Background: The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge in Newport, Rhode Island(br>Photo by Matt Wade
Living in Rhode Island
Rhode Island - Ocean State
History, Geography, Homes, and State Resources of Rhode Island
Rhode Island USA Map
As you’ll soon discover after relocating to Rhode Island, the state's motto is "Hope." which is quite fitting. Religious dissidents, founded the state which still is one of the more tolerant states and people of many diverse religions, cultures and beliefs call the state home. Rhode Island The smallest state featuring the longest name featuring synagogue that is the oldest in the nation. In addition there is Slater’s Mill, he Industrial Revolution's official U.S. birthplace. Though in relation to its size, it happens to be the most industrialized state and you can still enjoy the numerous national landmarks, state parks, and endless miles of renowned New England seaboard in Rhode Island.
It's a state which is comprised of individual historical towns that have matured into large cities, although still maintaining much of their individual character. There is Cranston, featuring its brand new Garden City Center; sleepy Coventry featuring residential and rural sections, Providence, a reinvigorated textile town; Newport, containing many stately homes and Warwick, boasting its picturesque coastline. Rhode Island provides progressive amenities along with historic charm . Other cities for your consideration are East Providence,, Woonsocket, South Kingstown, Cumberland and Pawtucket
The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge shown in the Background is in Newport, Rhode Island, a suspension bridge that connects Newport and Jamestown, crossing the Narragansett Bay. Built in 1969 and featured on the reverse of the Rhode Island quarter. Photo by Matt Wade
From its beginnings, Rhode Island has been distinguished by its support for freedom of conscience and action: Clergyman Roger Williams founded the present state capital, Providence, after being exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans in 1636. Williams was followed by other religious exiles who founded Pocasset, now Portsmouth, in 1638 and Newport in 1639.
Rhode Island's rebellious, authority-defying nature was further demonstrated by the burnings of the British revenue cutters Liberty and Gaspee prior to the Revolution; by its early declaration of independence from Great Britain in May 1776; by its refusal to participate actively in the War of 1812; and by Dorr's Rebellion of 1842, which protested property requirements for voting.
Climate
Rhode Island has a humid climate, with cold winters and short summers. The average annual temperature is 50°F. At Providence the temperature ranges from an average of 28°F in January to 73°F in July.
Rhode Island Colleges. There are currently 12 accredited institutions in the country that are expanding their studies, including two research universities, a community college and an art school.
The state's three public bodies are managed by the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education. The state operates two public universities, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College, and the Community College of Rhode Island, which offers degrees at six locations.
Economy
The states Number One industry is health services. Number two is tourism, supporting 39,000 jobs, with tourism-related sales at $4.56 billion (adjusted to inflation) in the year 2000. The number three industry is manufacturing. Industrial outputs are submarine construction, shipbuilding, costume jewelry, fabricated metal products, electrical equipment, machinery, and boatbuilding. Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.
Flora and Fauna
Rhode Island State Flower - Violet
Though small, Rhode Island has three distinct life zones: sandplain lowlands, rising hills, and highlands. Common trees are the tuliptree, pin and post oaks, and red cedar. Cattails are abundant in marsh areas, and 40 types of fern and 30 species of orchid are indigenous to the state. In 2003, the small whorled pogonia was threatened, the sandplain gerardia endangered.
Urbanization and industrialization have taken their toll of native mammals. Swordfish, bluefish, lobsters, and clams populate coastal waters; brook trout and pickerel are among the common freshwater fish. Fifteen Rhode Island animal species were listed as threatened or endangered in 2003, including the American burying beetle, bald eagle, finback and humpback whale, and four species of sea turtle.
The Rhode Island State House is the capitol of Rhode Island. It is located on the border of the Downtown and Smith Hill sections of the state capital city of Providence. The State House is a neoclassical building that houses the Rhode Island General Assembly and the offices of the governor of Rhode Island as well as the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and General Treasurer of Rhode Island. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
State elected officials are the governor and lieutenant governor (elected separately), attorney general, secretary of state, and general treasurer. All are elected, in the odd-numbered year following presidential elections, for four-year terms. The governor is limited to serving two consecutive terms. The governor and lieutenant governor must be qualified voters in Rhode Island; no minimum age is specified for the offices.
Voters must be US citizens, 18 years old or over, and must have been residents of the state at least 30 days prior to an election. Restrictions apply to convicted felons and those declared mentally incompetent by the court.
For such a small state, Rhode Island is packed with some of New England's most popular attractions. Newport, America's best-known playground for the super-rich in the halcyon days of the early 20th century, is the state's major draw, with its fabled mansions built to rival (and often imitate) the grand palaces of European royalty. But Providence, is also filled with the history of an earlier period, when its merchants grew rich on the slave trade and other lucrative commerce. Add miles of beautiful beaches -Rhode Island has an extensive shoreline - a rich industrial history, and an idyllic island, and you'll see why Rhode Island should be on any New England itinerary.
Newport Harbor Lighthouse
Lighthouses in Rhode Island- Lighthouses in the state of Rhode Island as identified by the United States Coast Guard. There are fifteen active lights in the state as well as two skeleton towers erected to replace earlier manned lights.
