Crazy Laws in Massachusetts and Fun Facts Part One
Crazy Laws in Massachusetts and Fun Facts Part One
Crazy Laws in the State of Massachusetts
Did you know that Massachusetts has a crazy state law that prohibits a woman from utilizing a certain position?
And another crazy law that bans Quakers and witches? I am not making this up.
Read on to learn about these and another 15 crazy laws in the state of Massachusetts. Part Two will include the crazy laws still on the books in the cities of Massachusetts.
• Quakers and witches are banned.
That sorta gives you an idea of where Quakers fall in the scheme of things.
• Candy may not contain more than 1% of alcohol.
Now I have to check out my favorite candy bars: Almond Joy, Rocky Road, and Mr. Goodbar. Those bars produce such euphoria, the manufacturers may be breaking the law.
• It is illegal to give, sell or deliver beer to hospital patients.
One more good reason to avoid a hospital stay whenever possible.
• Shooting ranges may not set up targets that resemble human beings.
How about targets that resemble sleazy politicians? That could work.
• Taxi drivers are prohibited from making love in the front seat of their taxi during their shifts.
Not to worry. So far, there does not appear to be any restrictions for using the back seat.
• All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday.
Advice to religious leaders: If on Sunday, you preach, don’t give too long a speech.
• Hunting on Sundays is prohibited.
But, apparently, not in church.
• Alcoholic drink specials are illegal.
Make your whiney (get it?) patrons pay full price.
• It is illegal to go to bed without first having a full bath.
So … who monitors this activity? Just wonderin’.
• A woman cannot be on top in sexual activities.
Excuse me, on top of what? (The debbil made me write this.)
• Public boxing matches are outlawed.
Spouses and others must battle in private.
• Children may smoke, but they may not purchase cigarettes.
I know, life is not fair.
• No gorilla is allowed in the back seat of any car.
What about gorillas in the front seat? Especially if they are driving!
• At a wake, mourners may eat no more than three sandwiches.
You gotta keep an eye on those moochers. They can eat you out of house and home.
• Tomatoes may not be used in the production of clam chowder.
Thank goodness the state didn’t ban clams.
• Bullets may not be used as currency.
Use wampum like the rest of us.
• An old ordinance declares goatees illegal unless you first pay a special license fee for the privilege of wearing one in public.
No fee, no goatee.
Fun Facts and Illustrious Information in Massachusetts
• The visible portion of Plymouth Rock is a lumpy fragment of glacial moraine about the size of a coffee table, with the date 1620 cut into its surface. It rests near the head of Plymouth Harbor.
• The first English settlers in Massachusetts were the Pilgrims who arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the local native Americans, the Wampanoag.
A pilgrim (from the Latin, ‘peregrinus’) is a traveler who has come from afar who is on a journey, typically, to a holy place.
• The Mayflower II is a full-size replica of the Mayflower which brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620. It is located at the State Pier in Plymouth Center, and is open as a museum.
• The first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated in Plymouth in 1621. Wild turkey and cranberries were probably on the menu.
• Plimouth Plantation is a living history museum located In Plymouth which consists of a re-creation of the Plymouth settlement in 1627.
• The Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were strict Puritans with negative views on religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. They were particularly contemptuous of Christmas and banned its celebration throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
• The Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628 was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett. The name has been translated as ‘near the great hill,’ ‘by the blue hills,’ or ‘at the little big hill.’
• Hingham's Old Ship Church built in 1681 is the oldest church structure in the U.S. in continuous use as a house of worship.
• The Boston Cream Pie was invented at the Parker House in Boston. It is the state's official dessert. The owners state that the Boston cream pie was first created at the hotel by Armenian-French chef M. Sanzian in 1856.
Didja know that the Boston Cream pie is not a pie. It is a cake! A cake filled with custard or cream filling and frosted with chocolate.
• In 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. Twenty people were executed, most of them women.
552 original documents pertaining to the Salem witch trials have been preserved and are still stored by the Peabody Essex Museum.
• The first American lighthouse was built in the Boston Harbor in 1716.
• The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston on December 16, 1773. Disguised as native Americans, they destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773.
They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The colonists believed that the Tea Act violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a British parliament.
Remember your American History class in school? ‘No taxation without representation.'
• The Boston Tea Party Museum is located on the Congress Street Bridge in Boston. It features reenactments, a documentary, and a number of interactive exhibits.
• The Boston Tea Party reenactment takes place in Boston Harbor every December 16th.
• Nathaniel Hathorne, a famous novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem.
No, I did not misspell his name.
His great-grandfather was John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added a ‘w’ to make his name ‘Hawthorne’ in order to hide this relationship.
