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of the twin ponds takes a total of fifteen minutes. Each boat makes a circle around one pond, goes under the 1867 suspension footbridge, circles the other pond, goes back under the bridge, and returns to the loading dock. April to September are the times the Swan Boats are in operation. The boats must be assembled in the spring and disassembled in the fall each year in a process which takes up to four days. Except for times when the weather will not permit safe sailing, the Swan Boats are available each day and are wheelchair accessible.

Boston's Public Garden and the Swan Boats are mentioned in Robert McCloskey's Make Way For Ducklings and E.B. White's The Trumpet of the Swan. Famous visitors to the Swan Boats included Princess Grace of Monaco, President John F. Kennedy, the polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd, Will Rogers, Lucille Ball, Bette Davis, Charles Bronson, Gregory Peck, and Anthony Quinn. The Paget family has a record of notable guests on their Swan Boat website.

But it is the citizens of Boston who made the Swan Boats a symbol of their city, and it was Julia Paget who kept her husband's dream alive.

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Sources:
http://massachu setts-travel.suite101.com/arti cle.cfm/swan_boats_signal_spri ng_in_boston
http://tech.mit.ed u/V125/N33/swanboats.html
http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston _Public_Garden
http://www.swanb oats.com/history.php for several historic photos of the Paget family and the Swan boats plus a news clipping and contact information.

Learn more about this author, Sandra Petersen.
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