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58 Massachusetts Trivia Questions and Fun Facts

Reviewed by Stefanie Zaldarriaga, Author·Updated Oct 2026·7 min read

58 Massachusetts trivia questions with answers and a handful of checked fun facts, from the Mayflower and the shot heard round the world to Fenway Park, Boston cream pie and the official state cat.

Featured Image of Massachusetts Trivia Questions. Credit: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Massachusetts is the 7th-smallest state by area and still manages to hold a startling share of American firsts: the first public park, the first public school, the first subway and the opening shots of the Revolution. It also has an official state donut. Before the 58 questions below, here are the facts worth knowing.

The Massachusetts Constitution, written mainly by John Adams and in force since 1780, is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world. It predates the US Constitution by seven years and served as one of its models. (Source: Mass.gov, "John Adams & the Massachusetts Constitution.")

Boston Common was set aside in 1634, which makes it the oldest public park in the United States. A year later the town founded Boston Latin School, the oldest existing school in the country. (Sources: City of Boston; Boston Latin School.)

Two of the world's most popular sports were invented in western Massachusetts within four years of each other: basketball in Springfield in 1891, and volleyball, first called "Mintonette," in Holyoke in 1895. Basketball is now the state's official sport. (Sources: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 2.)

The state's official symbols run well past the usual bird and flower. Chapter 2 of the Massachusetts General Laws names an official cat (the tabby), dog (the Boston terrier), cookie (chocolate chip), dessert (Boston cream pie), donut (Boston cream), muffin (corn) and beverage (cranberry juice).

The Boston Marathon, first run in 1897, is the world's oldest annual marathon, and Fenway Park, opened in 1912, is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. (Sources: Boston Athletic Association; MLB.)

In May 2004 Massachusetts became the first state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, following the Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. (Source: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.)

The questions start easy and get harder as you go, and every one has multiple-choice options. Read each question aloud, give the table a moment, then reveal the answer.

  1. 1What is the capital of Massachusetts?

  2. 2What is Massachusetts' best-known nickname?

  3. 3In 1620 the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic to Massachusetts aboard which ship?

  4. 4What name was given to the December 1773 protest in which colonists dumped East India Company tea into Boston Harbor?

  5. 5Which sport did James Naismith invent in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891?

  6. 6Which Boston ballpark, opened in 1912, is the oldest in Major League Baseball?

  7. 7What is the nickname of the towering left-field wall at Fenway Park?

  8. 8Which hooked peninsula in southeastern Massachusetts is shaped like a bent arm?

  9. 9Which university, founded in 1636 in what is now Cambridge, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States?

  10. 10Which coffee-and-doughnut chain, now known by a single word, opened its first shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950?

  11. 11Which cookie, first baked at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, is the official state cookie of Massachusetts?

  12. 12Which layered dessert of sponge cake, custard and chocolate glaze is the official state dessert of Massachusetts?

  13. 13What is the state bird of Massachusetts?

  14. 14Which dog breed is the official state dog of Massachusetts?

  15. 15Which race, first run in 1897, is the world's oldest annual marathon?

  16. 16In 1692, which Massachusetts town became infamous for its witch trials?

  17. 17Massachusetts is the most populous state in which US region?

  18. 18Massachusetts officially calls itself a commonwealth. Which of these states is NOT one of the other three commonwealths?

  19. 19The first battles of the Revolutionary War were fought on April 19, 1775, in which two Massachusetts towns?

  20. 20Which poet called the first shot fired at Concord "the shot heard round the world"?

  21. 21Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem tells of whose midnight ride on April 18, 1775?

  22. 22"One if by land, and two if by sea": the warning lanterns were hung in the steeple of which Boston church?

  23. 23The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 was actually fought mostly on which neighboring hill?

  24. 24Which Boston school, founded in 1635, is the oldest existing school in the United States?

  25. 25Which sport was invented in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1895 under the name "Mintonette"?

  26. 26In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state to issue licenses for what?

  27. 27Which president was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1917?

  28. 28How many US presidents were born in Massachusetts?

  29. 29What is the highest point in Massachusetts?

  30. 30America's first subway, the Tremont Street Subway in Boston, opened in which year?

  31. 31Which ship, nicknamed "Old Ironsides" and berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard, is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world?

