The Thirteen Colonies: Massachusetts
Welcome to Series 8, all about the history and folklore of The Thirteen Colonies of America! Each week, we'll be exploring each colony in order of establishment. For our second episode, we talked about Massachusetts. Established on land inhabited by the Wampanoag peoples as Plymouth Colony in 1620, it's still referred to as 'the Cradle of Liberty.'
Where is Massachusetts?
Below is a map showing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which looks a little different to Massachusetts today! At certain points, the Province of Massachusetts Bay also included Maine and Nova Scotia too.
Flag and Motto of Massachusetts
The flag of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was adopted on March 18, 1908, and has only been changed once in 1971 with the removal of the reverse side. The flag features the coat of arms of the Commonwealth on a white field.
The shield is meant to depict an Algonquian Native American with bow and arrow; the arrow is pointed downward, signifying peace. A white star with five points appears next to the figure's head, signifying Massachusetts as a U.S. state, or as one of the 13 original states. A blue ribbon surrounds the shield, bearing the state motto Ense Petit Placidam, Sub Libertate Quietem ("By the Sword We Seek Peace, But Peace Only Under Liberty.")
Wampanoag Nation
The Wampanoag are one of many Nations of people all over North America who were here long before any Europeans arrived, and have survived until today. Many people use the word “Indian” to describe us, but we prefer to be called Native People.
Wampanoag, means People of the First Light. In the 1600s, there were as many as 40,000 people in the 67 villages that made up the Wampanoag Nation. These villages covered the territory along the east coast as far as Wessagusset (today called Weymouth), all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of Natocket and Noepe (now called Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard), and southeast as far as Pokanocket (now Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island). They have been living on this part of Turtle Island for over fifteen thousand years.
The Wampanoag, like many other Native People, often refer to the earth as Turtle Island. Today, about 4,000-5,000 Wampanoag live in New England. There are multiple Wampanoag communities - Aquinnah, Mashpee, Herring Pond, Assonet, Chappaquiddick, Pocasset, and Seaconke - with smaller groups and communities across the United States and world.
The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony
The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who traveled to North America on the ship Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony at what now is Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. John Smith named this territory New Plymouth in 1614, sharing the name of the Pilgrims' final departure port of Plymouth, Devon, England. The Pilgrims' leadership came from religious congregations of Brownists or Separatists who had fled religious persecution in England for the tolerance of 17th-century Holland in the Netherlands.
These Separatists held many of the same Calvinist religious beliefs as Puritans, but unlike Puritans (who wanted a purified established church), Pilgrims believed that their congregations should separate from the Church of England, which led to them being labelled Separatists. After several years of living in exile in Holland, they determined to establish a new settlement in the New World and arranged with investors to fund them. In 1620, they established the Plymouth Colony, in which they erected Congregational churches.The Puritans' later establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony eventually became more powerful in the area; but the Pilgrims' story nevertheless became a central theme in the history and culture of the United States.
Plymouth Rock
Located in Pilgrim Memorial State Park on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, this simple glacial erratic boulder has become a world famous symbol representing something different to each person who looks at it. Although no historical evidence exists to confirm Plymouth Rock as the Pilgrims’ actual steppingstone to the New World, the boulder was identified as this spot in 1741, 121 years after the arrival of the Mayflower.
Thomas Faunce, a 94-year-old church elder who said his father, who arrived in Plymouth in 1623, along with several of the original Mayflower passengers assured him the boulder was the exact landing spot. When the elderly Faunce heard that a wharf was to be built over the rock, he wanted one final glimpse. He reportedly gave Plymouth Rock a tearful goodbye.
Whether Faunce’s assertion was accurate or not, we may never know. What we do know, is that Plymouth Rock quickly became an American icon and a tangible monument to freedom. Nearly four centuries after the arrival of the Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock is viewed by more than one million visitors each year.
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (1675–1678) was a colonial war in which a coalition of Algonquian tribes of the Northeastern Woodlands—the Wampanoags, the Pocomtucs, the Nipmucs, and the Narragansetts—fought against the Puritan settlers of the New England Colonies and their Indian allies—the Mohegans, the Pequots, and Christian Indians. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678.
