The Fourth of July from the get-go has been a rowdy holiday with ringing bells, gunfire, cannonfire, fireworks, feasting, speeches and toasts. Over the years, people tried to turn it into something else: a platform for temperance speeches, a chance for ...

Forget the corned beef and cabbage, break out the zeppole! March 19 is St. Joseph’s Day, time to trade in the green for the red and forget about St. Patrick. Italian-Americans throughout New England celebrate St. Joseph’s Day by binging ...

Irish landmarks commemorate the history of Irish immigrants in places you might not expect throughout New England. There’s more to Irish-American history than the Great Hunger, the Kennedys and ‘No Irish Need Apply.’ Irish Catholics came to New England along ...

The diner has a long and proud history in New England, from its roots outside of a Providence newspaper to today’s retro lunch car offering comfort food and local banter. Some New England diners are even on the National Register ...

In 1860, U.S. Census takers recorded 328 Greek immigrants living in America. Among them were 40 young men and boys who arrived after the Greek War of Independence, which had left them orphaned. They were given college educations in the ...

When Sara Galner first joined the Saturday Evening Girls Club, she had no idea she’d end up making pottery that sold for thousands of dollars to the rich and famous. She was a poor Jewish immigrant, born in 1894 in ...

Visit the South Shore of Massachusetts and you won’t have much doubt about why it’s called the Irish Riviera. Orange-and-green flags fly from many a home, and the region is filled with Roman Catholic churches and schools, Irish dance schools ...

Before the Poles came to New England they had already made it to the Jamestown colony in Virginia as craftsmen. Over the centuries the Poles came to New England in waves, the first from 1870 to 1914, the second after ...

No matter where Nonantum natives go, they can tell someone is from their village when they hear them speak Lake Talk. Lake Talk is the unique argot of Nonantum, one of the 13 villages of Newton, Mass. Unintelligible to outsiders, ...

When Irish-Catholic Louise Guiney got the job of postmistress in Auburndale, Mass., the town’s Protestants boycotted her stamps. Fortunately, she had many, many friends who helped her get by. Called the ‘lost lady of American letters,’ Louise Guiney was born ...