The first lighthouse in the state was erected in 1749 and the last in 1962 (ignoring automated towers erected later); the oldest surviving structure is the much-modified Poplar Point Light, although the tower now standing at Prudence Island Light was first erected at Goat Island in 1824. The tallest extant tower is that at Beavertail Light, though the focal plane of the Block Island Southeast Light is much higher on account of the bluffs upon which it sits.
The Blackstone River powered America's entry into the Age of Industry. The success of Samuel Slater's cotton spinning mill in Pawtucket, RI touched off a chain reaction that changed how people worked and where they lived, and continues to reverberate across the nation to this day. Come visit and see how this revolution transformed the landscape of the Blackstone Valley and then the United States.
In 1781, General Rochambeau’s French Army joined forces with General Washington’s Continental Army to fight the British Army in Yorktown, Virginia. With the French Navy in support, the allied armies moved hundreds of miles to become the largest troop movement of the American Revolution. The effort and cooperation between the two sides led to a victory at Yorktown and secured American independence.
Sports
Rhode Island has two professional sports teams, both of which are top-level minor league affiliates for teams in Boston. The Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team of the Triple-A International League are an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They play at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket and have won four league titles, the Governors' Cup, in 1973, 1984, 2012, and 2014. McCoy Stadium also has the distinction of being home to the longest professional baseball game ever played – 33 innings.
The other professional minor league team is the Providence Bruins ice hockey team of the American Hockey League, who are an affiliate of the Boston Bruins. They play in the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence and won the AHL's Calder Cup during the 1998–99 AHL season
Gas tax: 33 cents per gallon of regular gasoline and diesel
Transportation
Aviation
Theodore Francis Green State Airport
Rhode Island Airports. There are 8 airports in Rhode Island for the public to use. There are also numerous private airports in Rhode Island considering its small size. The airports in Rhode Island are the gateway to the beautiful tourist spots in the island.
There are no international airports in Rhode Island. The important regional airports in Rhode Island are the Block Island State Airport at Block Island, the Theodore Francis Green Airport at Providence and the Westerly State Airport. Apart from these there are also general aviation and reliever airports such as the Newport State Airport in Newport, the Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown and the North Central Airport in Pawtucket.
The Theodore Francis Green State Airport at Providence is the most active of all the airports in Rhode Island. The airport serves more than five million passengers annually. The airport has many facilities and services for its passengers. It has ATMs, eleven restaurants featuring different flavours of the state and phone facilities spread all over the terminal for the passengers to conveniently use. It has two business centers, for the busy travelers, that come fully equipped with technical support such as speaker phones, photocopiers and fax machines. There is WiFi service available all throughout the airport's terminals so that the passengers can stay connected all the time. The airport also provides assistance to people with disabilities and offers convenient and accessible areas within the terminal.
The airlines that serve this airport are Air Canada, New England Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Northwest Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, SATA International, Cape Airlines and Delta Airlines.
Ferry
The privately run Block Island Ferry links Block Island with Newport and Narragansett with traditional and fast-ferry service, while the Prudence Island Ferry[126] connects Bristol with Prudence Island. Private ferry services also link several Rhode Island communities with ports in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. The Vineyard Fast Ferry offers seasonal service to Martha's Vineyard from Quonset Point with bus and train connections to Providence, Boston, and New York. Viking Fleet offers seasonal service from Block Island to New London, Connecticut, and Montauk, New York.
Ports
Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail's Providence/Stoughton Line links Providence and T. F. Green Airport with Boston. The line was later extended southward to Wickford Junction, with service beginning April 23, 2012. Amtrak's Acela Express stops at Providence Station (the only Acela stop in Rhode Island), linking Providence to other cities in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's Northeast Regional service makes stops at Providence Station, Kingston, and Westerly.
Roads
Several Rhode Island highways extend the state's limited-access highway network. RI-4 is a major north-south freeway linking Providence and Warwick (via I-95) with suburban and beach communities along Narragansett Bay. RI-10 is an urban connector linking downtown Providence with Cranston and Johnston. RI-37 is an important east-west freeway through Cranston and Warwick and links I-95 with I-295. RI-99 links Woonsocket with Providence (via RI-146). RI-146 travels through the Blackstone Valley, linking Providence and I-95 with Worcester, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Turnpike. RI-403 links RI-4 with Quonset Point. Several bridges cross Narragansett Bay connecting Aquidneck Island and Conanicut Island to the mainland, most notably the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge.
Rhode Island Housing
The median home value in Rhode Island is $276,000. Rhode Island home values have gone up 7.2% over the past year and predictions are they will rise 7.3% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Rhode Island is $205. The median price of homes currently listed in Rhode Island is $302,000. The median rent price in Rhode Island is $1,975. Rhode Island Association of Realtors Rhode Island Real Estate Commission Rhode Island Real Estate Listings
Rhode Island Cities & Towns
The state is divided into 39 incorporated municipalities, including 8 cities and 31 towns, grouped into 5 historical counties with no municipal functions as the state has no county level of government. The whole of the state is governed by town administrations except for areas within the boundaries of cities. The largest municipality by population in Rhode Island is the state capital of Providence, with 178,042 residents. The smallest municipality by population is New Shoreham on Block Island, with 1,051 year-round residents. The largest municipality by land area is Coventry which includes 59.05 square miles, while Central Falls is the smallest at 1.20 square miles. Rhode Island and Hawaii are the only two states in which all of the incorporated municipalities have populations exceeding 1,000 people.
