Inventors of the Chocolate Chip Cookie: The classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie was invented in 1938 at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, by Ruth Graves Wakefield. She famously sold her recipe to Nestlé in exchange for just $1 and a lifetime supply of chocolate!
The Lake With the Longest Name: Massachusetts is home to a lake in Webster with a name so long it can be hard to spell: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (Only In Your State). Roughly translated from the Algonquian language, it means: “You fish on your side, I fish on my side, nobody fishes in the middle.”
A Hub of American Sports: Two of the most popular sports in the world were created in Massachusetts. Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith in Springfield, and volleyball was invented just a few years later in 1895 by William G. Morgan in Holyoke (Kids Activities Blog).