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To see all events in all categories, click the "Entire Timeline" link at the top of the page. You can use the form to the left to search for sets of events by entering specific terms or to zoom in on a particular time period. View historical, literary, or commemorative events in New England's past by using the links in the legend below.
Legend: Literary Commemorative Historical

Years Image Event Description Keywords
1623   Permanent English settlements in New Hampshire   settlement, colony
1628   Maypole at Mount Wollaston (Mass) Miles Standish commanded an expedition against Thomas Morton's fur-trading post. Plymouth officials feared Morton's men were trading guns with Indians. Pilgrims, Hawthorne, Standish, maypole, Indian"
1636   Thomas Hooker leads settlement at Hartford.   colony, settlement, Puritans
1661   English Quaker William Leddra hanged in Boston. In response English Quakers sought a mandamus from King Charles II. A Salem Quaker, Samuel Shattock, who was then in England, delivered it to Governor Endecott. Quaker, Whittier
1662   The Wampanoag sachem Wamsutta dies mysteriously. Wamsutta, also known as Alexander, was Massasoit's oldest son and Metacom (or Philip's) brother. Indian, Philip
1675   King Philip's War Read a modernized version of Philip's account of Indian grievances originally contained in a narrative by the Rhode Island Quaker, John Easton Indians, Philip
1683   Mary Rowlandson's narrative The birth of the "captivity narrative" as a American genre Philip, women
1704   Deerfield Massacre A winter raid resulted in the deaths or captivities of three-fifths of the town's inhabitants. The attacking force included men from Odanak and Schaghiticoke, where many New England refugees had gathered after King Philip's War. Indians, French, frontier, captivity" Philip
1725   Lovewell's Defeat at Pigwacket A failed raid in central Maine provoked songs and sermons about the heroism of New England soldiers. Indians, Maine
1766   Hundreds, including slaves and free blacks, begin holding religious meetings in Sarah Osborne's home in Newport, Rhode Island. Osborne called these my "resting, reaping times." In 1770, she is instrumental in getting Samuel Hopkins installed as pastor of a Newport church.  
1769   Forefather's Day celebrated by Plymouth's Old Colony Club    
1770   11yr old Christopher Seider killed   revolution
1770 Copley paints Paul Revere Copley's painting and many examples of Revere's silver can be seen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  
1770   Boston Massacre John Adams defends the British soldiers. revolution
1775   George Washington takes command   revolution
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1776   Abigail Adams urges John to "Remember the Ladies    
1780   Benedict Arnold turns traitor    
1781   British attack Fort Griswold and burn New London, Connecticut    
1805   Rock outcropping in Franconia Notch first noticed by road workers.   Old Man, profile
1806   Black Baptists build a meeting house on Beacon Hill in Boston The "African Meeting House," now on Boston's Black Heritage Trail, is considered the oldest surviving Black church building in America. abolition
1810   Congress commissions a census on manufactures Memories of revolutionary spinning meetings encourage domestic production. women's work
1812   U.S.S. Constitution ("Old Ironsides") fights British.   maritime
1813   Agricultural fairs called "Cattle Shows" begin displaying household manufactures By the 1820s, the annual shows also include "fancy work." women's work
1824   Lydia Maria Child, "Hobomok: A Tale of Early Times" A distraught Puritan woman marries an Indian. Indians
1827   Catharine Sedgwick, "Hope Leslie, or Early Times in Massachusetts" Features a friendship between a Puritan woman and a Pequot woman. Indian
1829   First performance of "Metamora"   Indian, Philip
1830   Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem raises outcry over supposed abandonment of "Old Ironsides."   maritime
1830   Theodore Dwight, The Northern Traveller (guidbook) mentions "Old Man of the Mountains."   old man, profile
1830   Monument erected at Fort Griswold    
1831   Nathaniel Hawthorne, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" This early story was re-published in 1852 revolution
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1835   Seaman's Aid Society establishes a "Mariner's Home" in Boston   maritime
1837   Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Twice-Told Tales"    
1839   Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Algic Researches One of many ethnographic works published by the Indian agent and self-taught scientist, it contained a version of the myth of Hiawatha. Indians
1846   Hawthorne, "Roger Malvyn's Burial" in Mosses From An Old Manse Hawthorne's story built on an already existing romance about Lovewell's Defeat at Pigwacket in 1725. Lovewell, Maine, bones
1848   William Oakes, Scenery of the White Mountains Oakes said that from one angle the profile resembled a "toothless old woman in a mob cap." From the best angle, however, it showed a man with character "fixed and firm." old man, profile
1849   California Gold Rush   economy
1850   Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Great Stone Face"   old man, profile" mountain
