When you visit the State House in Boston, you may be surprised to see a large wooden fish hanging in the back of the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It represents the importance of the fishing industry in the early history of the state.
Fishing is the oldest industry in the United States.
Settlers and Indians were fishing long before the Pilgrims came to the New World in 1620. The Indians of Massachusetts used cod and other fish as a staple or basic part of their meals. When the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag Indians, they ate cod along with the famous turkey. It was in the 1600s that the part of Massachusetts that curves into the ocean like an arm was named Cape Cod, after this delicious fish. As Massachusetts grew, the fishing industry grew along with it.