e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

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State Symbols

The official state symbols represent the cultural heritage and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States

Massachusetts Symbols

Massachusetts Symbols

Beans, Berry, Beverage, Bird, Building & Monument Stone, Cat, Ceremonial March, Children's Author and Illustrator, Children's Book, Citizenry, Cookie, Dessert, Dog, Donut, Explorer Rock, Fish, Flag, Flower or Floral Emblem, Folk Dance, Folk Hero, Folk Song, Fossil, Fruit, Game Bird, Gem, Glee Club Song, Heroine, Historical Rock, Horse, Insect, Marine Mammal, Mineral, Motto, Muffin, Nicknames, Ode of the Commonwealth, Patriotic Song, Poem, Polka, Rock, Seal, Shell, Soil, Song, Tree, Veterans of Southwest, Asia War Monument, Vietnam War Memorial

Massachusetts State Rock

Roxbury Puddingstone

(Roxbury Conglomerate)

Adopted in 1983.

The Roxbury Puddingstone, sometimes called Roxbury Conglomerate, became the state rock in 1983.

Roxbury Puddingstone, which is found only in the Boston Basin. The Roxbury Conglomerate (or "puddingstone" as it is often called, due to its resemblance to an old fashioned fruit-filled pudding), is an ancient river gravel which has been cemented into a hard rock by natural mineralization. The gravel was laid down in the beds of rivers hundreds of years ago. The individual round pebbles, which can still be seen, represent the various types of rock that existed in the area at that time. These include volcanic rocks, granite and quartzite. Over time the accumulation of younger deposits on top of the gravel eventually bonded the gravel together in the same manner as cement hardens to form concrete.

This natural concrete was then squeezed and deformed by deep-seated earth forces and slowly unearthed by surface erosion. Some of this erosion was accomplished by the glaciers that existed here until as recently as 12,000 years ago.

State Symbols

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.