1851   Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"   maritime
1855   Herman Melville, "Tartarus of Maids" In the 1850s, Melville published many short stories and sketches in Harper's and Putnam's magazines. women's work
1856   Charter Oak toppled in a wind storm The romance of the Charter Oak persists even today. charter oak, Connecticut
1856   Benjamin Willey, Incidents in White Mountain History Earliest published version of a comment later attributed to Daniel Webster. ""Men put out signs representing their different trades; jewellers hang out a monster watch; shoemakers, a huge boot; and, up in Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a sign that in New England he makes men." profile, old man
1861   Civil War economy boosts Massachusetts manufacturing   economy
1863   Emancipation Proclamation frees slaves in rebellious states In a response to an editorial in the New york Tribune, Lincoln had earlier insisted that he would free the slaves only to save the Union. Harriet Beecher Stowe responded in another publication that he should save the Union only to free the slaves. slavery
1869   Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Old-Town Folks"    
1870   Most female wage workers are employed in factories or as household servants. In Boston, 8 of 10 household servants are foreign born. In textile mills, most are immigrants or the children of immigrants. women's work, population, immigration
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1873   Anne Whitney wins competition to create a sculpture of Samuel Adams for the United States Capitol. Later the City of Boston installed a bronze version at Faneuil Hall even though in 1874 a Boston commission rejected her sculpture of Charles Sumner because she was a woman.
statue
1878   Old Ironsides takes last Atlantic voyage. After 1897 it is on exhibit in Boston. maritime
1879   The Boston Antiquarian Club rescues the Old State House See the Old State House time-line on the Bostonian Society Web site revolution
1881   Winslow Homer seeks the "old ways" in an English fishing village.   maritime
1887   Ellen Rounds repairs the "Damm Garrison" In 1915, she donated it to Dover, New Hampshire's new "Woodman Institute." Indian wars, door, museum
1889   Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association presents a historical pageant The historical vignettes included Anne Hutchinson's banishment, the Salem witch trials, and the courtship of Priscilla Alden, among other events. witch, antinomian, Hutchinson, Alden, suffrage
1893   Alice Morse Earle, "Customs and Fashions of Old New England"    
1900   Old Gaol opened in York, Maine   museum
1904   Wallace Nutting launches a career as a historical entrepreneur Wallace Nutting (1861-1941) attempted to record 'that old life in America, which is rapidly passing away.'  
1928   A New York surgeon founds the Abbe Museum on Mount Desert Island, Maine While summering in Bar Harbor, Dr. Abbe was fascinated by the ancient Native American tools found in nearby shell heaps. As he began collecting these artifacts, he realized the need for safe permanent storage.  
1930   Old Man of the Mountain promoted as a tourist attraction. In the late 1920s the State of New Hampshire began efforts to stabilize the crumbling formation. profile
1935   Wells Historical Museum (precurser to Old Sturbridge Village) open Read Jack Larkin and Mark Ashton, "Celebrating 50 Years of History" on the museum Web site.  
1935   Harold Tantaquidge reconstructs a Mohegan village   museum
1947   Old Sturbridge Village created   museum
1958   Strawbery Banke Museum opens in Portsmouth, NH In 1957 Dorothy M. Vaughan, Portsmouth librarian, was invited to address the local Rotary Club. As she later recalled, 'I decided to lay it right on the line, and tell them what Portsmouth was throwing away each time a house was torn down or a piece of furniture was sold out of town.' Almost before she had finished, a committee was created to see what could be done to save Portsmouth's heritage. The result was a radical new combination of urban renewal and historic preservation. The Puddle Dock neighborhood was to be saved as a historic museum.  
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1972   Harvard dedicates the so-called "Bradstreet Gate" between the Science Center and the Yard. The Bradstreet Gate was controversial because it appeared to by-pass the history of Radcliffe. The passage from Bradstreet's writing engraved on the gate was taken out of context. In the original it described her dismay at the raw condition of the settlement in Boston when she first arrived. Perhaps the first female freshmen in the Yard had similiar anxieties.
Additional Information
 
1987   Archaeologists begin excavating historic sites threatened by Boston's Big Dig. Some of the artifacts recovered, including "North America's Oldest Bowling Ball" are on exhibit at the Commonwealth Museum. An interactive website shows the location of the Big Dig in relation to Boston geography as it changed over time.
Additional InformationAdditional Information
 
2001   Peabody Museum at Harvard continues to repatriate human remains Check the Harvard website for additional stories on NAGPRA bones Indians
2003   Old Man of the Mountains collapses   profile
2004   Memorial Hall Museum launches new website on "The Many Stories of 1704    

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