As they've done since the 1870s, the Paget family today launched the Swan Boats in the Public Garden Lagoon. Boston College's Burns Library posted this photo of a Swan Boat from sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Aside from the covering and the number of rows, the serene rides are basically the same today, down to using the same pedal mechanism to propel them around the lagoon.
