| 1524 | | 17 Jan:
Giovanni da Verrazanno sets sail from Madeira, Portugal to explore North America - from North Carolina north to Newfoundland.MM&P AJ |
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| 1602 | |
| | 28 May:
Bartholomew Gosnold establishes a settlement at Cuttyhunk Island.HoMV GoogleBooks |
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| 1603 | |
| 1604 | | 26 Jun:
The French settle on Saint Croix Island in what is now Maine.tCE NPS |
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| 1607 | | 19 Aug:
Popham Colony is established in New England. It survives for only a year.CSM MFS |
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| 1614 | | 11 Oct:
Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General of the Dutch Republic for exclusive trading rights in the Nieuw-Nederland colony.SCW ND-Coins |
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| 1620 | |
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| 1621 | |
| 1623/4 | |
| 1626 | |
| 1630 | |
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| 1630/1 | |
| 1631 | |
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| 1632 | |
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| 1635 | | 23 Apr:
Boston Latin School, the oldest school in America, is founded.BLS tBLS |
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| | 25 Aug:
The Great Colonial Hurricane plows through New England destroying anything in its path.NEHS HS |
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| 1636 | |
Roger Williams establishes Providence Plantation.PubBook |
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| 1637 | | 1 May:
General Court is convened in Hartford and war is declared against the Pequots.SCW ICT |
|
| | 26 May:
Colonists attack and destroy the Pequot village at Misistuck (Mystic).ZEP ICT |
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| 1638 | |
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| 1638/39 | |
| 1642 | |
| 1643 | |
| 1647 | |
| 1648 | |
| | 18 Oct:
The "Shoomakers of Boston" along with the coopers, form the first labor organization in America.jstor IA |
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| 1652 | |
| 1656 | |
| 1658 | |
| 1660 | |
| 1663 | |
| 1665 | |
| 1675 | |
| 1676 | |
| 1687 | |
| 1689 | |
| | 17 May:
King William's War; England declares war on France which lasts until the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick.HoMA MB |
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| 1690 | |
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| 1691 | |
| 1692 | |
| | 29 Feb:
The first witchcraft accusations take place and arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.LoA WSU |
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| |
| 1693 | |
| 1697 | | 20 Sep:
The Treaty of Ryswick settles the Nine Years War and ends hostilities in America, although that wouldn't happen for another two months.Jacobite theMet |
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| 1702 | |
| 1704 | |
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| 1713 | | 11 Apr:
The Treaty of Utrecht is signed ending the War of the Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne's War in North America.CHNC CBC |
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| 1715 | |
| 1716 | |
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| 1717 | | 27 Feb:
A series of four successive snowstorms create the Great Snow of 1717.NEHS NWS |
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| 1719 | | 11 Dec:
The first recorded sighting of the aurora borealis in North America occurs in New England.DE tOFA |
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| 1721 | | 26 Jun:
During a smallpox outbreak in Boston, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston begins inoculating patients beginning with his own son.MassMoments CW |
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| 1722 | |
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| 1744 | |
| 1752 | | 14 Sep:
The British Empire adopts the Gregorian calendar.CSL CalWiz |
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| 1755 | |
| 1758 | | 27 Jul:
British and colonial forces defeat French and Canadian forces at the Battle of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia.BB CTHist |
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| 1760 | | 20 Mar:
A "Great Fire" begins at a tavern in Boston and destroys about 350 homes, shops and warehouses by the time it is over.MassMoments BFHS |
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| 1763 | |
| 1764 | | 29 Oct:
The Connecticut Courant, today's Hartford Courant and the nation's oldest newspaper in continuous publication, prints its first issue.LoC Courant |
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| 1765 | | 22 Mar:
The Stamp Act is passed by the British Parliament - a tax imposed on American colonists on any printed paper.GLIoAH Avalon |
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| | 1 Nov:
