MassMoments reminds us today about an iconic symbol of  and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

On this day – January 11, 1798 –  the Massachusetts legislature paraded solemnly from the Old State House to its quarters in a new building at the top of Beacon Hill. Designed by Boston-born architect Charles Bulfinch, the elegant new State House was tangible evidence of the Commonwealth’s growing prosperity. The men who governed Massachusetts were thinking of the state’s promising future, but they brought with them a symbol of the past. They carried a four-foot, eleven-inch wooden fish wrapped in an American flag. This “Sacred” Cod had hung in the Old State House, and it hangs in the new one to this very day. There is no better symbol of how much Massachusetts owes both its survival and its success to the humble cod fish.

For the full story and history of the “sacred” cod read the MassMoments article here.