All About Rhode Island
Rhode Island is the smallest state of the Union, at a mere 48 miles long by 37 miles wide, and tends to be overlooked as a destination, even if it is home to more than twenty percent of the nation's historical landmarks. It was established by Roger Williams in 1635 as a ''lively experiment'' in religious freedom. He had been expelled from Puritan Salem for his radical ideas (including the notion that Indians should be paid for their land and that there should be a complete separation of church from state), and the Massachusetts Puritans liked to call the state '' Rogues Island .''
Despite its size, Rhode Island has over four hundred miles of coastline, hacked out of the Narragansett Bay; it is, in fact, made up of over thirty tiny islands, including Hope and Despair. The '' Ocean State '' therefore developed through sea trade, whaling and smuggling. Partly due to this commercial interest, Rhode Islanders, resenting the stringent economic pressures placed on them from England, were in the front rank of the Revolutionary groundswell. However, no Revolutionary battles were fought on Rhode Island soil, and unwilling at first to abandon its new-found freedom, it turned out to be the last state to ratify the Constitution.
Between the Revolution and the Civil War, Rhode Island shifted from a maritime economy to lead the Industrial Revolution with Samuel Slater's creation of the nation's first water-powered textile mill in Pawtucket, just outside Providence. Today, although still heavily industrialized, the state's principal destinations are its two original ports: well-heeled Newport, yachting capital of the world, with good beaches and outrageously extravagant mansions, and the colonial college town of Providence. Block Island, about thirty miles south of Newport, has a popular state beach, while the rest of Rhode Island is largely made up of sleepy small towns and fishing ports.
Rhode Island is tiny enough to make getting around ridiculously easy. I-95, the major interstate, runs through Providence on its way from Massachusetts to Connecticut. The more scenic US-1 follows the coast of Narragansett Bay into Connecticut. Newport is accessible from Hwy-138, which connects the small islands in Narragansett Bay to the mainland. Public transportation is good: local buses connect Providence and Newport, and Amtrak stops regularly in Providence. Ferries link Block Island and Newport.
Splayed across seven hills on the Providence and Seekonk rivers, Providence was Rhode Island's first settlement, founded ''in commemoration of God's providence'' on land given to Roger Williams by the Narragansett Indians (his insistence that Indians should be paid for their land being waived in his own case). Now New England's fourth largest city, it has been the state capital since 1901, and flourished as one of the most important ports of call in the notorious ''triangle trade.'' Since Slater's invention of the water-powered textile mill, port trade and industry have been the mainstays of the economy. Today Ivy League Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD or ''Rizdee'') give the place a certain cultural verve (although this admittedly doesn't stray far beyond the immediate environs of College Hill on the east bank of the river), and the many original colonial homes on Benefit Street emphasize a historical importance almost absent from the downtown across the river. Ethnic diversity is provided by Little Italy on Federal Hill, west of the river, and by fairly voluble Greek and Portuguese and especially Cape Verdean communities.
