Benedict Arnold and the Rhode Island Quakers, Ranters and Heretics
In September of 1658, the United Colonies of New England – Salem, Boston, New Haven and Connecticut – jointly proclaimed that Quakers were neither welcome, nor would they be tolerated. And they urged...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit From Central Vermont to the Tip of Cape Cod
Let history be your guide to a weekend outing this spring. The New England Historical Society every Saturday offers tips on New England places to visit based on our recent stories. This week’s efforts...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit: Museums, Cemeteries, Battlefields and a Rummage...
Even during the dreariest spring, New England holds a wealth of places to visit for history lovers. There are battlefields for the war buffs, museums for the art lovers, cemeteries for the...
View ArticleSecrets to a Long Life From Holders of The Boston Post Cane
When the Town of Westmoreland, N.H., gave its Boston Post Cane to 113-year-old Mary Ray in 2008, she was believed to be the third oldest person in the world. Born in 1895 on Prince Edward Island, she...
View ArticleThe Narragansett Pacer – the Lost Horse of the New England Colonies
It’s not exactly clear when the first horse officially called a Narragansett Pacer appeared in Rhode Island, though it was likely in the late 1600s and its emergence marked the first true American...
View ArticleNew England Places To Take Mom on Mother’s Day
Everyone knows about historic New England places like the Freedom Trail or Robert Frost’s Farm. But the New England Historical Society can take you to historic sites that you may not even realize are...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit Now That It’s May
May is a wonderful month to visit New England places of historic interest. The dreary rain of April is behind us and the hordes of tourists are not yet here. This week the story of John Hull, the...
View ArticleLeonard Black, A Suffering Slave Who Clung to Hope
Leonard Black couldn’t read or write when he escaped slavery in Maryland, but he found a way to pay for his education. He told the story of his cruel masters in a booklet printed by a New Bedford...
View ArticleFrederick Law Olmsted Plans A Cemetery or a Hundred
Chances are good you have encountered the work of Frederick Law Olmsted more than once in your lifetime. You’ve probably set foot in his parks or on his school campuses, or maybe you read his...
View ArticleHow the Poles Came to New England
Before the Poles came to New England they had already made it to the Jamestown colony in Virginia as craftsmen. Over the centuries the Poles came to New England in waves, the first from 1870 to 1914,...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit … Free!
This weekend is a great time to get out and see New England without paying an admission fee, as it is both National Park Week and the Little Poland Festival. But first -- libraries! This week the New...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit From Central Vermont to the Tip of Cape Cod
Let history be your guide to a weekend outing this spring. The New England Historical Society every Saturday offers tips on New England places to visit based on our recent stories. This week’s efforts...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit: Museums, Cemeteries, Battlefields and a Rummage...
Even during the dreariest spring, New England holds a wealth of places to visit for history lovers. There are battlefields for the war buffs, museums for the art lovers, cemeteries for the...
View ArticleNew England Places To Visit, From Presque Isle, Maine, to Greenwich, Conn.
The New England Historical Society introduces a new weekly feature, New England Places. We plan to suggest places to visit based on our stories the previous week, our calendar items and anything else...
View ArticleFlashback Photos: The Carnegie Libraries of New England
Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, the mayor of Worcester, Mass., was so eager for a Carnegie library in his city that he sailed to Scotland to personally deliver his funding request to...
View ArticleThe 21 New England Capitals
New England cities and towns used to vie for state capitals the way they now court sports stadiums, with the result that 21 New England capitals graced the land since Europeans settled the region....
View ArticleBenjamin Franklin Keith Bans the Word ‘Pants,’ Builds a Theatrical Empire
Back in the heyday of vaudeville, Benjamin Franklin Keith promised the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston that he would only stage ‘clean’ entertainment. For an otherwise plodding businessman, it...
View ArticleThe Legend of the Ghost Ship Palatine
Every winter the ghost of the flaming ship Palatine can be spotted off the coast of Block Island, or so the legend goes. The tale is rooted in the true story of a British vessel that ran aground on...
View ArticleRhode Island’s Sprague-Conkling Affair (or the 1879 Episode at Narragansett)
The Sprague-Conkling affair started on a pleasant day in August of 1879 at Narragansett Pier, a fashionable resort, in Rhode Island. The people summering there might have overlooked some high-spirited...
View ArticleU-Boat Attacks Of World War II: 6 Months of Secret Terror in the Atlantic
On Jan. 13, 1942, German U-boat attacks officially started against merchant ships along the East Coast of North America. From then until early August, Nazi U-boats dominated the waters off the East...
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