The British colonization of the New England began in the 17th century, with roughly 20,000 Puritan settlers establishing and joining colonies in North America—primarily Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony—in the Great Migration of 1620–40 alone.
Massasoit, chief sachem of the indigenous Wampanoag tribe, had made and maintained an agreement with the colonists. Massasoit's younger son Metacom (c. 1638–1676), named King Philip by the settlers, became the sachem in 1662 after the death of his father and his older brother Wamsutta (c. 1634–1662). Metacom, however, forsook his father's alliance between the Wampanoags and the colonists after repeated violations by the latter. The colonists insisted that the 1671 peace agreement should include the surrender of Native guns; then three Wampanoags were hanged in Plymouth Colony in 1675 for the murder of John Sassamon, a Wampanoag schoolmaster and interpreter, which increased tensions. Native raiding parties attacked homesteads and villages throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine over the next six months, and the colonial militia retaliated.
The colonies assembled the largest army that New England had yet mustered, consisting of 1,000 militia and 150 Native allies. Governor Josiah Winslow marshaled them to attack the Narragansetts in November 1675. They attacked and burned Native villages throughout Rhode Island territory, culminating with the attack on the Narragansetts' main fort in the Great Swamp Fight. An estimated 600 Narragansetts were killed, and their coalition was taken over by Narragansett sachem Canonchet. They pushed back the borders of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Rhode Island colonies, burning towns as they went, including Providence in March 1676. However, the colonial militia overwhelmed the Native coalition following the Mohawk decision to side with the colonial alliance. By the end of the war, the Wampanoags and their Narragansett allies were almost completely destroyed. On August 12, 1676, Metacom fled to Mount Hope where he was killed by the militia. However, fighting by the Abenaki continued in the New England-Acadia borderlands.
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between early 1692 and mid-1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the devil’s magic—and 20 were executed.
In 1711, colonial authorities pardoned some of the accused and compensated their families. But it was only in July 2022 that Elizabeth Johnson Jr., the last convicted Salem “witch” whose name had yet to be cleared, was officially exonerated.
Since the 17th century, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice. Fueled by xenophobia, religious extremism and long-brewing social tensions, the witch hunt continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an act of protest that took place on December 16, 1773, during the American Revolution. Initiated by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, one of the Thirteen Colonies of British America, it escalated tensions between Great Britain and the Patriots, who opposed British policy towards its American colonies.Less than two years later, on April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, also in Massachusetts, launched the eight-year American Revolutionary War, which resulted in the independence of the colonies as the United States.
The source of the protestors' anger was the passage of the Tea Act by the Parliament of Great Britain on May 10, 1773, which allowed the East India Company (EIC) to sell Chinese tea in the colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. The Sons of Liberty strongly opposed both the Tea Act and Townshend Acts, which they saw as a violation of their "rights as Englishmen" to no taxation without representation.
Disguised as American Indians, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded the merchantman Dartmouth on the night of December 16 after it had docked in Boston with a major shipment of EIC tea and threw 340 or 342 chestsinto Boston Harbor. The British government considered the protest an act of treason and responded with several punitive measures. Nine days later, on December 25, during the Philadelphia Tea Party, a group of Patriots forced the merchantmen Polly, which was transporting a shipment of tea, to return to England without unloading her cargo.
Boston Baked Beans
Boston baked beans are a variety of baked beans, sweetened with molasses, and flavored with salt pork or bacon.
The region has two main styles of baked beans: Boston baked beans and Maine baked beans. The difference between the two styles is that Boston beans are made with small white navy beans or pea beans with thin skin while Maine beans are made with native bean varieties with thicker skins. The varieties used in Maine are Marafax, soldier, and yellow-eye, with yellow-eye being the most popular variety.
Boston is often referred to as “Beantown” in reference to the popular dish. From 1883 to 1906 the National League baseball team in Boston was known as the Boston Beaneaters. An annual tournament between the ice hockey teams of four Boston-area universities is named the Beanpot.
