Rhode Island
State
Country	United States
Admitted to the Union	May 29, 1790 (13th)
Capital	Providence
Largest city	Providence
Government
• Governor	Donald Carcieri (R)
• Upper house	{{{Upperhouse}}}
• Lower house	{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senators	Jack Reed (D) Sheldon Whitehouse (D)
Population
• Total	1,048,319
• Density	1,003.2/sq mi (387.34/km2)
• Income rank	17th
Language
• Official language	English
Latitude	41°18'N to 42°1'N
Longitude	99°8'W to 99°53'W

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (more commonly Rhode Island) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is the smallest state by area, and also the state with the longest official name. Rhode (IPA: [ɹʷəʊd]) Island was the first of the thirteen original American colonies to declare independence from British rule, signaling the start of the American Revolution. Rhode Island was also the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the United States Constitution.

Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is on the mainland. Providence plantations refers to the mainland, while Rhode Island was the 17th and 18th century name for Aquidneck Island (now composed of the towns of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth).^[3]

Rhode Island is nicknamed “Little Rhody” traditionally but the state officially adopted the nickname “the Ocean State," as nearly one tenth of Rhode Island's inland area is covered by salt water and no resident is more than a thirty-minute drive from the water's edge.^[4]

Name

In 1524, the famous Italian navigator, Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to visit any part of what is now Rhode Island. He came to what is now Block Island and named it "Luisa" after Louise of Savoy, Queen Mother of France. Verrazzano described Luisa as "about the bigness of the Island of Rhodes". When the founders of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations surveyed the land, they thought that Aquidneck Island was the place. A mistake occurred in 1614, when Luisa was charted by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, after whom it was renamed by the Dutch West India Company; however, their motives in doing so are unknown.^[5]

Geography

Rhode Island covers an area of approximately 1,214 square miles (3,144  km²) and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts, on the west by Connecticut, and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. It shares a water border with New York between Block Island and Long Island. The mean elevation of the state is 200 feet (60 m). Located within the New England province of the Appalachian Region, Rhode Island has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay, while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland. Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography. Block Island lies approximately 12 miles (19 km) off the southern coast of the mainland. Within the Bay, there are over 30 islands. The largest is Aquidneck Island, shared by the municipalities of Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth. The second-largest island is Conanicut; the third-largest is Prudence.

Nicknamed the Ocean State, Rhode Island is home to a number of oceanfront beaches

Rhode Island is mostly flat with no real mountains. Rhode Island's highest natural point is Jerimoth Hill, only 812 feet (247 m) above sea level.^[2]

Climate

Rhode Island is an example of a warm, summer humid, continental climate with hot, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 105 °F (40 °C), recorded on August 2, 1975 in Providence, RI. The lowest temperature in Rhode Island, -13 °F (-25 °C), was recorded on February 6, 1996 in Coventry, RI. Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 82 °F (28 °C) to a low of 20 °F (-7 °C).^[6]

History

Colonial Era

In 1524, Italian navigator Giovanni de Verrazzano traversed the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, searching for an all-water route through North America to China. In March of that year, he left what is now New York harbor and headed east until he discovered what was later called Block Island. Natives guided him into what is now Newport, Rhode Island, harbor. He remained for two weeks while his crew surveyed the bay and the surrounding mainland. In early May, 1524, Verrazzano departed to renew his search for a Northwest Passage.

In 1614, the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the island that is now called Block Island. Native American inhabitants included the Narragansett tribe, occupying most of the area, and the closely related Niantic tribe. Most of the Native Americans were decimated by introduced diseases, intertribal warfare, and the disastrous King Philip's War, but remnants of the Niantic merged into the Narragansett tribe, where they remain on a federally recognized reservation.

In 1636, Roger Williams, after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom.

The following year, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for criticizing the clergy there. She and some others, including William Coddington and John Clarke, founded the town of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island. In 1639, Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck Island.

In that same year a formal government was established for the island. William Coddington was the first governor and Philip Sherman was the first Secretary. In 1643, Samuel Gorton founded Shawomet, which is now called Warwick. In 1644, the name of Aquidneck Island was changed to Rhode Island.

