⚓Massachusetts

The Bay State

Massachusetts is where much of American history began. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620. The Boston Tea Party and the battles of Lexington and Concord touched off the Revolution. Harvard, founded in 1636, is the oldest university in the United States. Today the state is a center of higher education, biotechnology, and finance, with more colleges per capita than any other state.

Pilgrims and Puritans

The Mayflower arrived at Provincetown Harbor in November 1620; its passengers then settled at Plymouth. A decade later, a second wave of Puritan settlers established the Massachusetts Bay Colony around Boston. The Mayflower Compact, signed aboard the ship, was an early experiment in self-government that influenced later American political thought.

Cradle of the Revolution

Massachusetts was the center of colonial resistance to British rule. The Boston Massacre (1770), Boston Tea Party (1773), and the battles at Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) all happened in the state. Paul Revere's midnight ride warned the militia at Concord. The Battle of Bunker Hill (actually fought on Breed's Hill) came two months later.

Cradle of Education

Harvard College, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The state is also home to MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts, the University of Massachusetts system, and dozens of smaller liberal arts colleges. Boston's Longwood Medical Area hosts Harvard Medical School and several of the world's top hospitals.

Four Presidents

Four U.S. presidents were born in Massachusetts: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush. Adams and his son are the first father-and-son presidents in American history. The Adams National Historical Park in Quincy preserves their homes.

Massachusetts Facts

• Boston is the oldest continuously operating subway system in the United States, opening in 1897.
• The first American lighthouse was built on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor in 1716.
• Basketball was invented in Springfield in 1891 by James Naismith; volleyball was invented in Holyoke in 1895.
• The Fig Newton cookie was named for the town of Newton.
• Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2004.

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