Portal:Rhode Island

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 more than 1.1 million residents as of 2024. The state's population, however, has continually recorded growth in every decennial census since 1790, and it 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, found on its welcome sign, 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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Recognized content - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Bristol County Jail is a historic jail at 48 Court Street in Bristol, Rhode Island, and home to the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society.

The jail was built on the site of a previous jail house dating to 1792 and salvaged materials were used extensively in the new construction. The present Bristol County Jail consists of a 36.5-foot-wide (11.1 m) by 46.4-foot-long (14.1 m) center hallway in a 2+1⁄2-story stone structure topped with a gable roof. The jail accommodated both the inmates and the jailer's family. The first floor is believed to have been the family's parlor, dining room and kitchen on the west side and the east side the jailer's reception room, office and storage room. The second floor housed the family's bedrooms and the inmates' cells, with low, medium and maximum security cells. The maximum security cells in the southeast portion of the jail had no heat, light or sanitary facilities and were enclosed by 2-foot (0.61 m) exterior stone walls and built atop thick floor timbers supported by 2-foot-thick (0.61 m) solid brick wall and further supported by a fieldstone wall from the cellar. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Selected article - show another

Boggs at her home in Detroit in 2012

Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – October 5, 2015) was an American author, social activist, philosopher, and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s, she and James Boggs, her husband of some forty years, took their own political direction. By 1998, she had written four books, including an autobiography. In 2011, still active at the age of 95, she wrote a fifth book, The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century, with Scott Kurashige and published by the University of California Press. She is regarded as a key figure in the Asian American, Black Power, and Civil Rights movements. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know?

... that three decades after chasing away surveyors for a previous railroad with guns, residents of Wickford, Rhode Island, built their own railroad?
... 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 a Rhode Island TV station started out by re-running an inventory of 50 hours of cartoons and 14 old movies?

Quotes related to Rhode Island

To me Newport could never be a place charming by reason of its own charm. That it is a very pleasant place when it is full of people, and the people are in spirits and happy, I do not doubt. But then the visitors would bring, as far as I am concerned, the pleasantness with them.

— Anthony Trollope

More selected quotes

Related portals

edit

Selected picture

Credit: User:Khoule23

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.

More selected pictures

General images

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

Image 1The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 21884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 3Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 4Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 5The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 6A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 7In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 8Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 9The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 10Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 11A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 12Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 13Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 14The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 15In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 16The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 17The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 18County results of the 2024 Presidential election. Kamala Harris (D) won every county, though she won Kent County by a narrow margin of 1.9% (from Rhode Island)
Image 19Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 20In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 21Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 22The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 23The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 24The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 25Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 26A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 27Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 281884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 29Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 30The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 31The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 32Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 33In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 34Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 35University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 36The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 37The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 38County results of the 2024 Presidential election. Kamala Harris (D) won every county, though she won Kent County by a narrow margin of 1.9% (from Rhode Island)
Image 39Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 40Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 41Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 42Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 43University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 44Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 45Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 46University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 47The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 48A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 49The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 50Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 51Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 52Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 53The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 54Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 55The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 56Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 57The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 58Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 59Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 60In 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 61Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 62Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 63University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 64In 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)

Topics

Selected panorama

Credit: User:UpstateNYer

The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge with lightning

More selected panoramas

Quality content

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.