Everything you wanted to know about Massachusetts and then some! A quick aside: I could never spell it correctly, and often used the abbreviations MA or MASS. I finally learned how to spell it:
M-A-S-S-A-C-H-U-S-E-T-T-S. I used to put another ‘s’ after the ‘u.’ Now that we’ve cleared that up….
The capital of Massachusetts is Boston.
The are 552 documents from the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. All have been preserved and are stored at the Peabody Essex Museum.
The very first subway system in the United States was built in Boston in 1897.
In 1895, William C. Morgan of Holyoke created a game called Mintonette. After various demonstrations, including a documented one at a YMCA in Springfield, the game became known as Volleyball.
In Rockport, there is a house made entirely of paper. I had to see it for myself and now yo u can as well: http://paperhouserockport.com
We all thought that Fig Newtons were somehow named after Isaac Newton. That is so far from the truth it’s unbelievable! In all actuality, Fig Newtons were named after Newton, Massachusetts. Remember It’s not a cookie. It’s a Newton!
Basketball was invented in Massachusetts by Dr. James Naismith. The Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield.
The American industrial revolution began in Lowell. Lowell was the first planned industrial city in the United States.
Quincy boasts the first Dunkin Donuts and the first Howard Johnson’s.
The birth control pill was invented at Clark University in Worcester.
Harvard was the first college in the United States. It was established in 1636.
Founded in 1639, the Mather school was the first public elementary school in the United States.
There really is a House of Seven Gables. It’s not just a book by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1908 Miss Caroline O. Emmerton purchased the house, which was built in 1668 It was restored to its present state in 1910.
Every December 16, the Boston Tea Party is re-enacted.
The third Monday in April is a legal holiday called Patriot’s Day.
The USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides) is the oldest fully commissioned US Navy ship. She is permanently docked at the Charleston Navy Yard. I wrote a poem about the USS Constitution which you can view here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6046596/constitution.html?cat=42
Revere Beach is the first public beach in the United States. It is also home to the Suffolk Downs horse racing establishment.
According to the US Census Bureau, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country with 2.2 divorces per 1000 people.
The first American lighthouse was built at Boston Harbor in 1716.
The African Meetinghouse opened in Boston in 1806. It is the first church in the US to be built by free Africans.
Clarence Birdseye invented frozen dinners in Gloucester in the 1920s.
MIT invented the first computer in 1928.
State song: All Hail Massachusetts by Arthur Marsh
State polka: Say Hello To Someone From Massachusetts by Lenny Gomulka
State folk song: Massachusetts by Arlo Guthrie
State tree: American Elm
State dessert: Boston Cream Pie (you saw that coming didn’t you?)
State flower: Mayflower (well, that one was kind of obvious too…)
State bird: Black Capped Chickadee
State bean: Navy bean
State fish: Yep, you’ve guessed it: the Cod. If it was something else, I’d be terribly scared.
State dog: Boston Terrier (duh!)
State cat: The Tabby
State insect: Ladybug
State berry: Cranberry, which leads us to the….
State beverage: Cranberry juice
State gem: Rhodonite
State mineral: Babingtonite
State poem: Blue Hills of Massachusetts by Katherine E. Mullen
State artist: Norman Rockwell
State tartan: Bay State Tartan
State colors: Blue, green and cranberry.
State Nicknames
The Bay State
The Baked Bean State
Old Colony State
Pilgrim State
Spirit of America
Famous People from Massachusetts
John Adams – 2 nd President of USA
John Quincy Adams- 6 th President of USA
John F. Kennedy (and his family)- 35 th President of USA
George H.W. Bush – 41 st President of the USA
Robert Goddard – inventor of the first liquid fueled rocket
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author The House of Seven Gables
Elias Howe- inventor of the sewing machine
Samuel Adams- patriot and brewer
F. Lee Bailey – famous defense attorney
Clara Barton- nurse and founder of the American Red Cross
Leonard Bernstein- conductor
William Cullen Bryant- poet
e.e. cummings- poet
John Singleton Copley- painter
Bette Davis- actress
Cecil B. DeMille- director
Ralph Waldo Emerson – philosopher and poet
John Hancock-statesman
Ben Franklin- statesman, publisher, scientist
Oliver Wendell Holmes – poet
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.- jurist
Winslow Homer- painter
Amy Lowell- poet and writer
James R. Lowell- poet
Robert Lowell- poet
Cotton Mather- clergyman
Horace Mann- educator
Christa McAuliffe- astronaut
Samuel FB Morse- painter and inventor (Morse Code)
Leonard Nimoy – actor
Edgar Allan Poe- poet and writer
Paul Revere- silversmith
Eli Whitney- inventor of the cotton gin
James McNeill Whistler- painter
John Greenleaf Whittier-poet
Jo Dee Messina- country singer.
More Sites To Check Out
http://www.50states.com/facts/mass.htm
http://sec.state.ma.us/cis/cismaf/mf1a.html