Rhode Island

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: Named for Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay, which was likened to the isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea.

NICKNAME: The Ocean State; Little Rhody.

CAPITAL: Providence.

ENTERED UNION: 29 May 1790 (13th).

SONG: "Rhode Island."

MOTTO: Hope.

COAT OF ARMS: A golden anchor on a blue field.

FLAG: In the center of a white field is a golden anchor with a blue ribbon containing the state motto in gold letters beneath it, all surrounded by a circle of 13 gold stars.

OFFICIAL SEAL: The anchor of the arms is surrounded by four scrolls, the topmost bearing the state motto: the words "Seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 1636" encircle the whole.

BIRD: Rhode Island Red.

FLOWER: Violet.

TREE: Red maple.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Victory Day, 2nd Monday in August; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day, 2nd Monday in October; Veterans' Day and Armistice Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 7 AM EST = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

One of the six New England states in the northeastern United States, Rhode Island is the smallest of all the 50 states. Rhode Island occupies only 0.03% of the total US area, and could fit inside Alaska, the largest state, nearly 486 times.

The total area of Rhode Island is 1,212 sq mi (3,139 sq km), of which land comprises 1,055 sq mi (2,732 sq km), and inland water 157 sq mi (407 sq km). The state extends 37 mi (60 km) e-w and 48 mi (77 km) n-s.

Rhode Island is bordered on the n and e by Massachusetts; on the s by the Atlantic Ocean (enclosing the ocean inlet, Narragansett Bay); and on the w by Connecticut (with part of the line formed by the Pawcatuck River). Three large islands—Prudence, Aquidneck (officially known as Rhode Island), and Conanicut—are situated within Narragansett Bay. Block Island, with an area of about 11 sq mi (28 sq km), lies some 9 mi (14 km) sw of Pt. Judith, on the mainland. There are 38 islands in all.

The total boundary length of Rhode Island is 160 mi (257 km). The state's geographic center is in Kent County, 1 mi (1.6 km) ssw of Cranston.

TOPOGRAPHY

Rhode Island comprises two main regions. The New England Upland Region, which is rough and hilly and marked by forests and lakes, occupies the western two-thirds of the state, while the Seaboard Lowland, with its sandy beaches and salt marshes, occupies the eastern third. The highest point in the state is Jerimoth Hill, at 812 ft (248 m), in the northwest. The lowest elevation is sea level at the Atlantic Ocean. The mean elevation of the state is approximately 200 ft (61 m).

Rhode Island's principal river, the Blackstone, flows from Woonsocket past Pawtucket and thence into the Providence River, which, like the Sakonnet, is an estuary of Narragansett Bay; the Pawcatuck River flows into Block Island Sound. There are about 65,000 acres (26,304 hectares) of wetlands in the state. The state has 38 islands, the largest being Aquidneck (Rhode Island), with an area of about 45 sq mi (117 sq km).

CLIMATE

Rhode Island has a humid climate, with cold winters and short summers. The average annual temperature is 50°f (10°c). At Providence the temperature ranges from an average of 29°f (−1°c) in January to 73°f (22°c) in July. The record high temperature, 104°f (40°c), was registered in Providence on 2 August 1975; the record low, −23°f (−31°c), at Kingston on 11 January 1942. In Providence, the average annual precipitation is about 45.1 in (114 cm); snowfall averages 35.6 in (90 cm) a year. Rhode Island's weather is highly changeable, with storms and hurricanes an occasional threat. On 21 September 1938, a hurricane and tidal wave took a toll of 262 lives; Hurricane Carol, on 31 August 1954, left 19 dead, and property damage was estimated at $90 million. A blizzard on 6-7 February 1978 dropped a record 28.6 in (73 cm) of snow on the state, as measured at Warwick, and caused 21 storm-attributed deaths.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Though small, Rhode Island has three distinct life zones: sand-plain 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 April 2006, the small whorled pogonia was listed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened and 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. Fourteen Rhode Island animal species (vertebrates and invertebrates) were listed as threatened or endangered in April 2006, including the American burying beetle, bald eagle, finback and humpback whale, and four species of sea turtle.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) coordinates all of the state's environmental protection and management programs. The Air, Solid Waste, and Hazardous Materials Section enforces controls on solid waste disposal, hazardous waste management facilities, industrial air pollution, and site remediation; the Water Quality Management Section regulates waste-treatment facilities, the discharge of industrial and oil wastes into state waters and public sewer facilities, groundwater protection, freshwater wetlands, dam maintenance, and home sewage disposal systems; the Natural Resources Management Section oversees fish, wildlife and estuarine resources, forest management, parks and recreation, and the enforcement of conservation laws; Planning and Administrative Services assists industry in pollution prevention, administers recycling programs, administers land preservation programs, and coordinates land acquisitions. The department also oversees water supply management. In 2003, the DEM, working the Department of Health, operated a Mosquito Abatement Coordination Office to help citizens minimize the risk of contracting West Nile virus from the mosquito population.

