20 Surprising and Bizarre Things Massachusetts Has Made Official

You probably already know Massachusetts has a state bird, state flower and state tree. What I didn’t realize is just how incredibly specific the Commonwealth gets when deciding what deserves the word “official.”

Cranberry juice, for example, has been the official state beverage since the '70s. That one makes sense considering Massachusetts’ cranberry industry and the Wareham and Carver bogs that stretch as far as the eye can see. Once I started digging through the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s list of official state symbols, things got much more interesting.

We have an official donut, an official dinosaur, and there's even an official Massachusetts groundhog. Surprisingly enough, I thought that Punxsutawney Phil wasn't the only groundhog out there. Who knew?

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Massachusetts Gets Surprisingly Specific

Some of these symbols have fantastic SouthCoast connections, too. Dighton Rock is Massachusetts’ official explorer rock, Rolling Rock in Fall River is the official glacial rock, and the Schooner Ernestina is the state vessel where the official homeport is right here in New Bedford.

READ MORE: Massachusetts Bug Guide: 10 Creepy Crawlers That Can Cause Serious Harm

Even the chocolate chip cookie has a local connection. A third-grade class from Somerset proposed the bill that eventually made it Massachusetts’ official state cookie in 1997.

That being said, here are 20 of the strangest and most interesting things Massachusetts has made official.