Rhode Island Trivia & Tidbits - Page 14

Looking for Rhode Island trivia? Try our list Rhode Island little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. in Bristol (pop. 22,469) designed and built eight boats that took part in the America’s Cup yacht race from 1893-1934.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

Rhode Island’s population of 544,684 females outnumbers the state’s males—numbering 503,635—by 4 percent, which is 3 percent higher than the national average.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

Australia II won Rhode Island’s America’s Cup in 1983, making it the first sailboat outside the United States to do so in 132 years.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

Bristol (pop. 22,469) has the longest running, unbroken series of Independence Day observances in the country, celebrating the Fourth of July since 1785.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul in Providence dates from the late 19th century and contains a rare 6,330-pipe Cassavant organ, with pipes ranging in size from 6 inches to 32 feet.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

Prudence Island, in Narraganset Bay, supports the densest white-tailed deer herd in New England. Raccoons, Eastern red fox, cottontail rabbits, and mink are plentiful at the north end of the island. Seals congregate here in winter.

first appeared: 2/3/2002

During the War of 1812 at the Battle of Lake Erie, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819), born in Kingston (pop. 5,446), defeated an entire British squadron, bringing back every ship to his base as prizes of war. He penned the famous report, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

first appeared: 1/27/2002

The name of Pawtucket means “place by the waterfall,” referring to where the Blackstone River—designated a National Heritage River by President Clinton—forms Pawtucket Falls as it drops into the Pawtucket River.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

One of the most thickly populated states, Rhode Island has a population density averaging 959 persons per square mile.

first appeared: 1/13/2002

The Old Colony House in Newport—once the state’s Capitol building—was built in 1739. The Declaration of Independence was read aloud from its balcony; the Federal Constitution was ratified there in 1790; and Dwight Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington all dined there.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

Born in Westerly (pop. 22,966), Stephen Wilcox (1830-1893) worked with George Babcock to invent the water tube steam boiler, patented in 1867. Their boilers paved the way for high-pressure, high-temperature power plants which produce electricity.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

In 1728-29, the Rhode Island Legislature guaranteed Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and pagans liberty of conscience in religious concerns.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

After 65 years of argument and litigation between the two Colonies, the boundary between Rhode Island and Connecticut was agreed upon in 1703. That done, Rhode Island completed its first census in 1708, reporting a population of 7,181.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

The Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House in Newport, built in 1729, is the oldest church of its denomination in the United States. The building includes a William Claggett clock once owned by a seafaring family, with a dial indicating the time of high tide.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

The Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House in Newport, built in 1675, was the site of the Stamp Act Riot of 1765 and home to Colonial governors, justices, and patriots.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Butts Hill Fort in Portsmouth (pop. 17,149) commemorates this state’s only major Revolutionary War land conflict, which took place Aug. 29, 1778. The marker there lists generals Lafayette, Hancock, Greene, and Sullivan as participants.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

The Rhode Island Militia, chartered in 1741, is the country’s oldest extant military organization. It now runs the Artillery Company of Newport (pop. 28,200), a museum housing military artifacts.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

Newport’s Trinity Church, completed in 1726, has an organ that was tested by composer George Frederick Handel before being sent from England.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

The Friends Meeting House in Newport, built in 1699, is now a museum featuring the history of the Quakers—once the largest religious sect in the colony of Newport.

first appeared: 11/4/2001

One of the oldest continuously operated general stores in the nation, Gray’s Store in Adamsville (pop. 500), was built in 1788. On the premises are the area’s original post office, built in 1804, a historic soda fountain, glass and wood display cases, and penny candy.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

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