Portal:Rhode Island

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Rhode Island (/ˌrd-/ ROHD) 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 for thousands of years 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". In November 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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The 1761 Milestone is a mile marker located at 640 South Main Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The stone originally marked the junction of a Colonial highway from Great Road and an east-west route from Boston, Massachusetts to Connecticut. It was rediscovered during the installation of an electrical road (likely a tram). In 1898, it was restored to its original location by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The stone is embedded in a low retaining wall at the corner of South Main Street and Smithfield Road. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 24, 1982, and is historically significant as a Colonial-era highway marker. (Full article...)
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William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channing was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day. His religion and thought were among the chief influences on the New England Transcendentalists although he never countenanced their views, which he saw as extreme. His espousal of the developing philosophy and theology of Unitarianism was displayed especially in his "Baltimore Sermon" of May 5, 1819, given at the ordination of the theologian and educator Jared Sparks (1789–1866) as the first minister of the newly organized First Independent Church of Baltimore. (Full article...)
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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.

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Winnapaug Pond (also known as Brightman Pond) is a breached saltwater pond in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States, connected to Block Island Sound by the Weekapaug Breachway, which was constructed during the mid-1950s. The 2.5-mile (4.0 km) long lake is separated from the Atlantic by a large sandbar.
Winnapaug Pond (also known as Brightman Pond) is a breached saltwater pond in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States, connected to Block Island Sound by the Weekapaug Breachway, which was constructed during the mid-1950s. The 2.5-mile (4.0 km) long lake is separated from the Atlantic by a large sandbar.
Credit: User:Juliancolton

Winnapaug Pond (also known as Brightman Pond) is a breached saltwater pond in Westerly, Rhode Island, United States, connected to Block Island Sound by the Weekapaug Breachway, which was constructed during the mid-1950s. The 2.5-mile (4.0 km) long lake is separated from the Atlantic by a large sandbar.

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A baseball game at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, May 7, 2002.
A baseball game at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, May 7, 2002.
Credit: User:Meegs
A baseball game at McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, May 7, 2002.

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