Skinny Water Charters

Click here to add text.

• Rhode Island is the smallest state in size in the United States. It covers an area of 1,214 square miles. Its distances North to South are 48 miles and East to West 37 miles
  

• Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen colonies to become a state
  

• Polo was played for the first time in the United States in 1876 near Newport
  

• Rhode Island was home to the first National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1899
  

• St. Mary's Rhode Island's oldest Roman Catholic parish was founded in 1828. The church is best known as the site of the wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier to John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1953.
  

• The state was home to the first open golf tournament. The event occurred in 1895
  

• The Flying Horse Carousel is the nation's oldest carousel. It is located in the resort town of Watch Hill
  

• The first circus in the United States was in Newport in 1774
  

• Rhode Island is home to the Tennis Hall of Fame
  

• Rhode Island's official state name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
  

• George M. Cohan was born in Providence in 1878. He wrote, "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and a       wide variety of other musical entertainment
  

• Rhode Island is known for making silverware and fine jewelry
  

• Rhode Islanders were the first to take military action against England by sinking one of her ships in the Narragansett Bay   located between Newport and Providence. The English ship was called "The Gaspee"
  

• Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, established the first practical working model of Democracy after he was banished from Plymouth, Massachusetts because of his "extreme views" concerning freedom of speech and religion
  

• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams publicly acknowledged Roger Williams, as the originator of the concepts and principles  reflected in The First Amendment. Among those principles were freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of public  assembly
  

• The era know as The Industrial Revolution started in Rhode Island with the development and construction in 1790 of Samuel Slater's water-powered cotton mill in Pawtucket
  

• The first British troops sent from England to squash the revolution landed in Newport
  

• Though second in command to George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, a Rhode Islander, is acknowledged by many historians    as having been the most capable and significant General of the Revolutionary effort. Cornwallis feared Greene and his forces most. Greene ultimately defeated Cornwallis
  

• Standing 11 feet tall and 278 feet above ground the Independent Man is a gold-covered, bronze statue placed atop the State House on December 18, 1899
  

• At Little Compton is home to the gravesite of the first girl born to colonists in New England. The baby was the daughter of    pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden
  

• Built in 1880 Channing Memorial Church was named for William Ellery Channing, a leader in the Unitarian Church and the   abolitionist movement. Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", attended this church
  

• The White Horse Tavern was built in 1673 and is the oldest operating tavern in the United States
  

• Rhode Island founder Roger Williams established the First Baptist Church in America in 1638. The existing structure was built    in 1775
  

• Settled in 1642 Pawtuxet Village in Warwick lays claim to being New England's oldest village
  

• The Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport is the United States' oldest library building
  

• New England's oldest Masonic Temple in Warren was built in the 18th century with timbers from British frigates sunk in       Newport Harbor during the Revolutionary War
  

• Portsmouth is home to the oldest schoolhouse in the United States. The school was built in 1716
  

• Since 1785 Bristol has the longest running, unbroken series of 4th of July Independence Day observances in the country
  

• The Touro Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in North America. Built in 1763 the synagogue houses the oldest torah in North  America
  

• Pelham Street in Newport was the first street in the country to use gas-illuminated streetlights
  

• The Quonset hut was invented at Quonset Point a key naval reserve base
  

• Jerimoth Hill is the state's highest point at 812 feet above sea level
  

Rhode Island Facts