The Terrace consists of a landscaped arrangement of granite steps, knee-walls and banisters with cast-iron parapets ascending to a large plaza overlooking Commercial Street and the mouth of the Mystic River.

[3] A small community of free African Americans lived on the steep slope of Copp's Hill from the 17th to the 19th century.

[citation needed] By the late 19th century, much of the land in the area was owned by the Boston Gas Light Company, and the hillside was crowded with tenement houses.

The area, including what was first called North End Park and is now Langone Park, was intended by designer Charles Eliot to provide both passive and active recreation opportunities, giving the local residents a respite from the otherwise crowded conditions.

[3] From the terrace, a large crowd observed the destruction wrought by Boston's Great Molasses Flood of 1919.