In 2003, 0.9 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released in the state, the second lowest amount of all the states in the nation. Also in 2003, Rhode Island had 187 hazardous waste sites listed in the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) database, 12 of which were on the National Priorities List as of 2006, including the Newport Naval Education & Training Center. In 1996, 10% of the state's area was wetland. In 2005, the EPA spent over $2.4 million through the Superfund program for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites in the state. The same year, federal EPA grants awarded to the state included $8.3 million for the drinking water state revolving fund and $7.2 million for the clean water revolving fund.

POPULATION

Rhode Island ranked 43rd in population in the United States with an estimated total of 1,076,189 in 2005, an increase of 2.7% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, Rhode Island's population grew from 1,003,464 to 1,048,319, an increase of 4.5%. The population is projected to reach 1.13 million by 2015 and over 1.15 million by 2025. The population density in 2004 was 1,041.3 persons per sq mi (402 persons per sq km), making Rhode Island the nation's second most densely populated state, after New Jersey. In 2004 the median age was 38.1. Persons under 18 years old accounted for 22.6% of the population while 13.9% was age 65 or older.

Providence, the capital, is the leading city, with an estimated population in 2004 of 178,126 (compared to the 1940 peak of 253,504). Other cities with large populations include Pawtucket and Woonsocket.

ETHNIC GROUPS

Rhode Island's black population numbered 46,908 in 2000, up from 39,000 in 1990 (and 4.5% of the state total). In 2004, 6.1% of the state's population was black. In 2000 there were 90,820 Hispanics and Latinos (8.7% of the total population), nearly twice the 1990 census count of 46,000. In 2004, 10.3% of the state's population was of Hispanic or Latino origin. In 2000, there were 5,121 American Indians, up from 4,000 in 1990. In 2004, 0.6% of the population was American Indian or Alaskan Native. The Asian population was 23,665; the 2000 census reported 4,974 Chinese, 4,522 Cambodians, 2,942 Asian Indians, and 2,062 Filipinos. Pacific Islanders numbered 567. In 2004, 2.7% of the population was Asian and 0.1% Pacific Islander. The foreign born made up 11.4% of the population in 2000, or 119,277 persons, up from 9.5% of the population in 1990. In 2004, 1.5% of the population reported origin of two or more races.

LANGUAGES

Many place-names in Rhode Island attest to the early presence of Mahican Indians: for instance, Sakonnet Point, Pawtucket, Matunuck, Narragansett.

English in Rhode Island is of the Northern dialect, with the distinctive features of eastern New England: absence of final /r/, and a vowel in part and bath intermediate between that in father and that in bat.

Rhode Island's immigrant tradition is reflected in the fact that in 2000, 20% of the state's residents reported speaking a language other than English in the home, up from 18% in 1990.

The following table gives selected statistics from the 2000 Census for language spoken at home by persons five years old and over. The category "African languages" includes Amharic, Ibo, Twi, Yoruba, Bantu, Swahili, and Somali.

RELIGIONS

The first European settlement in Rhode Island was founded by an English clergyman, Roger Williams, who left Massachusetts to find freedom of worship. The Rhode Island Charter of 1663 proclaimed that a "flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty in religious concernments." Rhode Island has maintained this viewpoint throughout its history, and has long been a model of religious pluralism. The first Baptist congregation in the United States was established in 1638 in Providence. In Newport stands the oldest synagogue (1763) and the oldest Quaker meetinghouse (1699) in the United States.

A majority of the population of Rhode Island is Catholic, reflecting heavy immigration from Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and French Canada. In 2004, there were 679,275 Roman Catholics, accounting for about 64% of the total state population. According to 2000 data, the largest Protestant denominations were Episco-palians, with 26,756 adherents, and American Baptists USA, with 20,997. There were about 7,686 members of the United Church of Christ in 2005. An estimated 16,10 Jews resided in the state the same year, as did about 1,827 Muslims. Friends-USA (Quakers) had only 599 members. About 36.5% of the population did not specify a religious affiliation.

TRANSPORTATION

As of 2003, Rhode Island had only one operating railroad within its borders, the regional Providence & Worcester, which utilized the state's 102 rail mi (164 km) of track. In the same year, chemicals were the top commodity hauled from the state. As of 2006, Amtrak operated daily trains through Rhode Island, via its Acela Express train and its Regional northeast corridor trains.