John Clarke was granted a Charter in 1663 for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two colonies into one. Under the terms of the charter, only landowners could vote. Before the Industrial Revolution, when most people were employed as farmers, this was considered democratic. The original charter was used as the state constitution until 1842.

The relationship between the New Englanders and the Native Americans was strained, and caused some bloodshed. On December 19, 1675 colonist militia from Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Rhode Island massacred about 350 Narragansetts in the Battle of the Great Swamp.^[7] The largest tribes that lived near Rhode Island were the Wampanoag, Pequots, Narragansett, and Nipmuck. One native named Squanto, from the Wampanoag tribe, stayed with the Pilgrims and taught them many valuable skills needed to survive in the area. He also helped greatly with the eventual peace between the colonists and the natives.

Roger Williams had kept the powerful Narragansetts on friendly terms with local white settlers. Having kept the on friendly terms with settlers, the Narragansetts were even persuaded to form an alliance with the English in 1637, carrying out an attack that nearly extinguished the warlike Pequots. This peace did not last long, however, and by 1670 even the friendly tribes who had greeted Williams and the Pilgrims became estranged from the colonists and conflicts erupted.

The most important and traumatic event in 17th century Rhode Island was King Philip's War, which occurred during 1675–1676. King Philip (his British nickname. His real name was Metacomet) was the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. The settlers of Portsmouth had purchased their land from his father, Massasoit. King Philip rebelled against the English. The first attacks were around Narrangansett Bay, but spread throughout New England.

Revolution and industrialization: 1770-1860

Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution. In 1772, the first bloodshed of the American Revolution took place in Rhode Island when a band of Providence residents attacked a grounded British ship for enforcing unpopular British trade regulations in the incident which would be come to known as the Gaspee Affair. Keeping with its culture of defiance, Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare its independence from England (May 4, 1776,^[1]) and the last to ratify the Constitution (which replaced the Articles of Confederation) (May 29, 1790)—doing the latter only after being threatened with having its exports taxed as a foreign nation.

As the Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers into the cities, a permanently landless, and therefore voteless, class developed. By 1829, 60% of the state's free white males were ineligible to vote.

Several attempts had been made to address this problem, but none passed. In 1842, Thomas Dorr drafted a liberal constitution which was passed by popular referendum. However, the conservative sitting governor, Samuel Ward King, opposed the people's wishes, leading to the Dorr Rebellion. Although this collapsed, a modified version of the constitution was passed in November, which allowed any white male to vote that he owned land or could pay a US $1 poll tax.

In addition to industrialization, Rhode Island was heavily involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era. Slavery was extant in the state as early as 1652, and by 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any other New England Colony. In the late 18th century, several Rhode Island merchant families began actively engaging in the triangle slave trade. Notable among these was the Brown family, for whom Brown University is named, although some important Browns became prominent abolitionists. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60 and 90% of the American trade in African slaves.^[8][9]

Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860-1929

During the Civil War, Rhode Island was one of the Union states. Rhode Island furnished 25,236 fighting men, of which 1,685 died. On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the other northern states, used its industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war. In addtion, Newport was the temporary home of the United States Naval Academy during the war. Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization led to the creation of an urban mass transit system, and improved health and sanitation programs. After the war, in 1866, Rhode Island abolished racial segregation throughout the state.^[10] Post-war immigration increased the population. From the 1860s to the 1880s, most of the immigrants were from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Quebec, Canada. Towards the end of the century, however, most immigrants were from South and Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean.^[11] At the turn of the century, Rhode Island had a booming economy, which fed the demand for immigration. In the years leading up to World War I, Rhode Island's constitution remained reactionary, in contrast to the more progressive reforms that were occurring in the rest of the country. The state never ratified the 18th Amendment establishing national Prohibition of alcohol.^[12] During World War I, Rhode Island furnished 28,817 troops, of whom 612 died. After the war, the state was hit hard by the Spanish Influenza.^[13]

Great Depression to present: 1929-

In the 20th century, the state continued to grow, though the decline in industry devastated many urban areas. These areas were impacted further, as with the rest of the country's urban areas, by construction of Interstate highways through city cores and the suburbanization caused by it and by the GI Bill.

