Massachusetts

Header Image from National Park Service Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts was the sixth state to ratify the Constitution and was admitted to the union on Feb 6, 1788.

Bird: Black-capped Chickadee – The chickadee makes at least 15 different calls to communicate with its flock-mates and offspring. The best known is the chickadee-dee-dee that gives the bird its name. The more “dee” sounds, the greater the danger. One chickadee has been observed to call with 23 “dee” sounds in the presence of a predator owl. Chickadees live in small groups and establish a dominance hierarchy, or “pecking order.” Each bird is known to the other according to rank which is set by its degree of aggressiveness. Accordingly, all the birds in the flock are subordinate to the most aggressive bird; and the lowest ranking bird is subordinate to all the others. When breeding season begins, the tiny brains of chickadees and other songbirds enlarge to enable the birds to create more sounds.
It is the state bird of both Maine and Massachusetts in the United States, and the provincial bird of New Brunswick in Canada.

Flower: Mayflower also called Trailing arbutus is a creeping eastern North American plant, of the heath family. The Mayflower leaves contain ericoline and ursolic acid along with arbutin, which is a urinary antiseptic. At one time, Mayflowers were used to treat kidney stones.

Tree: American Elm – The American elm is a deciduous hermaphroditic tree. Dutch elm disease is a fungal disease that has ravaged the American elm, causing catastrophic die-offs. It has been estimated that only approximately 1 in 100,000 American elm trees is Dutch elm disease-tolerant, most known survivors simply having escaped exposure to the disease. The American elm’s wood is coarse, hard, and tough, with interlacing, contorted fibers that make it difficult to split or chop, and cause it to warp after sawing. Accordingly, the wood originally had few uses, save for making hubs for wagon wheels. State tree of Massachusetts and North Dakota.

State Quarter
From theus50.com

The Massachusetts quarter features a design of “The Minuteman,” a famous statue that stands guard at The Minuteman National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts.
The selected design captures a piece of the Bay State’s exceptional history. The Minutemen played a big role in protecting our nation, as they rallied together to help defeat the British during the Revolutionary War. These small, influential forces consisting of regular farmers and colonists, were always at-the-ready and were trained to assemble and fight on just a minute’s notice-hence the term ‘minutemen’.

Capital: Boston, Massachusetts

Nickname: Bay State, Old Colony

Motto: By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty

The official state dessert of Massachusetts is Boston cream pie.

Massachusetts Facts and Trivia

Massachusetts covers 10,565 square miles; it’s dimensions are 115 miles W-E and 190 miles N-S. It ranks 45th in size of all states.

Massachusetts is one of the original 13 colonies and one of the six New England states.

Early explorers visited the coast of Massachusetts including John Cabot in 1497. The Europeans brought disease with them. Diseases like smallpox killed around 90% of the Native Americans living in Massachusetts.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Bay Colony that preceded it were named after the area’s indigenous people, the Massachusett. The tribe’s name translates to “the people who live near the great hill,” referring to the Blue Hills southwest of Boston.

The English established the first permanent settlement in 1620 with the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The Pilgrims were Puritans hoping to find religious freedom in the New World. With the help of the local Indians including Squanto, the Pilgrims survived the initial harsh winter. Once Plymouth was established, more colonists arrived. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded at Boston in 1629.

Puritans who fled to America to escape religious persecution were notorious for persecuting other religions and even hanged Quakers for entering the colony of Massachusetts.

The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in Plymouth in 1621. After a harsh winter that claimed the lives of half of the Mayflower’s original immigrants from England in 1620, the Pilgrims were taught to plant corn and survive in the wilderness by Native American Indians. In November of the following year, the Pilgrims organized a harvest feast in Plymouth to celebrate their new crop.

Harvard was the first college established in North America. Harvard was founded in 1636.

In 1636 the Massachusetts Bay Colony organized three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

As more people moved in, tensions between the Indian tribes and the colonials turned to violence. A number of battles occurred between 1675 and 1676 called King Philip’s War. The majority of the Indians were defeated.

In 1691, the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony combined to form the Province of Massachusetts.

The Salem witch trials of 1692: Nineteen people were hanged at Gallows Hill in for worshipping the devil and practicing witchcraft, and close to 200 others were similarly accused.

The Boston Massacre happened March 5, 1770. British Army soldiers shot and killed five people while under harassment by locals. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Defended by lawyer and future American president John Adams, six of the soldiers were acquitted, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences. The men found guilty of manslaughter were sentenced to branding on their hand.