In 2004, there were 6,419 mi (10,334 km) of public highways and roads. In that same year, some 824,000 motor vehicles were registered with the state, while there were 741,841 licensed drivers. The major route through New England, I-95, crosses Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority provides commuter bus service connecting urbanized areas.

Some of the best deepwater ocean ports on the east coast are in Narragansett Bay. The port at Providence handled 9.558 million tons of cargo in 2004. In 2003, waterborne shipments totaled 9.417 million tons. In 2004, Rhode Island had only 39 mi (62 km) of navigable inland waterways.

In 2005, Rhode Island had a total of 28 public and private-use aviation-related facilities. This included 10 airports, 17 heliports and one seaplane base. Theodore Francis Green Airport is the state's major air terminal, with 2,732,524 passengers enplaned in 2004.

HISTORY

Before the arrival of the first white settlers, the Narragansett Indians inhabited the area from what is now Providence south along Narragansett Bay. Their principal rivals, the Wampanoag, dominated the eastern shore region.

In 1524, Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano, sailing in the employ of France, became the first European to explore Rhode Island. The earliest permanent settlement was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyman Roger Williams and a small band of followers who left the repressive atmosphere of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to seek freedom of worship. Other nonconformists followed, settling Portsmouth (1638), Newport (1639), and Warwick (1642). In 1644, Williams journeyed to England, where he secured a parliamentary patent uniting the four original towns into a single colony, the Providence Plantations. This legislative grant remained in effect until the Stuart Restoration made it prudent to seek a royal charter. The charter, secured for Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations from Charles II in 1663, guaranteed religious liberty, permitting significant local autonomy, and strengthened the colony's territorial claims. Encroachments by white settlers on Indian lands led to the Indian uprising known as King Philip's War (1675–76), during which the Indians were soundly defeated.

The early 18th century was marked by significant growth in agriculture and commerce, including the rise of the slave trade. Having the greatest degree of self-rule, Rhode Island had the most to lose from British efforts after 1763 to increase the mother country's supervision and control over the colonies. On 4 May 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony formally to renounce all allegiance to King George III. Favoring the weak central government established by the Articles of Confederation, the state quickly ratified them in 1778, but subsequently resisted the centralizing tendencies of the federal constitution. Rhode Island withheld ratification until 29 May 1790, making it the last of the original 13 states to join the Union.

The principal trends in 19th-century Rhode Island were industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. The state's royal charter (then still in effect) contained no procedure for its amendment, gave disproportionate influence to the declining rural towns, and conferred almost unlimited power on the legislature. In addition, suffrage was restricted by the General Assembly to owners of real estate and their eldest sons. Because earlier, moderate efforts at change had been virtually ignored by the assembly, political reformers decided to bypass the legislature and convene a People's Convention. Thomas Wilson Dorr, who led this movement, became the principal draftsman of a progressive "People's Constitution," ratified in a popular referendum in December 1841. A coalition of Whigs and rural Democrats used force to suppress the movement now known as Dorr's Rebellion, but they bowed to popular pressure and made limited changes via a new constitution, effective May 1843.

The latter half of the 19th century was marked by continued industrialization and urbanization. Immigration increased and became more diverse. Politically the state was dominated by the Republican Party until the 1930s. The Democrats, having seized the opportunity during the New Deal, consolidated their power during the 1940s, and from that time onward have captured most state and congressional elections. Present-day Rhode Island, though predominantly Catholic and Democratic, retains an ethnic and cultural diversity surprising in view of its size but consistent with its pluralist traditions. Rhode Island's residents have been moving from the cities to the suburbs, and in 1980 the state lost its ranking as the most urban state in the country to New Jersey. In the mid-1990s Rhode Island was still the nation's second most densely populated state, with more than three-quarters of its residents living within 15 mi (25 km) of the capital city of Providence.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, 30% of the workforce was in manufacturing jobs; in the 1990s many of these were still low-paid jobs in the jewelry and textile industries. Rhode Island experienced a real estate boom in the 1980s thanks to federal savings and loan deregulation and the state's proximity to the thriving Boston metropolitan area. However, real estate values declined at the end of the decade, and Rhode Island entered the 1990s with a banking crisis that forced its government to spend taxpayer dollars propping up uninsured financial institutions. The state was also hard hit by the recession of the early 1990s. By 1994 a slow recovery was under way, with unemployment fluctuating between 6% and 8%. Though the state's economy grew less quickly than that of its New England neighbors, it experienced a full recovery by the end of the 1990s and successfully made the transition from a manufacturing-based system to one reliant on the service sector. Further, it had done so without widening the gap between rich and poor, an achievement that had eluded other states. As of 1999, Rhode Island's unemployment rate was 4.1%, in line with the national average. Between January 1999 and January 2000 alone, the state added 10,300 jobs. By 2001, however, the nation was in the grip of recession, and Rhode Island's unemployment rate by July 2003 was 5.6%, albeit below the national average of 6.2%. The state faced a $200 million budget deficit that year. In 2005, the state had a budget deficit of $164 million. The unemployment rate in 2004 was 5.2%, below the national average of 5.5%.