File:Providence old.JPG

Since the Great Depression, the Rhode Island Democratic Party has dominated local politics. For years, the Speaker of the House, always a Democrat, has been one of the most powerful figures in government^{[citation needed]}. The Democratic Party's core of support is in the urban areas of the state and immediate suburbs. While known for old school politics and corruption, Rhode Island also has comprehensive health insurance for low-income children, the RITE CARE program, as well as a large social safety net. Despite this, many urban areas still have a high rate of children in poverty. Due to an influx of residents from Boston, increasing housing costs have resulted in more homeless in Rhode Island (from about 3,000 individuals in 1999 to over 6,000 today), as well as a doubling of the cost of an average home.^[14]

The Republican Party, virtually non-existent in the state legislature, has successfully put forward occasional state-wide "good government" reform candidates who criticize the state's high taxes and the excesses of the Democratic Party. Current Governor Donald Carcieri of East Greenwich, and former Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci of Providence (who later became an independent, political boss, and was convicted on RICO charges) ran as Republican reform candidates.

Prominent State Democrats include House Speaker William Murphy, Senate President Joseph Montalbano, Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, General Treasurer Frank Caprio, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. In recent years, the former Speaker of the House John Harwood, State Senator John Celona, and State Senate President William Irons were forced to resign in scandals.

Law and government

The capital of Rhode Island is Providence. The state's current governor is Donald L. Carcieri (R) and its United States Senators are Jack Reed (D) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D). Rhode Island's two United States Congressmen are Patrick J. Kennedy (D-1) and Jim Langevin (D-2).

The Rhode Island General Treasurer is an elected official. He or she is the chairperson of the State Investment Commission and the Retirement Board.

The state legislature is the Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member state House of Representatives and the 38-member Senate. Both houses of the bicameral body are currently dominated by the Democratic Party.

Federally, Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. In the 1984 Reagan landslide, Rhode Island provided Walter Mondale with his 3rd best performance. Rhode Island was the Democrats' best state in 1988 and 2000 and 2nd best in 1996 and 2004. The state was devoted to Republicans until 1908, but has only strayed from the Democrats 7 times in the 24 elections that followed. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry a greater than 20 percentage point margin of victory (the third highest of any state) with 59.4% of its vote. All but two of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East and West Greenwich. Rhode Island has abolished [[capital punishment], making it one of the 12 states that have done so. Rhode Island abolished the death penalty very early, just after Michigan (first state to abolish it), and carried out its last execution in 1840s.

Economy

The Blackstone River Valley is known as the "Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution".^[15] It was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, that Samuel Slater set up Slater Mill in 1793,^[16] using the waterpower of the Blackstone River to power his cotton mill. For a while, Rhode Island was one of the leaders in textiles. However, with the Great Depression, most textile factories relocated to the American South. The textile industry still constitutes a part of the Rhode Island economy, but does not have the same power that it once had. An interesting by-product of the textile industry is the amount of abandoned factories - many of them now being used for low-income or elderly housing or converted into offices or trendy condos. In Pawtucket and Providence, these abandoned mills are used as housing for artists.

The Fortune 500 companies CVS and Textron are based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and Providence, Rhode Island, respectively. FM Global, Hasbro, American Power Conversion, Nortek, and Amica Mutual Insurance are all Fortune 1000 companies based in Rhode Island. The GTECH Corporation is headquartered in Providence.

Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state product was $33 billion, placing it 45^th in the nation. Its 2000 per capita Personal Income was $29,685, 16^th in the nation. Rhode Island has the lowest level of energy consumption per capita of any state.^[17]

Health services are Rhode Islands largest industry. Second is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism related sales at $3.26 billion in the year 2000. The third largest industry is manufacturing. Its industrial outputs are fashion jewelry, fabricated metal products, electric equipment, machinery, shipbuilding and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	68,825		—
1800	69,122		0.4%
1810	76,931		11.3%
1820	83,059		8.0%
1830	97,199		17.0%
1840	108,830		12.0%
1850	147,545		35.6%
1860	174,620		18.4%
1870	217,353		24.5%
1880	276,531		27.2%
1890	345,506		24.9%
1900	428,556		24.0%
1910	542,610		26.6%
1920	604,397		11.4%
1930	687,497		13.7%
1940	713,346		3.8%
1950	791,896		11.0%
1960	859,488		8.5%
1970	946,725		10.1%
1980	947,154		0.0%
1990	1,003,464		5.9%
2000	1,048,319		4.5%

Demographics of Rhode Island (csv)

By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	90.96%	6.45%	1.07%	2.74%	0.19%
2000 (Hispanic only)	7.14%	1.42%	0.18%	0.08%	0.07%
2005 (total population)	90.16%	7.07%	1.09%	3.07%	0.21%
2005 (Hispanic only)	9.12%	1.49%	0.22%	0.08%	0.08%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	1.76%	12.52%	4.91%	15.09%	9.93%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	-0.75%	13.80%	1.03%	15.44%	8.90%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	31.21%	7.98%	24.03%	3.78%	11.64%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Providence County, in the city of Cranston.^[18] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2005, Rhode Island had an estimated population of 1,076,189, which is a decrease of 3,727, or 0.3%, from the prior year and an increase of 27,870, or 2.7%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 15,220 people (that is 66,973 births minus 51,753 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 14,001 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 18,965 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 4,964 people.

The five largest ancestry groups in Rhode Island are: Italian (19%), Irish (18.4%), French-Canadian (17.3%),^[19] English (12%), and Portuguese (8.7%).

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 8.07% of the population aged 5 and over speaks Spanish at home, while 3.80% speaks Portuguese, 1.96% French, and 1.39% Italian [4].

6.1% of Rhode Island's population were reported as under 5, 23.6% under 18, and 14.5% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 52% of the population.

Rhode Island has a higher percentage of Italian-Americans (concentrated in the city of Providence) and a higher percentage of Americans of Portuguese ancestry (who dominate Bristol County) than any other state in the nation. French-Canadians form a large part of northern Providence County whereas Irish-Americans have a strong presence in Newport and Kent counties. Yankees of English ancestry still have a presence in the state as well, especially in Washington county, and are often referred to as "Swamp Yankees."

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Rhode Island are^[20]:

• Christian – 87.5%
  • Roman Catholic – 63.6%,
  • Protestant:
    • Episcopal Church in the United States of America – 5.1%
    • Baptist – 6.3%,
    • Protestant - other – 3.2%,
    • Protestant, no denomination – 7%,
  • Other Christian – 2.3%
• Jewish – 1.6%,
• Muslim – 0.4%
• Self-identified non-religious – 6%,
• Other religious – 4.5%;.

Rhode Island is home to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence and the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Catholics^[21] in the nation mainly due to large Irish, Italian and French-Canadian immigration and to a lesser extent Portuguese, Puerto Rican, and Cape Verdean communities in the state. Interesting to note is that Rhode island achieves this without having a single county being among the highest the Catholic. This is due to the fact that Catholics are very evenly spread throughout the state.^[21] Rhode Island and Utah are the only two states in which a majority of the population are members of a single religious body.

Culture

Many Rhode Islanders speak with non-rhotic accent that many compare to a "Brooklyn" or a cross between a New York and Boston accent. The letter 'r' is often dropped at the end of a word, ("water" becomes "wata"). The letter 'r' is also added in to the ending of words in a rhotic hypercorrection ("soda" becomes "soder", "idea" becomes "idear"). Many Rhode Islanders pronounce the 'aw' sound as one might hear in New Jersey; e.g., "coffee" is pronounced "cauwwefee."

The Fox show Family Guy takes place in a fictional town in Rhode Island named Quahog. Although that town may not be intended to have a particular real-world counterpart, several real Rhode Island cities are Newport and Providence are all real places.