The Stamp Act goes into effect - a tax on the Colonies to fund the British Military in America.CC SAH |
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| 1770 | | 5 Mar:
The Boston Massacre. British troops kill five colonists.LoC NPS |
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| 1772 | | 9 Jun:
The British customs schooner Gaspée runs aground in Narragansett Bay and is burned by the Rhode Island colonists.Gaspee.org WH |
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| 1773 | |
| 1774 | |
| |
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| 1775 | |
| | 18 Apr:
Paul Revere rides out to warn the colonists that the British troops were on the march.PRH LoC |
|
| | 19 Apr:
The first battles of the American Revolution. British troops fight American Minutemen at Lexington, killing eight. The British then move to Concord where they again engage the colonials. By the end of the battle, 93 colonists are dead. The British, having lost 273, retreat to Boston.LoC NPS |
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| |
| 1776 | | 24 Jan:
After several months, the cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga make it to Boston.APC AHC |
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| |
| | 4 Jul:
The United States is founded when the Second Continental Congress declares its independence from Great Britain.USHistory USNA |
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| | 7 Sep:
David Bushnell's invention, American Turtle, the first combat submarine, is deployed against the H.M.S. Eagle in New York harbor.USSNautilus Archaeology |
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| | 16 Sep:
George Washington gets his first victory in the Battle of Harlem Heights.MtVernon RW |
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| | 22 Sep:
Nathan Hale is executed by the British for spying.tAW LoC |
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| 1777 | | 15 Jan:
New Connecticut declares its independence from Great Britain and the colony of New York. The name is changed to Vermont in June of that year.History.com UND |
|
| | 26 Apr:
Major General William Tryon, royal governor of New York, and 2000 British troops attack and destroy Danbury, Connecticut.DM ABT |
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| 1779 | |
| |
| 1780 | | 4 May:
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is founded.TiS AAoA&S |
|
| | 19 May:
Smoke from forest fires cause The Dark Day of 1780.NEHS HI |
|
| | 9 Oct:
An expedition sets off from Harvard College to observe a solar eclipse from Penobscot Bay in Maine which is still controlled by Britain.USNA JSTOR |
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| 1781 | |
| 1783 | |
| 1786 | | 29 Aug:
An armed uprising, Shays' Rebellion, begins in western Massachusetts when foreclosure processes are allowed to move forward against farmers who had previously served their country.STCC LH |
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| 1787 | | 3 Feb:
Shays' Rebellion is put down with the deaths of four of Shays' "Regulators" at Petersham.MassMoments AHC |
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| 1788 | |
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| 1790 | |
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| 1791 | |
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| 1794 | |
| 1795 | |
| 1797 | | 21 Oct:
USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides", is launched.MassMoments UCM |
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| 1804 | |
| 1812 | | 11 Feb:
Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry signs a bill that creates oddly-shaped voting districts in several parts of the state, the birth of "gerrymandering".MassMoments LoC |
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| 1813 | |
| 1816 | |
The previous year, Mt. Tambora erupted producing so much ash and gas the sunlight was blocked from warming the earth causing the "Year Without Summer".USGS |
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| 1819 | |
| 1820 | |
| | 20 Nov:
The whaling ship Essex is rammed and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America, inspiring the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville.W I R E D |
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| 1825 | | 4 Jul:
Ground is broken on the Farmington Canal and completed ten years later.CTHist FVTC |
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| 1829 | | 2 Mar:
The Perkins School for the Blind is incorporated in Boston originally as New England Asylum for the Blind.MassMoments Perkins |
|
| | 17 Mar:
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society is organized with General Henry Dearborn elected its first president..GoogleBooks CA |
|
| | 16 Aug:
The original "Siamese Twins", Chang and Eng Bunker, arrive in Boston.CC Muse |
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| 1835 | |
| 1836 | | 25 Feb:
Samuel Colt patents his revolver.CTHist TSHA |
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| 1837 | | 25 Feb:
Thomas Davenport receives a patent for the first practical DC electric motor.W I R E D MagLab |
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| 1839 | | 24 Feb:
William Otis receives a patent for his steam shovel, a device that will shape the world.Google Books MFSW |
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| 1845 | |
| 1846 | | 10 Sep:
Elias Howe Jr. patents his sewing machine.ASME SI |
|
| | 30 Sep:
Dentist William Morton uses ether to anesthetize a patient in Boston which begins its use for general anesthesia.W I R E D ASA |
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| 1847 | | 4 Jan:
Samuel Colt makes the first sale of his revolver to the U. S. government.History.com UTX |
|
| | 1 Oct:
Maria Mitchell is the first American to record a comet sighting.NEHS Nature |
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| 1850 | |
| 1851 | |
| 1852 | | 20 Mar:
Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.NCC SIMag |
|
| | 28 Apr:
The first municipal electric fire alarm system using call boxes with automatic signaling to indicate the location of a fire was placed into operation in Boston, Massachusetts.ETHW CI |
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| 1855 | |
| 1856 | |
| 1857 | |
| 1859 | |
| 1860 | |
| | 29 Jun:
The final stone is laid completing the Minot's Ledge Lighthouse, still in use today.US-L H2G2 |
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| 1864 | |
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| 1867 | |
| 1868 | |
| 1869 | |
| 1872 | |
| | 9 Nov:
A great fire destroys structures across 65 acres in the city of Boston.BFHS LoC |
|
| 1874 | |
| 1876 | | 2 Feb:
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, which comes to be more commonly known as the National League is formed.Reds SABR |
|
| | 7 Mar:
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.USNA PBS |
|
| | 10 Mar:
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call, telling his associate "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you".LoC W I R E D |
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| |
| | 9 Oct:
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson have the first "long distance" telephone conversation.Atlantic UILibs |
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| |
| 1877 | | 13 Mar:
15 year old Chester Greenfield of Farmington, Maine patents the earmuff.MIT ME |
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| 1878 | | 12 Feb:
Fred Thayer, the captain of the Harvard baseball team, receives a patent for his invention - the catcher's mask.MLB NBHoF |
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| 1879 | | 8 Apr:
Milk is sold for the first time in glass containers.W I R E D CI |
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| |
| 1882 | |
| 1886 | |
| 1888 | | 11 Mar:
The Great Blizzard of March 1888 or the Great White Hurricane, hits the northeastern United States.HI LoC |
|
| |
| 1891 | |
| 1892 | | 15 Jan:
The first rules of basketball are published by Dr. James Naismith.USAB OCLC |
|
| | 19 Apr:
Charles Duryea becomes the first American to build and sell a gasoline-powered automobile.Hemmings DPL |
|
| | 4 Aug:
Lizzie Borden kills her father and stepmother with a hatchet.CM SIMag |
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| 1895 | | 11 Jun:
The first U. S. patent for a gasoline-driven automobile by a U. S. inventor was issued to Charles E. Duryea of the Duryea Motor Wagon Co. in Springfield.USNA HFM |
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| 1897 | |
| 1898 | |
| 1900 | |
| 1901 | |
| 1903 | | 18 Jan:
The first two-way transatlantic wireless communication occurs.CapeCod TRC |
|
| | 1 Oct:
The first baseball World Series begins - the Boston Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates.MLB BA |
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| 1904 | |
| 1907 | |
| 1911 | |
| |
| | 10 Jul:
The highest temperature recorded in Maine is 105°F at North Bridgton.NetState RCS |
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| | 24 Jul:
The ancient city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, is discovered by Hiram Bingham, a professor at Yale University.TiC Andina |
|
| | 25 Sep:
Ground is broken for Fenway Park in Boston.MLB |
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| 1912 | |
| | 20 Apr:
The Boston Red Sox play their first game at Fenway Park and defeat the New York Highlanders by a score of 7-6.MLB B-R |
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| |
| 1914 | | 27 May:
The Eastern States Exposition, better known as the Big "E", is incorporated.MassMoments Academia |
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| |
| 1918 | | 7 Nov:
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard demonstrates tube-launched solid-propellant rockets at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the forerunners to the bazooka.ESA AFHF |
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| 1919 | | 15 Jan:
A tank of molasses ruptures in Boston's North End killing 21 people - the Great Molasses Flood.MassMoments SIMag |
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| 1920 | |
| 1925 | | 19 Jan:
The lowest temperature recorded in Maine is -48°F at Van Buren - which has since been broken with a -50°F at Black Bear River on 16 Jan 2009.NetState CC |
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| 1926 | |
| 1928 | | 12 Oct:
A young polio sufferer at Children's Hospital in Boston becomes the first person to use the iron lung artificial respirator.W I R E D BMag |
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| 1930 | | 12 Aug:
Clarence Birdseye receives a patent for the production of quick-frozen fish.MassMoments npr |
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| 1933 | |
| 1934 | |
| | 12 Apr:
The highest surface wind measured anywhere on earth was clocked by the staff of the Mount Washington Observatory at 231 mph.MWOBS WU |
|
| 1936 | |
| 1938 | |
| 1939 | | 13 May:
The first commercial broadcast FM radio station goes on the air.WDRC tRH |
|
| 1942 | |
| 1944 | |
| 1945 | | 6 Dec:
The microwave oven is invented by Percy Spencer of the Raytheon Corporation.NASA Web+ |
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| 1948 | | 24 Dec:
The first completely solar heated house, the Peabody house in Dover, Massachusetts, is ready for occupancy.TiS OTD |
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| 1950 | | 24 Sep:
Black Sunday occurs when smoke from forest fires in western Canada makes its way east, darkening the skies in the eastern United States and Canada and as far away as western Europe.BLM WR |
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| |
| 1952 | | 15 Jul:
The first transatlantic helicopter flight begins.RH PP |
|
| 1953 | |
| 1954 | | 23 Dec:
The first successful human organ transplant occurs.npr NIH |
|
| 1955 | | 19 Aug:
Hurricane Diane becomes the first storm to top $1 billion in damages in the U. S..NEHS NWS |
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| 1956 | | 25 Jul:
The Stockholm rams the Andrea Doria about 50 miles south of Nantucket.MassMoments CIMM |
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| 1958 | | 10 Feb:
MIT's Lincoln Laboratory bounces radar waves off Venus from their facility at Millstone Hill in Westford, Massachusetts.NASA Space |
|
| 1960 | |
| 1961 | | 22 Jan:
The lowest temperature in Connecticut, -32° F, is recorded at Coventry. This tied the record previously set at Falls Village on 16 Feb 1943.NetState CTbtN |
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| |
| 1964 | | 2 May:
BASIC (an early computer language) is invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz of Dartmouth College.W I R E D DiTH |
|
| 1965 | | 9 Nov:
The Northeast Blackout of 1965 is caused by human error.SIMag NEHS |
|
| 1968 | | 17 Feb:
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.HoopHall ESPN |
|
| 1973 | |
| 1975 | | 8 Jan:
Ella T. Grasso, the first women elected governor in her own right in the United States, begins serving her term in office.NGA WLHS |
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| |
| |
| 1978 | |
| | 27 Jun:
The Gillette Company receives a patent for the erasable pen.Justia USPTO |
|
| 1980 | | 29 Feb:
Gordie Howe scores his 800th goal as a Hartford Whaler.BS BiB |
|
| 1981 | |
| 1983 | | 28 Jun:
The northbound deck of I-95's Mianus River bridge collapses killing 3.CTPost GL |
|
| 1987 | | 3 Jul:
In a little over a day, Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand complete the first Atlantic crossing in a hot air balloon.LT GN |
|
| 1990 | | 18 Mar:
Overnight, 13 works of art, worth about $300 million in total, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.SIMag ISGM |
|
| 1991 | | 30 Oct:
The "Perfect Storm" hits the North Atlantic.NPS Weather |
|
| 1995 | |
| 1996 | |
| 2000 | | 27 Apr:
Vermont is the first state to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.USC DN |
|
| 2002 | |
| 2003 | | 3 May:
The Old Man of the Mountain collapses.Earth WMNH |
|
| |
| 2004 | | 4 Feb:
Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.Facebook FV |
|
| |
| | 27 Oct:
The Boston Red Sox break the curse of the Bambino and win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.Boston.com SABR |
|
| 2012 | | 29 Oct:
Hurricane Sandy becomes Superstorm Sandy after moving up the east coast of the U. S. and takes a left turn towards shore that devastates many of the communities along the mid-Atlantic, especially New York and New Jersey.NASA LiveScience |
|
| | 14 Dec:
After killing his mother, Adam Lanza walks into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and kills 20 children and 5 adults before turning the gun on himself.CNN NYMag |
|
| 2013 | | 15 Apr:
Two bombs detonate within seconds of each other at the finish line of the Boston Marathon killing 3 people and injuring more than 140.TIME DNI |
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New England