Rhode Island was the setting for a landmark lawsuit settlement in 1999. Three years earlier, the worst oil spill in the state's history contaminated waters and destroyed lobsters in Block Island Sound. Under the federal Oil Spill Act of 1990, those responsible for the spill settled separately with local lobstermen and the state, which was to direct $18 million in ongoing cleanup and recovery efforts. The cases were expected to set the standard for future negotiations in the wake of oil spills.

Republican Governor Donald Carcieri, elected in 2002, allowed a minimum wage increase of 60 cents to become law without his signature in 2003. Rhode Island's minimum wage law effective 1 January 2004 was $6.75 per hour. Carcieri pledged to revamp state government, create jobs, and balance the budget without raising taxes. In 2004, he proposed new state bonds to provide the funding necessary to preserve Narragansett Bay and to safeguard drinking water resources. Those measures were approved by voters in November 2004. He also formed the Narragansett Bay and Watershed Commission, which drafted a long-term plan for saving coastal resources.

STATE GOVERNMENT

Rhode Island has had two constitutions: the first based on the colonial charter (1842) and a revision (1986). In 1986, 8 amendments and a revision of the constitution were approved; subsequently, the constitution has been known as the 1986 Constitution. From 1986 through January 2005 there have been 8 amendments; total amendments since 1842 number 60.

Legislative authority is vested in the General Assembly, a bicameral body composed of 38 senators and 75 representatives. All legislators are elected for two-year terms from districts that are apportioned equally according to population after every federal decennial census. Annual sessions begin in January and are unlimited. The legislature may call for a special session by a joint call of the presiding officers of both houses. Legislators must be US citizens, qualified voters, at least 18 years of age, and residents of both state and district for at least 30 days. Among the more important checks enjoyed by the assembly is the power to override the governor's veto by a three-fifths vote of its members present and the power to establish all courts below the supreme court. The legislative salary in 2004 was $12,285.53.

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 US citizens, qualified voters, at least 18 years of age, and 30 days a citizen and resident of Rhode Island. As of December 2004, the governor's salary was $105,194.

A bill passed by the legislature becomes law if signed by the governor, if left unsigned by the governor for six days while the legislature is in session (10 days if the legislature adjourns), or if passed over the governor's veto by three-fifths of the members present in each house. Legislation becomes effective upon enactment. Constitutional amendments are made by majority vote of the whole membership of each house of the legislature, and by a simple majority at the next general election.

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.

POLITICAL PARTIES

For nearly five decades, Rhode Island has been one of the nation's most solidly Democratic states. It has voted for the Republican presidential candidate only four times since 1928, elected only one Republican (former Governor John H. Chafee) to the US Senate since 1934, and sent no Republicans to the US House from 1940 until 1980, when one Republican and one Democrat were elected. (They were reelected in 1982 and 1984.) Also in 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to favor Jimmy Carter. However, in 1984, Republican Edward DiPrete was elected governor, and Ronald Reagan narrowly carried the state in the presidential election. In the 2000 presidential election, Democrat Al Gore won 61% of the vote to Republican George W. Bush's 32%; independent candidate Ralph Nader took 6% of the popular vote. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won 59.5% of the vote to incumbent President Bush's 38.9%.

In 1994, Republican John H. Chafee won a fourth term in the US Senate. Republican Lincoln D. Chafee was named senator in November 1999 upon the death of his father; he was elected to his first full term in 2000. In 1996, Democrat Jack Reed won the Senate seat vacated by Claiborne Pell after 36 years in office; Reed was reelected in 2002. Both US Representatives were Democrats in 2005. In mid-2005 there were 33 Democrats and 5 Republicans in the state Senate, and 59 Democrats and 16 Republicans in the

state House; the governor's office was held by Republican Donald L. Carcieri, who was elected in 2002.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

As of 2005, Rhode Island was subdivided into 5 counties, 8 municipal governments, 36 school districts, and 75 special districts. In 2002, there were 31 townships.