The state was notorious for organized crime activity from the 1950s into the 1990s when the Patriarca Crime Family held sway over most of New England from its Providence headquarters. Although the power of organized crime has greatly diminished in Rhode Island over the last 20 years, its residents are still stigmatized by popular perceptions of rampant graft and corruption that have haunted the state for decades.

Rhode Islanders developed a unique style of architecture in the 17th century, called the stone-ender.

Rhode Island is the only state to still celebrate Victory Over Japan Day.

Food

Rhode Island is a large per capita consumer of coffee. According to a Providence Journal article, Providence features the highest number of coffee/donut shops per capita in the country, with over 100 Dunkin' Donuts locations in the state alone.^[22] Rhode Islanders even have their own way of ordering coffee. In most take out shops, the clerk will add cream and sugar for you. If this is the way you like it, just say you want your coffee "regular."^{[citation needed]} The Official State Drink of Rhode Island is coffee milk,^[23] a beverage created by mixing milk with coffee syrup. This unique syrup was invented in the state and is bottled and sold in most Rhode Island supermarkets. Interestingly, although coffee milk contains some caffeine, it is sold in school cafeterias throughout the state. Iced coffee is very popular in the summer. Frozen lemonade, a mixture of ice-slush, lemons and sugar is also immensely popular in the summer, especially Del's Frozen Lemonade, a company based in Cranston.

File:Weiners.jpg

Several foods and dishes are unique to Rhode Island, and cannot be found outside of the state. "Wieners," which are sometimes called "gaggers" or "weenies" are smaller than a standard hot dog but are covered in a meat sauce, chopped onions, mustard, and celery salt. If you want all of these on your weiners, you don't have to ask for them separately. Just ask for one (or more) "all the way." The most common way the word is spelled on menus is "weiner." Many restaurants advertise "New York System" weiners. However, this item cannot be found in New York. Legend has it that the term was coined by Greek immigrants who wanted to increase sales of the weiners they sold. The Original New York System on Smith Street in Providence, just down the street from the State House, was reportedly the first in the state (look for the initials "ONYS" set in tile as you go in. The "system" is the combination of the hot dog and meat sauce. Submarine sandwiches are referred to as "grinders" in Rhode Island, with a popular version being the Italian grinder, which is made with Italian cold cuts (usually ham, prosciutto, capicola, salami, and Provolone cheese). Chouriço (a spicy Portuguese sausage) and peppers, eaten with hearty bread, is also popular among the state's large Portuguese community. "Dynamites" are most popular in Woonsocket and are similar to a sloppy joe, except served with peppers and onions in a torpedo roll. Another popular item is pizza strips, sold in most supermarkets - basically, they are rectangular strips of pizza without the cheese. Spinach pies, similar to a calzone but filled with seasoned spinach instead of meat, sauce and cheese, are sold in many Italian bakeries and local supermarkets. Variations can include black olives or pepperoni with the spinach, or omission of spinach entirely in favor of broccoli.

The Ocean State's tradition of seafood is one of the most celebrated in the country. Shellfish is extremely popular, with clams being used in multiple ways. The quahog (whose shell is Rhode Island's state shell) is a large clam which is mixed with stuffing and spicy minced sausage and then baked in the shell to form a "Stuffie." Steamed clams are also a very popular dish. Fried squid, or "calamari," are fried squid rings and are most popular in Italian restaurants.

Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a long tradition of clam chowder. While the white "New England" variety is popular and the red "Manhattan" variety is not uncommon, Rhode Island makes a clear chowder, affectionately known as "Rhode Island Clam Chowder."

Perhaps the most peculiar culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the "clam cake." The clam cake is a deep fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside. They are sold in most seafood restaurants around the state, and usually come by the half-dozen or dozen. The quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is "chowder and clam cakes."

It is also said that Clams Casino originated in Rhode Island after being "invented" by Julius Keller, the maitre d' in the original Casino next to the seaside Towers in Narragansett.^{[original research?]} Clams Casino resemble the beloved stuffed quahog but are generally made with the smaller littleneck or cherrystone clam and are unique in their use of bacon as a topping.

In Rhode Island, milk shakes are known as "cabinets."

