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One of the US’s foremost collections of temperate-zone trees and shrubs covers the peaceful 265-acre (107 ha) arboretum. Grouped in scientific fashion, they are a favorite subject for landscape painters, and a popular resource for botanists and gardeners. The world’s most extensive lilac collection blooms from early May through late June, and thousands of Bostonians turn out for Lilac Sunday, the third Sunday in May, to enjoy the peak of the Syringa blooms. The main flowering period of mountain laurel, azaleas, and other rhododendrons begins around Memorial Day (end of May).

More than 100,000 graves dot the rolling landscape in this Victorian-era “garden cemetery”, one of the first of its kind. Maps available at the entrance identify graves of notable figures, including poet e e cummings and playwright Eugene O’Neill. Striking memorials include the bas-relief Death Stays the Hand of the Artist by Daniel Chester French, near the main entrance.

Frederick Law Olmsted considered Franklin Park the masterpiece of his Emerald Necklace (see Boston Common & Public Garden), but his vision of urban wilds has since been modified to more modern uses. The park boasts the second oldest municipal golf course in the US and the child-friendly Franklin Park Zoo (see Franklin Park Zoo), which contrasts contemporary ecological exhibits with charming zoo architecture, such as a 1912 Oriental bird house.

This 70-acre (28-ha) pond and its surrounding leafy park was landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted to accentuate its natural glacial features and it offers an enchanting piece of countryside within the city. Locals take avidly to the 1.5-mile (2.4-km) bankside path or fish in the 90 ft- (28-m) deep glacial kettle pond (fishing is permitted with a Massachusetts license, call 617 626 1590). The boathouse rents small sail boats and rowboats for a minimal fee during the summer months.

South Boston’s Pleasure Bay park encloses a pond-like cove of Boston harbor with a causeway boardwalk, where locals turn out for their daily constitutionals. Castle Island, now attached to the mainland, has guarded the mouth of Boston harbor since the first fortress, Fort Independence, was erected in 1779. A grisly murder here in 1817 inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write his short story The Cask of Amontillado . Anglers gather on the adjacent Steel Pier and drop bait into the midst of striped bass and bluefish runs.

With its supply of good local water and German immigrants, Jamaica Plain has long been Boston’s brewing center. The Boston Beer Company, creator of Samuel Adams lagers, maintains this small brewery and a tongue-in-cheek beer museum.