New England Cities Trivia Quiz

Answer: One State

Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, is by far the largest city in New England. It acts in many ways as the capital of the entire region - Boston's sports teams, for example, tend to be followed by all New Englanders, since it is the only city with teams in the top level of professional sports. In addition, the Greater Boston area is a hub of academia, with multiple internationally-recognised universities such as Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Puritan settlers established Boston (named after a town in Lincolnshire, England) in 1630. It started on the Pawtucket Peninsula, but has since expanded to cover a much larger area. Most of its current land area was created by filling in tidal areas to connect isolated bits. Boston's harbor made it a significant port for the colonies - and the site of a number of significant events leading up to the start of the American Revolution. Tourists can follow the red bricks of the Freedom Trail to see many of the locations which they have read about in history books.

While this is the only New England city with this exact name, New Hampshire does have a town named New Boston.

Answer: One State

The largest city and capital of Rhode Island was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams when he settled there after being exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his heretical stance on the separation of the powers of the church and those of the state. He designated it Providence Plantations, as a statement of thanks to God for having led them to such a fortunate spot. The city was burned to the ground (well, not quite - two buildings survived) in 1676, during King Philip's War, and subsequently rebuilt.

Providence's location on Narragansett Bay at the mouth of the Providence River led to its development into a busy port and, later, into one of the most industrialised cities in New England (although the economic base has since moved to be more in the services sector). Since 1770 it has been the home of Brown University, one of the seven members of the Ivy League. Other Providence-based higher education establishments include Rhode Island College (a public university established in 1854), Rhode Island School of Design (a private school of art founded in 1877), Johnson & Wales University (a private university that originated as a business school in 1914) and Providence College (a Catholic university established in 1917).

There are no other towns or cities named Providence in New England. The closest in name is Provincetown Massachusetts, near the tip of Cape Cod.

Answer: One State

The valley on the banks of the Winooskie River where Montpelier is located was home to the Abenaki for many years. A period of around 11,000 years of travel through the region has been suggested, with over 1,000 years of settled agriculture and hunting to follow. The arrival of Europeans in New England during the 17th century started an era of dispossession and disease that led to the almost complete collapse of their civilisation in the area. The first permanent settlers moved to the area in 1787 and named their settlement Montpelier (after a French provincial capital of that name), part of the then-current popularity of the French due to their invaluable support during the American Revolution.

In 1825 Montpelier was selected to be the capital of Vermont due to its central location and the ease of access by river. Government continues to be the city's main business, with its residential population about a third of the total of people working in the city on a day when government is sitting. In the 2020 census, it remained the US state capital with the smallest population (7,477).

There are no towns or cities anywhere else in New England with a name even resembling that of Montpelier.

Answer: One State

The capital of Maine (third-smallest US state capital behind Montpelier VT and Pierre SD) was first settled (by European colonists, the Algonquian-speaking people of the Wabanaki Confederacy had been there for a long time) between 1625 and 1628, when a trading post named Cushnoc was established to exploit the then-thriving fur trade. It was later abandoned, but Fort Western was built nearby in 1754, during the French and Indian War, and later incorporated as Hallowell in 1771. In 1791 Harrington broke away to declare itself a new town, changing its name later that year to Augusta, which was declared the state capital of Maine in 1825.

Augusta's position on the Kennebec River, near the tidal limit (the point furthest upriver which experiences tidal variations in salinity) was responsible for its original significance in trade and warfare. It also means that the city is subject to severe flooding on occasion, including the Great Flood of 1987, a meteorological event in which severe rains in April and May combined with the melting snow from the previous winter to produce widespread flooding.

Named for Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Princess of Wales due to her marriage to Prince Frederick, Dowager Princess of Wales following his death in 1751, and mother of George III who assumed the throne in 1760), this is the only Augusta in New England.