  32. 32What is the name of the 2.5-mile route through Boston that links 16 sites from the Revolutionary era?

  33. 33Set aside in 1634, which Boston green space is the oldest public park in the United States?

  34. 34Which author of "Green Eggs and Ham" was born in Springfield, Massachusetts?

  35. 35Which picture book about a family of ducks in the Boston Public Garden is the official children's book of Massachusetts?

  36. 36Which poet spent nearly her whole life in Amherst, publishing only a handful of her almost 1,800 poems while she was alive?

  37. 37Henry David Thoreau lived in a small cabin beside which pond near Concord from 1845 to 1847?

  38. 38Which Founding Father, printer and inventor was born in Boston in 1706?

  39. 39In January 1919 a storage tank burst in Boston's North End and flooded the streets with what?

  40. 40Which juice is the official state beverage of Massachusetts?

  41. 41Which fish, a symbol of the state's fishing history, is the official state fish of Massachusetts?

  42. 42Massachusetts has an official state cat. Which kind of cat is it?

  43. 43What is the official state donut of Massachusetts?

  44. 44In 2004 the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since which year?

  45. 45Which fig-filled cookie was named after a town just west of Boston?

  46. 46Who was the principal author of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, the oldest functioning written constitution in the world?

  47. 47Which woman, the official heroine of Massachusetts, disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army?

  48. 48What was the name of the 1786-87 armed uprising by indebted farmers in western Massachusetts?

  49. 49Which Puritan leader told the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 that they would be "as a city upon a hill"?

  50. 50In February 1788 Massachusetts ratified the US Constitution as which state in order?

  51. 51How many counties does Massachusetts have?

  52. 52Which Wampanoag leader made a peace agreement with the Plymouth colonists in 1621?

  53. 53The first lighthouse in what became the United States was lit in 1716 on an island in Boston Harbor. What is it called?

  54. 54In which city near Boston did Archibald Query first make Marshmallow Fluff in 1917?

  55. 55Which women's-rights leader was born in Adams, Massachusetts, in 1820?

  56. 56Which founder of the American Red Cross was born in Oxford, Massachusetts?

  57. 57Which city on the Merrimack River was planned in the 1820s around water-powered textile mills, and is now a national historical park?

  58. 58Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are the state's two famous summer islands. Which one is larger?

Answer Key

  1. 1. Boston
  2. 2. The Bay State
  3. 3. The Mayflower
  4. 4. The Boston Tea Party
  5. 5. Basketball
  6. 6. Fenway Park
  7. 7. The Green Monster
  8. 8. Cape Cod
  9. 9. Harvard University
  10. 10. Dunkin'
  11. 11. The chocolate chip cookie
  12. 12. Boston cream pie
  13. 13. The black-capped chickadee
  14. 14. The Boston terrier
  15. 15. The Boston Marathon
  16. 16. Salem
  17. 17. New England
  18. 18. Maryland
  19. 19. Lexington and Concord
  20. 20. Ralph Waldo Emerson
  21. 21. Paul Revere
  22. 22. Old North Church
  23. 23. Breed's Hill
  24. 24. Boston Latin School
  25. 25. Volleyball
  26. 26. Same-sex marriages
  27. 27. John F. Kennedy
  28. 28. Four
  29. 29. Mount Greylock
  30. 30. 1897
  31. 31. USS Constitution
  32. 32. The Freedom Trail
  33. 33. Boston Common
  34. 34. Dr. Seuss
  35. 35. Make Way for Ducklings
  36. 36. Emily Dickinson
  37. 37. Walden Pond
  38. 38. Benjamin Franklin
  39. 39. Molasses
  40. 40. Cranberry juice
  41. 41. The cod
  42. 42. The tabby
  43. 43. The Boston cream donut
  44. 44. 1918
  45. 45. Fig Newtons
  46. 46. John Adams
  47. 47. Deborah Sampson
  48. 48. Shays' Rebellion
  49. 49. John Winthrop
  50. 50. The sixth
  51. 51. 14
  52. 52. Massasoit
  53. 53. Boston Light
  54. 54. Somerville
  55. 55. Susan B. Anthony
  56. 56. Clara Barton
  57. 57. Lowell
  58. 58. Martha's Vineyard

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