This New England trivia quiz has 70 free questions with answers and covers all six states and the things that make the region a place rather than a map label. There are questions on how it got its name, the Pilgrims and Puritans, Salem, the Tea Party, Lexington and Concord, Rhode Island's stubborn independence and Vermont's fourteen years as a republic, plus the states' capitals, mottos, nicknames and odd distinctions (the state that borders only one other; the shortest coastline; the smallest capital). Then the fun stuff: chowder styles, lobster rolls, Boston cream pie, coffee milk, Moxie, whoopie pies, Necco and Ben & Jerry's; the Celtics, Bruins, Patriots and the Boston Marathon; Frost, Thoreau, Dickinson, Melville and Stephen King; Mount Washington's wind, the Old Man of the Mountain, Acadia, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Newport's cottages. Good for a pub round, a road trip or settling arguments with someone from Connecticut. Every answer has been checked against an encyclopaedic or primary source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many states make up New England?
Six
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; New York is not one of them, whatever New Yorkers say.
Q 02Which English explorer coined the name 'New England' in 1616?
John Smith
The name was made official in 1620 with the royal charter for the Plymouth Council for New England.
Q 03Greater Boston holds roughly what share of New England's entire population?
More than half
Worcester, Massachusetts is the region's second-largest city.
Q 04The Connecticut River, New England's longest, empties into which body of water?
Long Island Sound
It rises in northeastern New Hampshire and roughly bisects the region from north to south.
Q 05Which is the largest body of fresh water in New England?
Champlain
It forms part of the Vermont-New York border; Moosehead and Winnipesaukee come next.
Q 06Mount Washington in New Hampshire recorded a world-record wind speed in April of which year?
1934
The 231 mph gust stood as the world record until 1996 and is still the highest measured outside a tornado or tropical cyclone.
Q 07The Mount Washington Cog line, opened in 1869, was the first successful one of what in the United States?
Rack railway
It uses the Marsh rack system and still carries tourists to the summit.
Q 08The Old Man of the Mountain, New Hampshire's granite-profile emblem, collapsed in which year?
2003
It had been the state emblem since 1945 and appears on New Hampshire's quarter.
Q 09The Vermont Republic, founded in 1777, joined the Union in 1791 as which number state?
14th
Its constitution and laws simply carried over into statehood.
Q 10Vermont's Montpelier holds what distinction among US state capitals?
Least populous
Its biggest city, Burlington, is likewise the smallest 'largest city' of any state.
Q 11Vermont produces roughly what share of the United States' maple syrup?
50%
Quebec alone makes about 72% of the world's supply.
Q 12Which state is the only one to border exactly one other US state?
Maine
Its only neighbour is New Hampshire; the rest of its border is Canada and the sea.
Q 13Maine left Massachusetts in 1820 under the Missouri Compromise to become which number state?
23rd
Its admission balanced the entry of slave-holding Missouri the following year.
Q 14Maine's capital was moved from Portland to which more central city in 1832?
Q 21In 2020, Rhode Island voters dropped which words from the state's official name?
and Providence Plantations
The full name had been the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since colonial times.
Q 22What has been Rhode Island's official state drink since 1993?
Coffee milk
It traces back to Providence's Italian immigrants sweetening coffee with milk.
Q 23Connecticut's nickname, the Constitution State, refers to which 1639 document?
The Fundamental Orders
Some historians call it the first written constitution in Western history.
Augusta
Portland remains the largest city.
Q 15New Hampshire's state motto is what?
Live Free or Die
Its nickname is the Granite State, and it has no income or sales tax.
Q 16New Hampshire has the shortest what of any coastal US state?
Ocean coastline
It measures roughly 18 miles, sometimes reckoned as only 13.
Q 17Since 1952, New Hampshire has held the earliest what of every US presidential election year?
Primary
It gave the state outsized influence in national politics.
Q 18New Hampshire became which number state to ratify the US Constitution in June 1788, putting it into effect?
Ninth
Nine ratifications were needed, so New Hampshire's vote made the Constitution law.
Q 19What did Roger Williams found in 1638, the earliest of its kind in the colonies?
A Baptist church
He had been banished from Massachusetts Bay and offered his colony as a refuge for 'liberty of conscience'.
Q 20Rhode Island was the first colony to renounce allegiance to the British Crown, on which date?
May 4, 1776
It was also the last of the original thirteen to ratify the Constitution, holding out until May 1790.
Q 24Which Connecticut city is the historic centre of the American insurance industry?
Hartford
Aetna, The Hartford and Travelers all grew up there; it is also the state capital.
Q 25Which Connecticut town is home to Electric Boat, builder of the US Navy's submarines?
Groton
The Navy also chose Groton for its East Coast submarine base in 1916.
Q 26Which two Olympic sports were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke?
Basketball and volleyball
Both have their Halls of Fame in the city where they were born.
Q 27Harvard, the first college in what became the United States, was founded in which year?
1636
It was set up in Cambridge to train preachers; four of the eight Ivy League schools are in New England.
Q 28How many of the eight Ivy League universities are in New England?
Four
Harvard, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth; MIT and most of the 'Little Ivies' are here too.
Q 29How many people were hanged in the Salem witch trials of 1692-93?
Nineteen
Fourteen women and five men; Giles Corey was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea.
Q 30Roughly how many chests of tea did the Sons of Liberty throw into Boston Harbor on 16 December 1773?
342
They boarded the Dartmouth disguised as American Indians.