Massachusetts is a state in the northeastern United States, in the New England region. Its capital and most populous city is Boston. Massachusetts has been the site of important events and movements throughout American history: the town of Plymouth was the site of the first British colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrim passengers of the ship the Mayflower. In the nineteenth century, it was a site of abolitionist activity, and residents of the state included abolitionists Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass; other notable residents during the century include Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Alexander Graham Bell.