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Explorer Gosnold Names "Cape Cod"
Explorer Gosnold Names "Cape Cod"
On this day in 1602, the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold dropped anchor off the Massachusetts coast. While he and four others went ashore, the rest of the crew pulled in so many cod that they...
Woman's Rights Pioneer Lucy Stone Born
Woman's Rights Pioneer Lucy Stone Born
On this day in 1818, woman's rights pioneer Lucy Stone was born on a farm in West Brookfield. Her mother greeted the news that her sixth child was a girl by exclaiming, "Oh Dear! I...
Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town
Fire Nearly Destroys Nantucket Town
On this day in 1846, a fire began in a hat store on Nantucket's Main Street. In no time, it raced through town, consuming everything in its path. Barrels of whale oil were stored on...
Flu Epidemic Begins in Boston
Flu Epidemic Begins in Boston
On this day in 1918, two sailors housed at Boston's Commonwealth Pier reported to sickbay. The men were the first Americans stricken with a strain of influenza that would prove far more dangerous than the...
The Stockholm Rams the Andrea Doria
The Stockholm Rams the Andrea Doria
On this day in 1956, two ocean liners collided in thick fog, approximately 50 miles south of Nantucket. The Stockholm had just left New York City bound for Sweden. The Andrea Doria was due to...
Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater
Sarah Remond Ejected from Boston Theater
On this day in 1853, Sarah Parker Remond and two other African Americans entered a Boston theater intending to enjoy a Mozart opera. When the manager discovered they were people of color, he directed them...
Boston Abolitionists Await Emancipation Proclamation
Boston Abolitionists Await Emancipation Proclamation
On this day, New Year's Eve 1862, William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist paper The Liberator, delayed printing the latest edition as he waited for news from Washington. At midnight, his son and daughter...
Harvard Students Occupy University Hall
Harvard Students Occupy University Hall
On this day in 1969, Harvard students took over University Hall, one of the college's oldest buildings. Opposed to the escalating war in Vietnam, the protesters demanded Harvard end its Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or...
Police Find First Victim of "Boston Strangler"
Police Find First Victim of "Boston Strangler"
On this day in 1962, police discovered the body of the first victim of the "Boston Strangler." For the next two years, Boston would be paralyzed by fear as the strangling deaths of 13 women...
Great Fire Devastates Boston
Great Fire Devastates Boston
On this day in 1872, a monstrous fire nearly destroyed Boston's business district, ravaging the city from the Common to the waterfront. Beginning in a dry goods store, the blaze burned for 15 hours with...