• The House of the Seven Gables in Salem was built in 1668 and is now a museum open to the public.
The seven-gabled house inspired Hawthorne to write his famous novel of the same name in 1851.
• In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the ‘Cradle of Liberty’ for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution and independence of the U.S. from Great Britain.
• The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775 within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Cambridge and Menotomy (present-day Arlington).
• John Lee Richmond, a left-handed pitcher for the Worcester Ruby Legs, pitched the first Major League Baseball ‘perfect game’ in Worcester on June 12, 1880.
• Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith in Springfield. The Basketball Hall Of Fame is located in Springfield.
• In Holyoke, William G. Morgan created a new game called ‘Mintonette’ in 1895. After a demonstration given at the YMCA in nearby Springfield, the game became known as volleyball.
The Volleyball Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke.
• Holyoke is home to the second-largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S. surpassed only by the New York City parade.
• The Children's Museum in Boston displays a giant milk bottle on the museum's wharf.
If it were real it would hold 50,000 gallons of milk and 8,620 gallons of cream.
• At 40 feet tall and 18 feet in diameter, the structure now known as the Hood Milk Bottle was originally constructed in 1933 on the banks of the Three Mile River in Taunton.
The bottle was cut into three sections and moved by barge to Boston in 1977. Re-assembled on the wharf, the structure resumed its original function as an ice cream stand and snack bar.
• Archibald Query of Somerville started selling his version of the sweet treat, Marshmallow Fluff, door-to-door in 1917.
Soon afterward Query sold the recipe to two candy makers in Lynn: H. Allen Durkee and Fred Mower for $500. The product first hit supermarket shelves in cans as Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff.
Marshmallow creme and peanut butter are used to create a fluffernutter sandwich.
Since 2006, an annual Fluff Festival, ‘What the Fluff?’, is held to celebrate the invention of Marshmallow Fluff, and the crowning of the Pharaoh of Fluff.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country with 2.5 divorces per 1000 people.
I wonder who that half a person is.
• Charles Goodyear first produced vulcanized rubber in 1844 in his small factory in Springfield. This achievement is considered one of the major ‘firsts’ that contributes to the city of Springfield's nickname, ‘The City of Firsts.’
• Elias Howe of Spencer was awarded the first U. S. patent for a sewing machine using a lockstitch design in 1846.
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, made the first phone call in his Boston laboratory in 1876 to his assistant.
What did he say? “Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you.”
• Theodor Seuss Geisel better known as ‘Dr. Seuss,’ was born in Springfield. His popular children’s books have sold more than 600 million copies.
Dr. Seuss's honors include two Academy awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Dr. Seuss wrote many of his books in anapestic tetrameter, a poetic meter consisting of two weak syllables followed by one strong syllable.
Example: "And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he, Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see." Just thought you would like to know.
The Paper House
• Elis F. Stenman began building his house in 1922 in Rockport with a timber frame, roof, and floors. But to construct the walls, he decided to use a much different form of wood: newspaper.
The Paper House has walls, doors, and furniture made of varnished newspapers – roughly 100,000 of them. 215 layers of paper were stuck together with a homemade glue of flour, water, and apple peels to make 1-inch-thick panels for the walls.
When Stenman moved out in 1930, the house became a museum and still stands today.
State song – ‘All Hail to Massachusetts’ by Arthur J. Marsh
State building stone – Granite
State muffin – Corn muffin
State cat – Tabby cat
State folk dance – Square dance
State game bird – Wild turkey
State dessert – Boston cream pie
State reptile – Garter snake
State cookie – chocolate chip cookie
State polka –‘Say Hello To Someone From Massachusetts’ by Lenny Gomulka
• The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston is the only place in the world where a boat can travel under a train . . .
traveling under a car . . .
traveling under an airplane.
• Speaking of 'under,' Boston built the first subway system in the U.S. in 1897.
• Massachusetts residents are called Bay Staters.
State Symbols
State flower – Mayflower
State tree – American elm
State bird – Chickadee
State beverage – Cranberry juice
State horse – Morgan horse
State insect – Ladybug
State fish – Cod
State dog – Boston Terrier
State gem – Rhodonite
State marine mammal – Right whale
State fossil – Dinosaur track
State mineral – Babingtonite (jet black mineral with brilliant luster)
Favorite Boston one-liner:
Q: What are the only two seasons in Boston? A: Winter and Construction.
BOLO – Be On the Look Out for Part Two – ‘Crazy Laws in the Cities of Massachusetts’ and more fun facts.
© Copyright BJ Rakow, Ph.D. 2015. All rights reserved. Author, "Much of What You Know about Job Search Just Ain't So."