The smallest region, North East has not been blessed with large expanses of rich farmland or a mild climate. Yet it played a dominant role in American development.
Maine
The largest of the New England states in area, Maine, in 1820, was the 23rd state to join the Union.
Massachusetts
One of the six New England states, and one of the first 13 states in the Union (it entered in 1788), Massachusetts is known as the “Bay State” or as the “Old Colony State.”
New Hampshire
One of the original 13 states (it entered the Union in 1788), New Hampshire was named after the English county of Hampshire.
New Jersey
Italian Giovanni da Verrazano, in 1524, was the first European to explore the area we know today as New Jersey.
New York
The Dutch West India Company established the first settlement at Fort Orange near present day Albany in 1624 and another in New Amsterdam on the site of present day Manhanttan a year later.
Pennsylvania
Although Swedes and Dutch were the first European settlers, William Penn, a Quaker, named Pennsylvania in honor of his father by combining the name Penn and the Latin term sylvania, which translates as “woodlands,” to come up with “Penn’s woodlands.”
Rhode Island
Roger Williams and a group of religious followers founded the town of Providence in what is today known as Rhode Island after their banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Vermont
In 1609, French explorer Samuel de Champlain came upon a large lake in the area we know today as Vermont and named it after himself.
