New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. New England is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Canada (the Canadian Maritimes and Quebec) and the state of New York.

The first movements of American literature, philosophy, and education originated in New England. The region played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery and was the first region of the United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution.

Today, New England is a major world center of education, high technology, insurance, and medicine. Boston is its cultural, financial, educational, medical and transportation center.

Statehood: March 15, 1820, the 38th stateCapital: Augusta
Total Area: 39th among states, 91,646 sq km (35,385 sq mi)
Water Area: 7,449 sq km (2,876 sq mi)
Highest Point: Mount Katahdin, 1,605 m (5,267 ft)
Total Population: 41st among states
2010 census - 1,328,361
Population Density in 2010: 43.1 people per sq mi
Distribution in 2000: 40.2% Urban, 59.8% Rural
Maine
Economy:
Gross State Product - $53.2 billion (2010)
Personal income per Capita - $36,745 Largest cities in 2010:
Portland: 66,194
Lewiston: 41,592
Bangor: 35,473

The aquarium features extraordinary lobsters of all sizes and colors. Colorful marine life, including red sea anemones and purple sunstars, can be seen in the 'Downeast' tank. Visitors will be entertained by the behaviors of live northern shrimp and the appearance of bottom-dwelling fish. Also, experience the thrill of petting a live shark!
Maine State Aquarium

From your train, see spectacular views of 19th century forts, lighthouses and the islands of Casco Bay. Portland's working harbor features lobster boats, tugboats, fishing vessels, oil tankers, container ships, ship repair and dry dock facilities.
Maine Narrow Gauge
Railroad & Museum

• More wooden toothpicks are produced in Maine than in any other state.
• Eastport is the most eastern city in the United States, receiving the first rays of the morning.
• Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable.
• Almost 40 million pounds, 90%, of the nation’s lobster supply is caught off the coast of Maine. Maine also produces 99% of all the blueberries in the country.
• The first sawmill in the nation was established near York in 1623.
Facts about Maine

• In Wilton there is a cannery that imports and cans only dandelion greens.
• Founded in 1866, Togus became the first Veteran’s Hospital in the U.S.
• More than nine-tenths of Maine's total land area is forested, the highest percentage of forest coverage of any state.
• One of Maine's most important industries, cotton and woolen textiles, emerged in the 1840s in towns along the Androscoggin and Kennebec rivers.
• American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow spent much of his childhood in Portland.

Statehood: February 6, 1788, the 6th stateCapital: Boston
Total Area: 45th among states, 27,336 sq km (10,554 sq mi)
Water Area: 3,634 sq km (1,403 sq mi)
Highest Point: Mount Greylock, 1,063 m (3,495 ft)
Total Population: 14th among states
2010 census - 6,547,629
Population Density in 2010: 839.4 people per sq mi
Distribution in 2000: 90.5% Urban, 9.5% Rural
Massachusetts
Economy:
Gross State Product - $377.7 billion (2010)
Personal income per Capita - $49,875 (2009)
Largest cities in 2010:
Boston: 617,594
Worcester: 181,045
Springfield: 153,060

The Children's Museum in Boston exists to help children understand and enjoy the world in which they live. The Museum is the second oldest in the nation.
The Children's Museum

Hancock Shaker Village is an outdoor history museum of Shaker life on 1,200 acres in the scenic Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Its twenty original buildings and historic working farm and gardens preserve and interpret the life of America’s most successful communitarian society.
Hancock Shaker Village

• Boston claims first to many of the nation’s firsts. Boston Common became the first public park in 1634. Boston Latin School became the first secondary school in 1635.
• Harvard, the first college, was founded in 1636. The first post office, free public school and public library were all founded in Boston. The first newspaper, lighthouse, and subway were all started in Boston. The sewing machine was also invented in Boston in 1845.
Facts about Massachusetts

Why is Boston called Beantown? At one time, Boston's port was once filled with ships bringing in sugar and molasses from the West Indies. When some clever Bostonian got the idea of cooking beans and molasses together, a new culinary masterpiece was created - Boston Baked Beans, which quickly became a favorite dish of the locals.

• St. Patrick's Day was first celebrated in North America in 1737, in none other than Boston. In modern times, Boston expects 600,000 revelers on the celebratory day.

• The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.

• The 3rd Monday in April is a legal holiday, Patriot’s Day, in Massachusetts.
• There is displayed a giant milk bottle at the Children’s Museum in Boston that if it were real could hold 50,000 gallons of milk and 8,620 gallons of cream.
• William Morgan invented volleyball in Holyoke in 1895. It was first called “Mintonette,” and later changed to volleyball.

• James Michael Curley was the first mayor of Boston to have a car. The license plate number was “576,” the number of letters respectively in his name. Today, the mayor of Boston’s official car still has the same number on its license plate.
• In the 1840s the potato famine drove many Irish to Massachusetts, and they eventually became the state's largest ethnic group.

Statehood: May 29, 1790, the 13th stateCapital: Providence
Total Area: 50th among states, 3,140 sq km (1,210 sq mi)
Water Area: 482 sq km (186 sq mi)
Highest Point: Jerimoth Hill, 247 m (812 ft)
Total Population: 43rd among states
2010 census - 1,052,567
Population Density in 2010: 1,018.1 people per sq mi
Rhode Island
Distribution in 2000: 89.9% Urban, 10.1% Rural
Economy:
Gross State Product - $49.5 billion
Personal income per Capita - $41,003
Largest cities in 2010:
Providence: 178,042
Warwick: 82,672
Cranston: 80,387

This interactive museum presents the compelling(убедительные) and touching story of the French Canadians who left the farms of Quebec for the factories of New England. Illustrating a remarkable cultural preservation story of faith, language and customs, the exhibits recreate the unique Woonsocket labor story of the rise of the Independent Textile Union which grew to dominate every aspect of city life.
Museum of Work & Culture

Smith's Castle is an award-winning historic site, providing an opportunity for adults and children to experience nearly four centuries of Rhode Island history. The castle and grounds provide an up-close look at plantation life in Rhode Island in the 1700's.
Smith's Castle

• The Touro Synagogue in Newport was completed in 1763 and is the oldest synagogue in the United States.
• The first traffic law was created in 1678, when authorities banned galloping horses on local streets in Newport. In 1904, the first speeding ticket was also given in Newport.
Facts about Rhode Island

• Brown University in Providence is the state's oldest institution of higher education and one of the oldest in the nation. It was chartered(лицензирован) in 1764 as Rhode Island College.
• Despite its small geographic size, Rhode Island has an extensive shoreline and mild summer climate, which contribute to its renown as a vacation state.

Rhode Island is a primary center for jewelry manufacturing in the United States.
Despite its dense population, 60 percent of the state is forestland
The first circus in the United States was in Newport in 1774.
The largest manufacturer of silverware in the world is in Providence.

• In 1524 the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano, while sailing for France, was the first European to explore Rhode Island. By comparing Block Island with the Mediterranean island Rhodes, he accidentally gave it its name.
• Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen colonies to become a state.
• Polo was played for the first time in the United States in 1876 near Newport, Rhode Island. The city also hosted the first U.S. Open golf tournament, in 1895.

• Portsmouth is home to the oldest schoolhouse in the United States. The school was built in 1716.
• The portrait of George Washington found on the United States one-dollar bill was painted by Rhode Islander Gilbert Stuart.