Boston Cream Pie
Never was there a more enigmatic piece of pastry. To start with, as almost everyone knows, it isn’t pie — it’s cake. Plain old American butter cake of the purest ray serene — not a trace of crust in sight. There’s a bow to trifle in the custard filling — but only Puritans would content themselves with such a small amount of custard.
For another thing, no one seems to have invented a story for how this strangely named cake came to be. Boston’s Parker House has long taken credit for just calling the thing “Boston cream pie,” but whatever possessed them to do it they have never seen fit to tell. Even Evan Jones’s respected American Food reports that although Boston cream pie has been on the menu at the Parker House since the day it opened, “the fact that it is really a cake disguised by this misnomer remains unexplained.”
It’s a safe bet, however, that all the ancestors of Boston cream pie were made with sponge cake or pound cake.
Plymouth Light
Plymouth Light, also known as Gurnet Light, is a historic lighthouse located on Gurnet Point at the entrance to Plymouth Bay in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The light is accessible only by passing through the town of Duxbury, which lies to the north. The tower is located inside the earthworks of Fort Andrew, which existed in the Civil War, War of 1812, and Revolutionary War.
The original lighthouse was built in 1768, burned down and rebuilt in 1801, when the single light became a pair, and rebuilt again in 1842, again as a pair. The light gradually lost importance as Plymouth Harbor silted up and lost most of its traffic. Then, when the Cape Cod Canal opened in 1914, there was a significant increase in vessel traffic past the light. The northeast tower was torn down and the remaining tower upgraded from a sixth order Fresnel lens to one of the fourth order. The fourth order lens is now on display at the Lifesaving Museum in Hull, Massachusetts.
The light is the oldest wooden lighthouse in the United States. The light was relocated approximately 140 feet (43 m) to the north in December 1998 because of beach erosion; this placed it within the earthworks of Fort Andrew. The property and the Duxbury Pier Light, in open water 2.3 nmi (4.3 km; 2.6 mi) to the SW are both managed by Project Gurnet and Bug Lights, Inc.
Hoosac Tunnel
The Hoosac Tunnel is a railway that burrows almost five miles through the Hoosac Mountain Range in western Massachusetts from the towns of North Adams on its west side, to Florida, Massachusetts to the east. Construction began on this large project in 1851 and finished in 1875. Over those 24 years, around 200 men died, giving it the nickname, “The Bloody Pit.”
One of the most chilling incidents was the central shaft accident. The tunnel has a 1,000-foot vertical chimney for exhaust to escape, and on October 17, 1867, fumes ignited, causing an explosion that destroyed a hoist used to lower men, equipment, and supplies. The accident rained equipment, supplies, and flaming hoist parts down onto 13 men who were working at the bottom of the 583-foot-deep unfinished chimney. The pumps were also destroyed, flooding the shaft.
The miners on the surface of the mountain, after various rescue attempts, believed nobody survived the accident. Months later, when they made it back to finish excavating the shaft, they grimly discovered that some had actually lived for a time, making a makeshift raft to deal with flooding.
Despite the death toll and other various setbacks, the tunnel was eventually completed and was used by both passenger and freight trains. Today, a few freight trains still use it.
Hornbine School
The Hornbine School is located in southern Rehoboth, on the west side of Hornbine Road, opposite Baker Street and the Hornbine Baptist Church. It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a brick chimney at the rear. The front facade, facing east, is three bays symmetrically arranged, with the entrance at the center and sash windows on either side. The side walls have four windows, irregularly placed.
The schoolhouse was built in 1862, and is the best-preserved period schoolhouse in the town. Originally one of fifteen district schools (it was district #10), it remained in use even as the town began consolidating its district schools in the 1920s, and finally closed in 1937. It was afterward converted for use as a private residence, and eventually fell into disrepair. It was acquired by the non-profit Hornbine School Association in 1968, which now operates it as a local history museum.
Hockomock Swamp
Spanning almost 17,000 acres and acting as a vital nature preserve to numerous plant and animal species, the Hockomock Swamp is the largest freshwater swampland in the state, acting as a natural flood control mechanism for the region.
