Answers to the Boston Quiz...
Boston's oldest park is ...
a) The Public Garden
b) The Boston Common
c) The Esplanade
d) Franklin Park
ANSWER: b) The Boston Common --The park was created in 1634, and was originally used as a cow pasture by nearby families.
The New England Patriots football team used to be called ...
a) The New England Red Sox
b) The Boston Patriots
c) The Boston Minutemen
d) The New England Bunnyrabbits
ANSWER: b) The Boston Patriots --During its first ten years, from 1960 to 1970, the team was called the Boston Patriots and didn't have its own stadium. They played at a number of different fields, including Nickerson Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park, and Alumni Stadium. In 1971, the team finally got its own stadium in Foxborough, and a new name, The New England Patriots.
What dessert was invented at Boston's Parker House Hotel in 1856, and is now Massachusetts' official state dessert?
a) The Chocolate Chip Cookie
b) Bananas Foster
c) The Boston Cream Pie
d) The Fribble
ANSWER: c) The Boston Cream Pie --The Boston cream pie was invented by a French chef named M. Sanzian at Boston's Parker House Hotel. In 1996, lawmakers made the Boston Cream Pie Massachusetts' official state dessert. (The chocolate chip cookie was also invented in Massachusetts -- by a woman named Ruth Wakefield who ran a hotel in Whitman, Massachusetts called the Toll House Inn.)
Which of the following public figures did not grow up in the Boston area?
a) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
b) Talk show host Jay Leno
c) Retired New York Knicks basketball player Patrick Ewing
d) New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady
ANSWER: c) New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady --Tom Brady grew up near San Francisco in California. Michael Bloomberg grew up in the Boston area (in Allston, Brookline, and Medford). Jay Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts. Patrick Ewing moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 11, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.
What venerable magazine was founded in Boston in 1857?
a) Harper's
b) Cat Fancy
c) The Atlantic
d) Boston Magazine
ANSWER: c) The Atlantic --The Atlantic was founded in 1857 by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wasdworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell. It went on to help launch the careers of such writers as Henry James, Nathanial Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, W.E.B. DuBois, Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, Truman Capote, Robert Frost, James Dickey, Louise Erdrich, Bobbie Ann Mason, Tracy Kidder, James Fallows, and William Langewiesche, among many others. In 2006, the magazine migrated to Washington, D.C., where it continues its dedication to great writing and reporting.
From 1659 to 1681, which of the following was illegal in Boston?
a) Celebrating Christmas
b) Getting married
c) Wearing short sleeves
d) Dancing
ANSWER: a) Celebrating Christmas --The Puritans, who dominated Massachusetts in its early years, were very strict and considered Christmas celebrations frivolous. From 1659 to 1681 they banned the celebration of Christmas, and imposed a 5 shilling fine on anyone caught defying this law.
Why is Charlie doomed to ride forever on the Boston subway?
a) He can't find the exit
b) He doesn't have enough money to pay the fare
c) His shoelace is stuck in the door
d) Someone put Superglue on his seat
ANSWER: b) He doesn't have enough money to pay the fare --According to the famous Boston folk song "Charlie on the MTA" Charlie was short one nickel, and couldn't pay the exit fare to get off the train. Click here to hear the song. Boston's subway is the oldest in the country, in operation since 1897.