[4][7] Public executions took place in the northern portion of this space, known as Gallows Hill, located today west of Massachusetts Avenue around Lancaster Street.

[11] His body was subsequently exhibited publicly for decades in Charlestown, such that even Paul Revere remembered passing by its site while on his famous ride.

[5] Barracks were constructed on the common during World War I as the Navy Department built structures for its Radio School on the grounds.

[19][20] Matt Damon recalled how Ben Affleck helped him in a fight during a football game on the Common in the mid-1980s.

[22] Nearby is the Prince Hall Monument by Ted Clausen and a trio of bronze cannons, a plaque for Henry Knox, and another for Tadeusz Kościuszko.

Cambridge Common is also the site of an Irish Famine Memorial, dedicated on July 23, 1997, by then President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and unveiled to an audience of 3,000 people.