This natural place is more than meets the eye. Legends lurk beyond the foliage and beneath the murky waters. Whispers of spirits from a distant past, monstrous beasts, and visitors from another world are among the stories that have emerged from the heart of the “Bridgewater Triangle."
The word Hockomock in the Algonquin language means "place where spirits dwell" and is closely related to Hobomock, the spirit of death and disease in Wampanoag mythology. Composed of dead human souls, the swamp was a perfect place for Hobomock to manifest, and for the native inhabitants to connect with their ancestors. During King Philip’s War in the 1670s, the swamp was used as a strategic base of operations and a natural fortress by the Wampanoag forces against their conflict with the English settlers and rival tribes, who called the area "Devil's Swamp." The war was devastating for the Wampanoag and their allies, with much of the population decimated or enslaved, leading to speculation that the area’s dark history might be the reason for the swamp’s allegedly strong paranormal activity.
Over the centuries, all kinds of strange stories and rumors have emerged from the swamp. Ghostly apparitions, floating orbs, and phantom voices singing and beating drums. Beasts and monsters straight from the pages of folklore have also been sighted, including Bigfoot-like creatures trekking through the swampland, abnormally large snakes slithering through the grass, and even large, winged animals reminiscent of the Thunderbird have been reported soaring through the skies.
At night, the stars above the swamp have been filled with strange lights, unidentified aircraft, and even accounts of visitors from the cosmos. However, not all stories from the swamp are supernatural or paranormal in nature, but still equally mysterious. In the 1980s and 1990s, cult activity and animal mutilations were reported in the area. People have gone missing throughout the swamp, and the bodies of homicide and suicide victims have been discovered there.
All these things combined have made the Hockomock Swamp a hotspot for the unusual and unnatural. Whether it be ghosts, cryptids, extraterrestrials, cults, or corpses, the swamp holds many secrets. The mysteries of the Hockomock may never be solved, but it continues to fascinate, inspire, and terrify locals and visitors alike.
Gloucester Sea Serpent
The Gloucester sea serpent is a legendary creature reportedly seen around and off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts and Cape Ann area in the United States. The heyday of sightings began in August 1817 and continued into 1818–1819. Described as a massive serpent-like creature with humps along its back, the Gloucester Sea Serpent has been the subject of numerous sightings and tales of encounters by fishermen and sailors. The earliest alleged sighting of such a creature off Cape Ann was recorded in 1638 by John Josselyn. Occasional sightings continue into the 21st century.
Dover Demon
In April 1977, four teenagers reported seeing an unusual small figure during three separate encounters over two nights in Dover, Massachusetts. The reports lasted only about twenty-five and a half hours, yet they produced witness drawings, newspaper coverage, police attention, and an enduring New England cryptid legend.
The creature later became known as the Dover Demon. Modern descriptions often present it as a single, well-defined animal: pale and hairless, about four feet tall, with an enormous head, long fingers, and glowing orange eyes.
The original accounts are more complicated. Bill Bartlett reported orange eyeshine. Abby Brabham reported green eyes. John Baxter saw a dark silhouette and could not reliably establish its color. The witnesses also differed in what they could see of the creature's head, limbs, skin, posture, and movement.
Ponyhenge
On a small slice of wide-open pasture in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, broken-down rocking horses, plastic ponies and other assorted horse toys have been holding court. As if by magic, ponies have been proliferating along this winding country road, resulting in the peculiar “Ponyhenge.”
The plastic and metal horses started arriving anonymously sometime in 2010, with the placement of a lone hobby horse along picturesque Old Sudbury Road, about 15 miles west of Boston. How and why the rusty little fellow appeared is a mystery, even to Lincolnites who’ve been around a while. One story has the first horse hanging around after a kid's short-lived lemonade stand, another that he was left over from a Christmas display.