The Boston Tea Party took place December 16th, 1773.

Massachusetts observes a legal holiday called Patriots’ Day on the third Monday of April each year, commemorating the first battles of the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.

Following the American Revolutionary War, many people struggled to support their families under the heavy tax burdens levied to pay off war debt. Faced with losing their property, a group of insurgents led by Daniel Shays — a farmer and veteran of the war — forced the closure of several debtors’ courts and attempted to occupy a federal arsenal in Springfield on January 25, 1787. Although repelled, Shays’ Rebellion highlighted the need for a stronger national government and influenced the creation of the U.S. Constitution.

In Holyoke, William G. Morgan, created a new game called “Mintonette” in 1895. After a demonstration given at the YMCA in nearby Springfield, the name “Mintonette” was replaced with the now familiar name “Volleyball.”

The USS Constitution ‘Old Ironsides’, the oldest fully commissioned vessel in the US Navy is permanently berthed at Charlestown Navy Yard. Since 1897 the ship has been overhauled several times in Dry Dock 1.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie didn’t exist prior to 1930, when it was invented by the owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. In 1997 it was designated the official cookie of the state.

Norfolk County is the birthplace of four United States presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and George Herbert Walker Bush.

The first U.S.Postal zip code in Massachusetts is 01001 at Agawam.

The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.

Paul Revere actually shouted “The Regulars are coming out”, not “The British are coming”, since Massachusetts colonists still considered themselves British citizens at the time.

There’s a Native American lake named Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It means “you fish on your side, I fish on my side, and no one fishes in the middle.” Located in the town of Webster, Massachusetts, it is known more commonly as Lake Chaubunagungamaug or Webster Lake.

Massachusetts supported Republicans through 1924, and was considered a swing state until the 1980s.
During the 1972 presidential election, Massachusetts was the only state to give its electoral votes to George McGovern, the Democratic nominee.

Since then the state has been carried by a Republican presidential candidate only twice. In 1980, when Ronald Reagan unseated incumbent Jimmy Carter and in his 1984 landslide. However, in both elections, Reagan’s margin of victory in Massachusetts was the smallest of any state he carried.

In the 2004 election Massachusetts gave native son Democrat John Kerry 61.9% of the vote and his largest margin of victory in any state.
President Barack Obama carried the state with 61.8% of the vote, for the 2008 election and 60% in 2012.
In 2016 Hillary Clinton took 60% of the vote to Donald Trump’s 32.8%.
Massachusetts is now considered reliably progressive and liberal.

Strange Laws:

It’s illegal to make clam chowder with tomatoes in Massachusetts.
There is a state law that forbids snoring unless all of your doors and windows are locked.
Goatees are illegal unless you pay a special license fee to wear one in public.
A Massachusetts court ruled that a sandwich must contain two slices of bread, thus legally barring tacos, burritos, and quesadillas from being called “sandwiches.”
Christmas used to be illegal in Massachusetts and much of New England, and remained taboo in that part of the country until at least 1870 when the Feds declared it a national holiday.
Adultery (cheating on your spouse) is considered a felony punishable by a 10.00-500.00 dollar fine or 4 years in prison
At a wake, mourners may eat no more than three sandwiches.
It is illegal to give beer to hospital patients; subject to a $50 fine and/or 2 months in jail.
All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday.
No gorilla is allowed in the back seat of any car.
A woman may not be on top during sexual activities.
Tattooing and body piercing is illegal. (Repealed in 2000)

Boston: No one may cross the Boston Common without carrying a shotgun in case of bears.
Boston: It is illegal to play the fiddle.
Boston: Duels to the death permitted on the common on Sundays provided that the Governor is present.
Concord: One may not sell or distribute bottled water in Concord, MA.
Marlborough: One may not detonate a nuclear device in the city.
Newton: All families must be given a hog from the town’s mayor.

Quakers and witches are banned.
You cannot bring a rooster into a bakery.
It’s illegal to own more than three cats in Dudley or three dogs in Boston.
You are required by law to remove your false teeth before intercourse.
The first person to be executed in the Massachusetts Bay colony was guilty of having sex with a turkey.

Music:

All Hail to Massachusetts (state song)

“Old Cape Cod” by Patti Page
“Massachusetts” by The Bee Gees
“M.T.A.” by The Kingston Trio
“Please Come to Boston” by Dave Loggins

People: