History
The Blue Hills were so named by early European explorers who, while sailing along the coastline, noticed the bluish hue on the slopes when viewed from a distance. The blueish color comes from the presence of Riebeckite in the stone
More than ten thousand years before the Europeans arrived, Native Americans made their home in the hills. The natives referred to themselves as Massachusett, or "people of the great hills". The Commonwealth of Massachusetts derives its name from this Native American name.
In 1893, the Metropolitan Parks Commission purchased the lands of Blue Hills Reservation as one of the first areas set aside for public recreation. Today, the reservation is rich in both archaeological and historic resources.
Thirteen listings on the National Register of Historic Places tell the fascinating tales of Native Americans, explorers, farmers, quarry workers and inventors.
Read more about this topic: Blue Hills Reservation
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)