MASSACHUSETTS (USA)

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Boston

Massachusetts played a big role in US immigration and is steaped in history. Boston has been the hub of the state since colonial times. The state capital is full of history that can be traced back through walking attractions like the Freedom Trail and the Black Heritage Trail. Boston also boasts a wealth of culture thanks to the prestigious presence of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. To the east lie the beaches of the Cape Cod Peninsula as well as the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket that together form the region's most popular holiday destination, with historic towns and plenty of walking and cycling opportunities.

Inland Massachusetts is much quieter with settlements having formed around the fertile river valleys and in the Berkshire Hills to the west. Development of the Berkshires began with the construction of the railway from New York and Boston and it became a favourite summer retreat for wealthy city folk as well as attracting artists and writers. The region is now most famous for its vibrant summer music, dance and theatre festivals, particularly the Boston Symphony Orchestra that has its home in the huge Tanglewood Estate in Lenox. Boston is East Coast America at its best, and spending a few days there is strongly recommended. It's a place that isn't content to rest on its laurels - the history is visible, but there's a great deal of modern life and energy besides, thanks in part to the presence of Cambridge , the home of Harvard University, just across the river. Several further historic towns are within easy reach - Salem to the north, Concord and Lexington just inland, and Plymouth to the south. Provincetown , a three-hour ferry ride across the bay at the tip of Cape Cod, is great fun to visit, and the rest of the Cape offers historic towns, lovely beaches - and huge crowds. Except for a handful of college towns such as Amherst, inland Massachusetts is much quieter; its settlements are naturally concentrated where the land is fertile, such as along the Connecticut River valley and in the Berkshires to the west.

Other traditions, too, have helped shape the state - poor migrants from Ireland and Italy , freed and escaped slaves from the Southern states, Portuguese seamen - even if they have not always been welcome. The anti-immigrant "Know-Nothing" party of the 1850s acquired considerable public support; in 1927, the Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti came up against conservative old Massachusetts, and were framed and executed on murder charges. As recently as the 1970s, Boston experienced racial conflicts that matched the bitterness of those erupting throughout the nation. This has been somewhat healed of late, as have any economic doldrums that plagued the city for the latter half of the century, and a new sense of confidence - so emblematic of Boston's storied past - has taken hold.