Cities and towns

There are 40 cities and towns in Rhode Island.

The cities are Providence, East Providence, Newport, Warwick, Cranston, Central Falls, Pawtucket and Woonsocket.

The towns are Barrington, Bristol, Burrillville, Charlestown, Coventry, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Hopkinton, Jamestown, Johnston, Lincoln, Little Compton, Middletown, Narragansett, New Shoreham (Block Island), North Kingstown, North Providence, North Smithfield, Portsmouth, Richmond, Scituate, Smithfield, South Kingstown, Tiverton, Warren, Warwick, West Greenwich, West Warwick, and Westerly.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Colleges and universities

Rhode Island has several colleges and universities

Brown University Bryant University Gibbs College Johnson & Wales University Naval War College New England Institute of Technology Community College of Rhode Island

Providence College Rhode Island College Rhode Island School of Design Roger Williams University Salve Regina University University of Rhode Island Zion Bible Institute

Sports

• Pawtucket Red Sox, AAA (minor league baseball) affiliate of the Boston Red Sox
• Providence Bruins, AHL (minor league hockey) affiliate of the Boston Bruins
• Newport Gulls, NECBL (New England Collegiate Baseball League)

The Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884. The team played their home games at the old Messer Street Field in Providence. The Grays played in the National League from 1878 to 1885. They defeated the New York Metropolitans of the American Association in a best of five game series at the Polo Grounds in New York. Providence won three straight games to become the first champions in major league baseball history.

Babe Ruth played for the minor league Providence Grays of 1914 and hit his only official minor league home run for that team before being recalled by the Grays parent club, the Boston Red Stockings.

A now defunct professional football team, the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title. They used to play in a 10,000 person stadium called the Cycledrome.^[24]

Miscellaneous topics

• State motto: Hope
• State bird: Rhode Island Red (A breed of chicken)
• State flower: Violet
• State tree: Red Maple
• State fish: Striped Bass
• State fruit: Rhode Island greening (Apple)
• State nicknames: The Ocean State, Little Rhody, The Littlest State, The Thirteenth State
• State rock: Cumberlandite
• State mineral: Bowenite (a variety of serpentine)
• State shellfish: Quahog
• State drink: Coffee milk
• State song: "Rhode Island, It's For Me"

Local media

Landmarks

The state capitol building is made of white Georgian marble. On top is the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome.^[25] It houses the Rhode Island Charter of 1663 and other state treasures.

Providence is home to the First Baptist Church in America, the oldest Baptist church in the Americas, which was founded by Roger Williams in 1638. Providence is the home of the first fully automated post office in the country. The seaside city of Newport is home to many famous mansions, including The Breakers, Marble House and Belcourt Castle. It is also home to the Touro Synagogue, dedicated on 2 December 1763, the first synagogue within the United States, and still serving. The synagogue showcases the religious freedoms that were established by Roger Williams as well as impressive architecture in a mix of the classic colonial and Sephardic style. The Newport Casino is a National Historic Landmark building complex that presently houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame and features an active grass-court tennis club.

Rhode Island is home to the famous roadside attraction Nibbles Woodaway, the Big Blue Bug, the world's largest termite.

Fort Adams, on Narragansett Bay, was the setting for the finish of Eco-Challenge 1995.

"The Towers" in Narragansett, is a large stone arch that scenic route 1A (Ocean rd.) travels through. It was once the entrance to the famous Narragansett casino that burned down in 1900. The towers now serve as a tourist information center and also a banquet hall for events like weddings and birthday parties.