Answer: One State

Located near the eastern end of the border between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, with the Merrimack River on its east border and the Nashua River (from which it gets its name) running through its centre, Nashua developed during the 19th century as a textile manufacturer, using the waterpower of its rivers to drive the machinery. The textiles industry slumped in the early part of the 20th century, with the development of alternative energy forms enticing businesses to move south, closer to the source of the materials (making production cheaper by reducing transport costs); the last mill closed in 1949. The city has now become a focus of military and hi-tech firms (does anybody else remember the Nashua floppy disc?).

Nashua has been nicknamed the Gate City, in reference to it lying on the transport route between Boston and the rest of the state of New Hampshire. When it was established in 1654, it was part of a larger township called Dunstable (named after the English founder's hometown) which was partly in what is now New Hampshire and partly in Massachusetts; when the border was settled as running through the township in 1746, Dunstable NH became independent. In 1836 Dunstable NH renamed itself as Nashua, to differentiate itself from Dunstable MA.

Answer: One State

Maine's largest city, located in the southeast of the state on the coast, was named for the Isle of Portland in the English Channel. The peninsula on which it is located was called "Məkíhkanək" (At the fish hook) in Penobscot, and "Machigonne" (Great Neck) in Algonquian, the language of the Aucocisco people who lived there before being forced out of the area and resettled in what is now Canada. In 1623 Christoper Levett tried to establish a settlement which he planned to name York, but failed to persuade others to join him; in 1633 George Cleeve and Richard Tucker were more successful, and the fishing and trading town of Casco was set up. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony took control of the area in 1658, it was renamed to Falmouth. In 1786 the peninsular part of Falmouth declared itself as the independent region of Portland.

Portland has a history of being burned down and rebuilt. In 1676 the village of Casco was burned by the Abenaki as part of King Philip's war; in 1690 Falmouth was almost completely destroyed by the French and their native allies in the Battle of Fort Loyal, part of King William's War; in 1775 the British burned Falmouth as part of the American Revolution. In 1866 a fire accidentally ignited during Fourth of July celebrations destroyed a significant portion of the city.

Portland is the only city of that name in New England, but it is notable that the city of Portland Oregon was named after Portland Maine.

Answer: Two States

The city of Rutland is totally surrounded by a township of Rutland, which is a separate municipality, but effectively forms the suburbs of Vermont's third-largest city. It was chartered (given a legal right to be established) in 1761, and John Murray, the first named proprietor, named it in honour of the Duke of Rutland (where he came from). At the time, Vermont was still part of the colony of New Hampshire (with a claim disputed by the state of New York), only becoming separate when the Republic of Vermont was declared in 1777. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress did not recognise this independence, as it was still being claimed by New York. Although many Vermonters fought against the British during the American Revolution, after hostilities ceased there was vigorous debate about the best future: as an independent state, or as part of the British Province of Quebec. Then Vermont found itself surrounded on three sides by former colonies that had decided to form union, and in 1791 Vermont became the 14th state.

During the 19th century, local marble deposits all of a sudden gained international demand as European marble quarries were being mined out. It was during this time that the city was separated from the surrounding township. Closure of the mines near the end of the 20th century dealt a serious economic blow to the region.

Since 1960, Rutland has held an annual Halloween Parade with a superheroes theme which has featured in a number of stories in both DC and Marvel comics.

Rutland is also the name of a town in Massachusetts, located at the state's geographical centre.

Answer: Two States

Worcester, the second-most populous city in New England, is located near the centre of the state of Massachusetts, and is sometime nicknamed 'Heart of the Commonwealth' (the full name of the state being the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Settlement took several attempts, as the local Nipmuc people sided against the British settlers in King Philip's War (1675) and in Queen Anne's War (1702), causing the town to be abandoned each time. A permanent settlement was incorporated in 1722, which developed into an industrial centre during the 19th century.

