Execution of Quaker Mary Dyer at Boston Common

Mary Dyer, a Quaker, was executed for defying a Massachusetts law banning Quaker practices and was hanged in Boston on June 1, 1660; later sources place her execution on Boston Common. Dyer's execution is a documented example of 17th-century religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and has been cited in histories of religious liberty in New England. Boston Common, the city's central public park, retains markers and historical interpretation related to 17th- and 18th-century events.