Famous Rhode Islanders

Popular culture

• The Justice League of America's first headquarters was depicted in the comic books as being in a cave in the fictional district of Happy Harbor, in Rhode Island.
• The Showtime series Brotherhood is set in Providence, Rhode Island.
• The animated sitcom Family Guy (1999 – 2002; 2005 – present) is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island.
• Outside Providence (Movie, 1999), Directed by Michael Corrente, starring Alec Baldwin.
• There's Something About Mary (Movie 1998), Directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller, romantic comedy partially set in Providence, Cumberland and Barrington
• Providence (A TV Series originally seen on the NBC network)
• Providence, a 1991 American/Canadian movie with Keanu Reeves
• Dumb and Dumber (Movie)
• Me, Myself and Irene (Movie, 2000), Directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Jim Carrey who plays a Rhode Island State Trooper with multiple personalities.
• Doctor Doctor (TV-Series set in Providence, 1989-1991)
• The Last Shot (Movie, 2004) , starring Alec Baldwin and Mathew Broderick
• Getting Out of Rhode Island (Movie, 2003)
• Federal Hill (Movie, 1994)
• The Witches of Eastwick (Movie, 1987) Directed by George Miller, starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer. Set in the fictional town of Eastwick, Rhode Island.
• On FOX's popular X-Files (1993 – 2001) TV series, character Fox Mulder's family lives in Chepachet, a small town in the Northern area of the state. His mother retires to Quonochontaug, an even smaller community in South County.
• The massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes is set in the fictional city of Paragon City, Rhode Island, on the state's coast overlooking the atlantic.^[26]
• The popular videogame Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Is focused around the happenings in a mansion in Rhode Island.
• Caitlín R. Kiernan's dark-fantasy novel Daughter of Hounds is set primarily in Providence, but also features such Rhode Island locales as Woonsocket and Kingston.

Famous Firsts in Rhode Island

• Rhode Island enacted the first law prohibiting slavery in North America on May 18, 1652.
• The first Baptist Church in America was founded in Providence in 1671.
• Ann Smith Franklin of the Newport Mercury was the first woman newspaper editor in America (August 22, 1762)
• The first Synagogue in America was founded in Newport, Rhode Island in 1763.
• The first armed act of rebellion in America against the British Crown was the boarding and burning of the Revenue Schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay on June 10, 1772.
• The idea of a Continental Congress was first proposed at a town meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on May 17, 1774. Rhode Island elected the first delegates (Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward) to the Continental Congress on June 15, 1774.
• The Rhode Island General Assembly created the first standing army in the colonies (1,500 men) on April 22, 1775.
• On June 15, 1775, the first naval engagement of the Revolution occurred between a Colonial Sloop commanded by Capt. Abraham Whipple and an armed tender of the British Frigate Rose. The tender was chased aground and captured. Later in June, the General Assembly created the first American Navy when it commissioned the Sloops Katy and Washington, armed with 24 guns and commanded by Abraham Whipple, who was promoted to Commodore.
• Rhode Island was the first Colony to declare independence from Britain on May 4, 1776.
• Pelham Street in Newport was the first in America to be illuminated by gaslight in 1806.
• The first strike in the United States in which women participated occurred in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1824.
• Watch Hill, Rhode Island has the nation’s oldest carousel that has been in continuous operation since 1850.
• The motion picture machine (a machine showing animated pictures) was patented in Providence on April 23, 1867.
• The first lunch wagon in America was introduced in Providence in 1872.
• The first nine hole golf course in America was completed in Newport in 1890.
• The first state health laboratory was established in Providence on September 1, 1894.
• The Rhode Island State House was the first building with an all-marble dome to be built in the United States (1895-1901).
• The first automobile race on a track was held in Cranston, Rhode Island on September 7, 1896.
• The first automobile parade was held in Newport, Rhode Island on September 7, 1899.

See also

• The size of Rhode Island
• Scouting in Rhode Island
• Benedict Arnold
• WaterFire Providence
• Trinity Repertory Company
• Newport Jazz Festival
• Newport Folk Festival
• Fort Thunder
• Terrastock 2006
• List of people from Rhode Island
• List of Governors of Rhode Island
• Rhode Island State Police

References

External links

• RI.gov, Official State Government site
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Rhode Island
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Rhode Island laws
• Scituate Art Festival
• Rhode Island State Facts
• Detailed Historical Article from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Some Old Postcard Views of Rhode Island
• Directory of filming locations in the state
• Interactive Rhode Island Map Server
• Rhode Island newsgroup

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41°42′N 71°30′W / 41.7°N 71.5°W / 41.7; -71.5