Over the years, Worcester has been host to people with a wide range of political stances, some more well known than others. On the one hand, the first national convention advocating women's rights was held in Worcester during October of 1850, and a number of prominent abolitionists lived there in the 19th century; anarchist Emma Goldman was a partner in an ice cream shop there in 1892 (for a few months, before heading off to participate in the homestead Strike near Pittsburgh, and the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick which led to her imprisonment); Abbie Hoffman grew up in Worcester. On the other end of the political spectrum, Robert Waring Stoddard, editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, was one of the founding members of the John Birch Society. In 1924, a rally to recruit members to the Ku Klux Klan attracted about 15,000 supporters; protestors, however, objected violently, and destructive riots went on until police could settle things down the next day.

Vermont also has a town (population around 1,000), founded in 1763, named Worcester.

Answer: Three States

Capital of Connecticut and "Insurance Capital of the World", this is also the city where Mark Twain lived while writing many of his most famous works and about which he wrote, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief." Hartford was founded in 1635, making it one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is the site of the Charter Oak (featured on the Connecticut state quarter), in which the 1662 Royal Charter of Connecticut was hidden to avoid having it confiscated by the English governor-general during a dispute between Charles II and Parliament over its validity. The Charter Oak Monument is at the intersection of Charter Oak Avenue and Charter Oak Place (not that anyone makes a big deal of it).

After the Colony of Connecticut and the (unchartered) Colony of New Haven were joined in 1665, the cities of Hartford and New Haven were both considered capitals at various times, with their co-capital status made official in 1701, and lasting until 1875, when Hartford became the sole capital.

Mark Twain is not the city's only famous resident. One of his neighbours was Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'); other notables include Noah Webster (of dictionary fame), Sam Colt (inventor of the .45 Clot bullet), poet Wallace Stevens, actress Kathryn Hepburn and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York's Central Park.

Maine and Vermont also have municipalities named Hartford. The latter, named after the Connecticut city, was the home of Horace Wells, a pioneer in the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in dentistry.

Answer: Three States

Burlington, the largest city in its state, is the US city with the smallest population to make that claim. Perhaps that was a contributing factor in its capacity to become, in 2015, the first American city to run totally on renewable energy, almost half of which comes from generating electricity by burning wood that is sustainably harvested from the surroundings. The rest comes from a hydroelectric plant built on the Winooski River (which enters Lake Champlain a few miles north of the city), wind turbines on nearby Georgia Mountain, and an array of solar panels at the airport in South Burlington.

Burlington is a familiar name to international ice cream fans, as it is the site where Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield established Ben & Jerry's in 1978, based in a renovated gas station. The success of their product, known for the use of creative flavours with clever, often cheeky and sometimes controversial, names led to several moves for expansion, and an eventual sale to the international company Unilever in 2000.

Burlington MA is part of Greater Boston, and Burlington ME (population 373 in 2020) is near Bangor, the state's third largest city.

Answer: Three States

New Haven is the third-largest city in Connecticut, but one which will be more familiar internationally than Bridgeport or Stamford, due to the presence of Yale University in the city. In the 21st century, Yale is the largest single employer in the city, whose economy has shifted from manufacturing to services, followed by Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The site of New Haven was originally inhabited by the Quinnipiac people, whose economy was based on fishing in Long Island Sound and agriculture. The Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the area in 1614, but no permanent Dutch settlement was made. In 1638 a group of Puritans moved there from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and set up the first pre-planned cities in the US, with the eight streets laid out so as to create nine squares, with the central one of the grid left empty to provide a common area. Originally used for such purposes as markets and as a parade ground, as well as an early burial site, New Haven Green is now a privately-owned park of 16 acres, where three churches dating from the early 19th century reflect the theocentric origins of the city.

Maine has a small fishing village called New Haven, not far from Portland, as well as a North Haven further up the coast. New Haven VT is a small town near the centre of the state, in the Champlain Valley.

Answer: Four States

Concord may be the capital of New Hampshire, but the one in Massachusetts, location of one of the earliest battles in the American Revolution, is probably the one most people think of first. It also helps that the name is associated with a number of literary luminaries, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. Oh yes, Concord MA is also where the Concord grape was developed.

