓Institutional backingCites a primary or institutional source

✓Record completeness100% of canonical fields present

Sources, by tier

NPS Primary / institutional

Friends of the Public Garden Unclassified

Graph scores — our north star is relationship density, not page count

Relationship density51

5 connections

Record coverage84

metadata completeness

Graph authority76

centrality + reach + trust

Schema.org JSON-LD — what answer engines read

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