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Rhode Island’s Esek Hopkins – Rodney Dangerfield of the American Revolution
In December of 1775, the Continental Congress gave Esek Hopkins eight sailing ships and a set of orders to clear the British Navy out of the Chesapeake Bay, and when he lofted a rebel flag, bearing...
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The Green Book Guides African-Americans to Safety in New England (and Elsewhere)
African-Americans driving through New England from the 1930s to the 1960s carried the Green Book to guide them to friendly hotels, restaurants and service stations. It was a time when they might find...
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Pass the Tourtiere, C’est Le Reveillon!
For many, many years, le reveillon was the way Franco-Americans ushered in New Year’s Day in New England’s Little Canadas. The reveillon is a long, late dinner preceding a holiday, and central to it...
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The Almanac, Indispensable Day Planner for the Busy Colonist
When John Winthrop set foot on the shores of Salem in 1630, he carried with him an out-of-date almanac that had belonged to Adam Winthrop, his father. Like many Englishmen, Adam Winthrop carried a...
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Samuel Gorton and his Gortonites Create a Church Among the Jack-an-Apes
By 1648, most New England leaders had it in for Samuel Gorton. In just a handful of years he had been kicked out of every town he moved to, infuriated even the famously tolerant Rhode Islanders, been...
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U-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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Rhode 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...
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The 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...
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Benjamin 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...
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The 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....
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Flashback 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...
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New 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...
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New 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...
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New 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...
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New 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...
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How 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,...
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Frederick 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...
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Leonard 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...
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New 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...
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New 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...
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