Whatever the real story might be, after the first one appeared things started to get strange. More horses—hobby horses, rocking horses, and horse figurines—began appearing at the site. They are periodically rearranged, sometimes in a circle, sometimes in rows like race horses. Other times they are simply scattered and knocked around, as if they’ve come back from a long night of carousing.
The herd has been growing faster of late, with twice as many horses put out to pasture as there were a couple of years ago. Oddly, no one takes them away—the arrangement only morphs and grows, much to the delight of the family that owns the land. As the owner told the Boston Globe in 2015, “There was something lovely about it being anonymous, and now every time we go away, another one appears.”
Here's our Local Legends guest for this week, Jeff Belanger, at Ponyhenge!
Johnny Appleseed
On a family farm in Nova, Ohio, grows a very special apple tree; by some claims, the 175 year old tree is the last physical evidence of John Chapman, a prolific nurseryman who, throughout the early 1800s, planted acres upon acres of apple orchards along America's western frontier, which at the time was anything on the other side of Pennsylvania. Today, Chapman is known by another name—Johnny Appleseed—and his story has been imbued with the saccharine tint of a fairytale.
If we think of Johnny Appleseed as a barefoot wanderer whose apples were uniform, crimson orbs, it's thanks in large part to the popularity a segment of the 1948 Disney feature, Melody Time, which depicts Johnny Appleseed in Cinderella fashion, surrounded by blue songbirds and a jolly guardian angel. But this contemporary notion is flawed, tainted by our modern perception of the apple as a sweet, edible fruit. The apples that Chapman brought to the frontier were completely distinct from the apples available at any modern grocery store or farmers' market, and they weren't primarily used for eating—they were used to make America's beverage-of-choice at the time, hard apple cider.
Sarah Bradlee Fulton
Sarah Bradlee Fulton was born outside of Boston, Massachusetts, on December 24, 1740. Growing up near the busy city, Fulton was exposed to the patriotic cause and discussions of independence. In 1762, she married patriot John Fulton and participated in boycotts against the British. As a member of the Daughters of Liberty, she became involved in protests and became engaged with the planning of the Boston Tea Party. In 1773, the British parliament placed a monopoly on the selling of tea and other imported goods. The Tea Act required the colonies to pay an extra tax when purchasing or selling tea or other goods. While planning the Boston Tea Party, Sarah is credited with disguising the Sons of Liberty as Native Americans. After the protest, the men returned to Fulton’s home, where she helped remove face paint and hide the disguises from British authorities. There were rumors in Boston of the Sons of Liberty using Fulton’s home as a meeting spot, but they were never caught.
When the American Revolution began in 1775 with the firing at Lexington and Concord, Fulton quickly joined the cause. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Sarah gathered women from the town and began to nurse the wounded soldiers. She aided in establishing a makeshift hospital within the town, giving out bandages and medicine to the men. The following year in 1776, her husband was asked to send an urgent message to General George Washington by Major John Brooks. Sarah took the message instead and successfully passed enemy lines to the Charleston waterfront, where Washington and his men were stationed. After receiving the message, Washington personally thanked Sarah for her bravery and dedication to independence.
She continued supporting the Continental army throughout the war and aided in the resupply of materials during the Siege of Boston. As the British utilized the Boston Harbor, the Fultons used their own ship to purchase and transport wood and food for the troops in Cambridge. As a large shipment of wood meant for the continental tops entered the harbor, John Fulton purchased the wood to prevent the British from confiscating the material. British authorities seized the wood and transported it to their base camp despite his efforts. While in transportation, Sarah reached the British, grabbed the oxen by its horn, and turned it around. As the British aimed at her, she shouted, “Shoot Away!” impressed the British troops letting her leave with the wood that she later delivered to the troops. She continued to support the American cause for the rest of her life until her death at age 95 on November 9, 1835.
Lizzie Borden
Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman who was tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892, axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders, and Borden spent the remainder of her life in Fall River. She died of pneumonia at age 66, nine days before the death of her older sister Emma.
The Borden murders and trial received widespread publicity in the United States, and have remained a topic in American popular culture depicted in numerous films, theatrical productions, literary works, and folk rhymes around the Fall River area.
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