Portal:Rhode Island

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The Rhode Island Portal

Rhode Island (/ˌroʊd-/ ^ⓘ, pronounced "road") is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020; but it has grown at every decennial count since 1790 and is the second-most densely populated state, after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though nearly all its land area is on the mainland. Providence is its capital and most populous city.

Native Americans lived around Narragansett Bay before English settlers began arriving in the early 17th century. Rhode Island was unique among the Thirteen British Colonies in having been founded by a refugee, Roger Williams, who fled religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to establish a haven for religious liberty. He founded Providence in 1636 on land purchased from local tribes, creating the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations subsequently became a destination for religious and political dissenters and social outcasts, earning it the moniker "Rogue's Island".

Rhode Island was the first colony to call for a Continental Congress, in 1774, and the first to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. After the American Revolution, during which it was heavily occupied and contested, Rhode Island became the fourth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, on February 9, 1778. Because its citizens favored a weaker central government, it boycotted the 1787 convention that had drafted the United States Constitution, which it initially refused to ratify; it finally ratified it on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 states to do so.

The state was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era but came to be commonly known as "Rhode Island". On November 3, 2020, the state's voters approved an amendment to the state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name. Its official nickname is the "Ocean State", a reference to its 400 mi (640 km) of coastline and the large bays and inlets that make up about 14% of its area. (Full article...)

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Barrington Town Hall in 2008

Barrington Civic Center Historic District is a historic district in Barrington, Rhode Island on County Road. The district, which consists of the Barrington Town Hall, Leander R. Peck School and Prince's Hill Cemetery, is located on Prince's Hill near the center of Barrington. In 1728, Prince's Hill Cemetery was purchased and later expanded to its present size by 1898. The 1+1⁄2-story Barrington Town Hall was completed in 1888 and originally served as the seat of the town's government, library and high school. With the completion of the Leander R. Peck School in 1917, the high school moved into the adjacent building and the library used its space. The two-story Elizabethan Revival style Peck School is designed with a T-shaped plan and features a stairway to access the main entrance on the second story. The Peck School was later used by the fifth and sixth-grade elementary students before becoming the public library. Also located within the district is Wood's Pond. The Barrington Civic Center Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and serves as a historically significant example of civic and natural environment planning of the late nineteenth century. (Full article...)

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Burnside c. 1880

Ambrose Everts Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three-time Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor and industrialist.

He was responsible for some of the earliest victories in the Eastern theater, but was then promoted above his abilities, and is mainly remembered for two disastrous defeats, at Fredericksburg and the Battle of the Crater (Petersburg). Although an inquiry cleared him of blame in the latter case, he never regained credibility as an army commander. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that Northup Avenue Yard in Providence, Rhode Island, was described as "the finest in the New Haven system"?
... that a Rhode Island TV station broadcast for 14 months and then was off the air for 26 years before returning?
... that James Diossa rescued the only public library and post office in Central Falls, Rhode Island, when the city went into bankruptcy?
... that three decades after chasing away surveyors for a previous railroad with guns, residents of Wickford, Rhode Island, built their own railroad?

Quotes related to Rhode Island

One hundred years after the declaration that all men are created equal, there began to gather in Newport a colony of the rich, determined to show that some Americans were conspicuously more equal than others.

— Alistair Cooke

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Jerimoth Hill is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, at 812 feet (247 m) above sea level. It was formerly controversial due to property complications, but it is now accessible to the public on weekends.

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The following are images from various Rhode Island-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 2Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 3Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 4A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 5Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 6A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 7Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 8Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 9Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 10In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)
Image 11Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 12The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 13The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 14Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 15Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 161884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 17Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 18The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 19The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 20In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)
Image 21University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 22The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 23Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 24Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 25The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 26Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 27Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 28The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 29Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 30The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 31County results of the 2020 Presidential election. Joe Biden (D) won every county. (from Rhode Island)
Image 32The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 33In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 34A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 35Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 36University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 37Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 38A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 39Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 40Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 41Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 42County results of the 2020 Presidential election. Joe Biden (D) won every county. (from Rhode Island)
Image 43University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 44The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 45In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 46Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 47The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 48The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 49The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 50The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 511884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 52The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 53Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 54The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 55University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 56Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 57The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 58Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 59The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 60Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 61Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 62In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 63Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 64Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)

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View from the Newport Cliff Walk

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged or categorized (e.g. Category:WikiProject Rhode Island articles) correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.