60 free Massachusetts trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
47 free Massachusetts trivia questions with answers. Massachusetts packed an outsized share of American history into a small state: the Pilgrims, the Salem witch trials, the Tea Party and Bunker Hill, the first public school and the first subway. This quiz covers all of that plus the modern Bay State — Fenway's Green Monster, eighteen Celtics banners, the Boston Marathon, Cape Cod and the islands, Harvard and MIT, and the surprising number of everyday things invented here, from basketball and volleyball to the chocolate chip cookie and the smiley face. The easy questions ask what the capital is and where the Pilgrims landed. The hard ones want the height of Mount Greylock, the town where Dunkin' started, the number of chests dumped in the harbour and which sport was first called mintonette. It suits a Patriots' Day gathering, a classroom or a New England pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the state, its cities and its landmarks, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The state's official name uses which word instead of 'State'?
Commonwealth
John Adams likely chose the word for the 1780 constitution because it carried the connotation of a republic.
Q 02What is Massachusetts' nickname, from the large bays that shape its coast?
The Bay State
It is only the seventh-smallest state by land area.
Q 03The state's name comes from an Indigenous people whose name is often translated as what?
Near the great hill
The 'great hill' is the Great Blue Hill on the boundary of Milton and Canton.
Q 04How many passengers did the Pilgrims' ship carry across the Atlantic in 1620?
102
A second ship, the Speedwell, proved unseaworthy and was left behind in England.
Q 05Which Wampanoag chief signed a treaty with Plymouth Colony that helped ensure its survival?
Massasoit
Squanto, a Patuxet man, acted as go-between.
Q 06Boston was founded in 1630 on which peninsula?
Shawmut
The Puritans also called it Tremontaine, for its three hills, which is where Tremont Street gets its name.
Q 07In the Salem witch trials of 1692, how many people were executed by hanging?
Nineteen
Giles Corey died separately, pressed under stones for refusing to enter a plea.
Q 08The last convicted Salem 'witch', Elizabeth Johnson Jr., was formally exonerated in what year?
2022
A 1957 act cleared six people and a 2001 act five more; she had been left out.
Q 09On what date did the Boston Tea Party take place?
December 16, 1773
The Sons of Liberty were protesting the Tea Act passed by Parliament that May.
Q 10Roughly how many chests of tea were thrown into Boston Harbor?
Around 340
The protesters were disguised as American Indians when they boarded the Dartmouth.
Q 11Which 1775 battles fought in Massachusetts began the Revolutionary War?
Lexington and Concord
Boston earned the nickname 'Cradle of Liberty' for its agitation.
Q 12Massachusetts became which number state to ratify the US Constitution, in February 1788?
Sixth
The Massachusetts constitution of 1780, drafted by John Adams, is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world.
Q 13What is the 1786-87 uprising that tried to seize the Connecticut Valley federal armory called?
Shays' Rebellion
It was led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays and influenced the Constitutional Convention.
Q 21In January 1919, a wave of what killed 21 people in Boston's North End?
Molasses
The 50-foot storage tank held 2.3 million US gallons when it burst.
Q 22Boston's Back Bay neighbourhood was created how?
By filling in tidal marshland
Gravel came by rail from Needham Heights and from levelling Boston's original three hills.
Q 23What was the nickname of Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project, completed in 2007?
The Big Dig
The old elevated artery was replaced by the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
Q 14Which state was part of Massachusetts until it separated in 1820?
Maine
It entered the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise.
Q 15Which Massachusetts regiment, the first Black regiment with white officers, was depicted in the film Glory?
The 54th Infantry
Its 1863 assault on Fort Wagner is the climax of the film.
Q 16In 2004 Massachusetts became the first US state to do what?
Legalize same-sex marriage
The change followed the Supreme Judicial Court's Goodridge decision.
Q 17Which two US presidents named Adams were born in Massachusetts?
John and John Quincy
Samuel Adams was a revolutionary agitator but never president.
Q 18What is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States?
Harvard
It was named in 1639 for John Harvard, a Puritan clergyman who left it his library and £780.
Q 19Boston Latin, founded in 1635, holds what national distinction?
Oldest public school
The Mather School of 1639 is the country's oldest public elementary school.
Q 20Boston's Tremont Street line, opened in 1897, was the first what in the nation?
Subway
Boston Common of 1634 was also the nation's first public park.
Q 24Which sport was invented in western Massachusetts in 1891 by James Naismith?
Basketball
He nailed a peach basket to an elevated track to keep a gym class busy on a rainy day.
Q 25Volleyball was invented in 1895 in which Massachusetts city?
Holyoke
William Morgan of the local YMCA originally called it 'mintonette'.
Q 26After their 2024 title, how many NBA championships had the Boston Celtics won?
18
The 2024 win was a league record at the time; eight of the titles came in a row, from 1959 to 1966.
Q 27Which Celtics player-coach became the first African American head coach in a major US sport?
Bill Russell
He led the team to back-to-back titles in 1968 and 1969.
Q 28What is the name of the famous left-field wall at Fenway Park?
The Green Monster
It stands 37 feet high; the ballpark, opened in 1912, is the oldest active one in the majors.
Q 29The lone red seat in Fenway's right-field bleachers marks what?
The longest home run ever hit there
Ted Williams hit it in 1946.
Q 30New England's NFL team was founded in 1959 under what name?
Boston Patriots
They played some home games at Fenway Park before moving to Foxborough in 1971.