Scotland‘s Tartan Army has left an indelible mark on the city of Boston. One part of the fan group’s legacy: placing traffic cones on the heads of statues around town.
It’s a tradition dating back about four decades in Glasgow, where the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington is regularly crowned with a traffic cone. Here’s how the city described the legend and its significance in a bid to host the headquarters of the TV company Channel 4:
At the height of a bacchanalian night an unknown reveller, possibly a student, defied gravity to clamber up a 21-foot monument, and place a stolen traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington. No one knows the identity of the reveller or how they managed to get up on to the statue, but it happened on an intoxicating night, when Glasgow was about to be crowned European Capital of Culture. … And so a 19th Century military hero with a traffic cone on his head has come to personify the city. This is the Glasgow we want to present – a city alive with attitude, teeming with young people and ignited with an audacious belief in its own creativity.
With the fan base headed to Miami for Scotland’s last World Cup group game, it remains to be seen if the traffic cones will stay on the heads of statues around the Boston area, but the images will be a long-lasting reminder of the city’s Scottish summer.
Here are many of the statues that were fitted with new, orange hats in and around Boston during the World Cup:
Samuel Adams
The Duckling statues
Salem’s “Bewitched” statue
Bill Russell
Mayor Kevin White
Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images
Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images Scotland fans walk by a statue of Mayor Kevin White in Boston ahead of their 2026 FIFA World Cup match against Morocco, on Friday, June 19, 2026.
Parkman Plaza’s tributes to industry, religion and learning
Jordan Raza/picture alliance via Getty Images
Jordan Raza/picture alliance via Getty Images Traffic cones atop statues honoring religion, learning and industry in Boston Common on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.
Edward Everett Hale
Jordan Raza/picture alliance via Getty Images
Jordan Raza/picture alliance via Getty Images A traffic cone sits atop a statue of Edward Everett Hale in Boston.
Did we miss any? Send your cone-adorned statue pictures to shareit@nbcboston.com.
