Massachusetts

Welcome to Massachusetts - known for it's fall foliage, Dunkin Donuts, the famous Boston accent, and home to the most famous American tea party.

The main city in Massachusetts is Boston. Boston is actually my least favorite place to drive in the US but the architecture in and around the city makes up for the fact the roads were designed by cows.

Christmas was once illegal in Massachusetts. In 1659, Boston passed a law outlawing the celebration of Christmas. According to record, Puritans believed the celebrating of Christmas was too indulgent and went against their moralities. What a bah humbug move! Luckily, this law was reversed in 1679.

You’ll find the longest named place in the country: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. It is derived from Native American Dialect. In 1831, a surveyor wrote down three seperate names of the lake and was assumed to be one. Some people call it by it’s shorter name, Chaubunagungamaug or just Lake Webster but the signs are still in place! Interested in finding out more. CBS did a nice video on the lake and directed me to some interesting songs about the lake’s history.

We can thank Massachusetts for the claim to fame of chocolate chip cookies (my favorite)! These delights came from the hands of Chef Ruth Wakefield in 1930 who was the founder and operator of Toll House Inn in Whitman, MA. Ruth’s desserts were so popular she developed a cook book. As the recipe gained in popularity, the chocolate company Nestle, approached Ruth about printing her recipe on the back of their chocolate bar wrapper as a promotional push and the chocolate chip cookie skyrocketed to fame from there! Several years later in 1941, Nestle started selling their bar chocolate in chip form, which is now the lovable chocolate chips we have today!