If you look at the top of the new Massachusetts State House, you can’t miss the gold dome.  It wasn’t always gold — when the building was first built, about 230 years ago to replace the Old State House, shingles covered the dome. Atop the dome, there is a cupola, and on top of that cupola is a pine cone. The pine cone has an important historic significance to Maine (“the Pine Tree State,” which, until 1820, was part of Massachusetts) and to Massachusetts itself. The pine tree appeared on the reverse of the state flag until 1971, and still appears on the state naval ensign.