Concord NH developed from the Plantation of Penacook, chartered by the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1725. The town was incorporated in 1734 under the name of Rumford, and renamed Concord in 1765 to make a statement about the state of peace that followed the settlement of a boundary dispute with one of the neighbouring towns. Concord was not the original capital of New Hampshire - that was Portsmouth. Concord was designated as the capital in 1808, and its capitol building, the oldest state capitol where the original chambers are still used by the legislature, was completed in 1819.

Concord ME (located, like the one in Massachusetts, near a town called Lexington) has a population of 336 in the 2000 census.

Concord VT lies on the Connecticut River which separates Vermont and New Hampshire. It was named after Concord MA.

Answer: Four States

Located on the Connecticut River near the western end of the state, Springfield is the third largest city in Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, this is the first of the many Springfields to be found in North America. It was chosen to be the site of the national armory during the American Revolution, and the Springfield Armory produced one of the most famous pieces of military equipment during the American Civil War, the Springfield rifle. Springfield was also the home of John Brown, the abolitionist whose raid on Harpers Ferry made national headlines as one of the events leading up to the Civil War.

Springfield has been nicknamed 'The City of Firsts', as a number of significant firsts occurred there. In 1844 G & C Merriam Co. bought the rights to Noah Webster's 'An American Dictionary of the English Language', publishing the third printing of its second edition in what was to become an American staple reference book. In 1895 the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, the first American company to build gasoline-powered automobiles, was established in Springfield. Possibly more familiar to many trivia enthusiasts is the fact that James Naismith invented the game of basketball in Springfield, in 1891. More precisely, in 1891 he came up with a new indoor game that was to evolve into the sport we now know as basketball - his used actual peach baskets and a soccer ball.

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont also have towns named Springfield. Springfield VT was chosen as the venue for the world premiere of 'The Simpsons Movie', which was set in the town of Springfield in a carefully-undisclosed state, as was the case for the television show which was its source.

Answer: Four States

Newport is located on a large island in Rhode Island Bay which is known as Aquidneck Island, but officially named Rhode Island. (Remember how the state's name was actually the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations before it was officially shortened in 2020? Well, this is the Rhode Island.) In 1638 Roger Williams negotiated the purchase (or maybe it was a gift) of the island with the Narragansetts, settling first near the north in the area that is now Portsmouth. The following year some of them moved to the southern end of the island, where there was an excellent harbour.

Newport has a history of association with the leisured classes, and is famed for its historic mansions, both from the Colonial Era and from the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. It was used as the 'Summer White House' by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and remains a popular seaside holiday site. It is also the site of the yacht club that established the America's Cup (and hosted it every event from its 1930 inception until 1983, when Alan Bond's Australia II became the first international winner, and earned the right to host the next challenge.

Newport VT lies on the southern end of Lake Memphremagog, most of which is part of the Canadian province of Quebec.

Newport NH lies on the Connecticut River, one of 13 towns along that river that seceded from New Hampshire to join Vermont in 1781, a decision that was overturned by George Washington in 1782.

Newport ME, originally known as East Pont Plantation, surrounds Sebasticook Lake, the largest lake in that state which is situated entirely in one town.

Answer: Five States

Samuel Blodgett, who built a canal around the Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack River in 1807, decided that the town of Derryfield was ideally located to become a textile-manufacturing power along the lines of Manchester England, and led the charge to have the name changed, in 1810. Around the same time, one of his friends founded Amoskeag Mills, and the town was on its way to growing into the most populous city in the state of New Hampshire. When the textile industry declined significantly during the second half of the 20th century, other industries arrived to replace them, including the Mall of New Hampshire, a large retail centre to the south of the city.

In 1990 Manchester MA officially changed its name to Manchester-on-the-Sea, to avoid confusion with the nearby Manchester NH, but most still refer to it as Manchester. It was the setting, and one of the filming locations, for the 2016 movie 'Manchester by the Sea'.

Manchester ME, located near Augusta, was named after Manchester MA.

Manchester VT is widely accepted as the home of the modern snowboard, developed there in the 1970s by Jake Burton Carpenter.

Manchester CT, near Hartford, was at one time home to the world's largest silk mill.