Many smaller communities retain the New England town meeting form of government, under which the town's eligible voters assemble to enact the local budget, set the tax levy, and approve other local measures. Larger cities and towns are governed by a mayor and/or city manager and a council.

In 2005, local government accounted for about 30,118 full-time (or equivalent) employment positions.

STATE SERVICES

To address the continuing threat of terrorism and to work with the federal Department of Homeland Security, homeland security in Rhode Island operates under the authority of the governor; the public safety director/secretary is designated as the state homeland security advisor.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of Governors for Higher Education oversee all state educational services. Railroads, motor vehicle administration, and highway and bridge management come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation. Health and welfare services are provided through the Department of Corrections; Department of the Attorney General; Department of Children, Youth, and Families; Department of Elderly Affairs; Department of Health; Department of Mental Health, Retardation, and Hospitals; and the Department of Human Services.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The five-member Supreme Court is the state's highest appellate tribunal. It may also issue, upon request, advisory opinions on the constitutionality of a questioned act to the governor or either house of the legislature. Supreme court justices are chosen by the legislature and, like other state judges, hold office for life ("during good behavior"), but in actuality they can be removed by a mere resolution of the General Assembly. In 1935, all five justices were ousted in this manner when a Democratic legislature replaced a court previously appointed by Republicans. In 1994, Chief Justice Thomas Fay resigned under impeachment pressure.

The General Trial Court is the superior court, with 1,012 justices in 1999. The state's trial court hears all jury trials in criminal cases and in civil matters involving more than $5,000, but can also hear non-jury cases. Superior and district court judges are appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate.

District courts do not hold jury trials. Civil matters that involve $5,000 or less, small claims procedures, and non-jury criminal cases, including felony arraignments and misdemeanors, are handled at the district level. All cities and towns appoint judges to operate probate courts for wills and estates. Providence and a few other communities each have a municipal or police court.

As of 31 December 2004, a total of 3,430 prisoners were held in Rhode Island's state and federal prisons, a decrease from 3,527 of 2.8% from the previous year. As of year-end 2004, a total of 208 inmates were female, down from 222 or 6.3% from the year before. Among sentenced prisoners (one year or more), New Mexico had an incarceration rate of 175 per 100,000 population in 2004.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rhode Island in 2004, had a violent crime rate (murder/nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault) of 247.4 reported incidents per 100,000 population, or a total of 2,673 reported incidents. Crimes against property (burglary; larceny/theft; and motor vehicle theft) in that same year totaled 31,166 reported incidents or 2,884.1 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Rhode Island has no death penalty.

ARMED FORCES

In 2004, there were 2,336 active duty military personnel and 4,370 civilian personnel stationed in Rhode Island, most of whom were at the US Naval Education and Training Center and Naval War College in Newport. Rhode Island firms received more than $417 million in defense contracts during 2004. Defense Department payroll outlays totaled $621 million.

In 2003, there were 91,161 US veterans living in the state, of whom 16,658 saw military service during World War II; 11,442 in the Korean conflict; 26,598 during the Vietnam era; and 10,008 in the Gulf War. In 2004, the Veterans Administration expended more than $254 million in pensions, medical assistance, and other major veterans' benefits.

As of 31 October 2004, the Rhode Island State Police employed 190 full-time sworn officers.

MIGRATION

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the major immigrant groups who came to work in the state's growing industries were Irish, Italian, and French-Canadian. Significant numbers of British, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, and German immigrants also moved to Rhode Island. Between 1940 and 1970, however, 2,000 more people left the state than moved to it, and between 1970 and 1983 there was a net loss of about 42,000. From 1985 to 1990, there was a net gain from migration of nearly 34,000. Between 1990 and 1998, Rhode Island had a net loss of 64,000 in domestic migration and a net gain of 16,000 in international migration. In 1998, 1,976 foreign immigrants arrived in the state. Rhode Island's overall population decreased 1.5% between 1990 and 1998.

During the 1980s, the urban proportion of the population remained virtually unchanged, dropping from 87% to 86%. By 1996, the metropolitan population had reached 93.8%. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 18,965 and net internal migration was −4,964, for a net gain of 14,001 people.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION

Rhode Island participates in many interstate regional bodies, including the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, Interstate Compact for Juveniles, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, and Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission. New England regional agreements include those on tuberculosis control, radiological health protection, higher education, police, and dairy products. Federal grants to Rhode Island state and local governments totaled $1.697 billion in fiscal year 2005, an estimated $1.752 billion in fiscal year 2006, and an estimated $1.790 billion in fiscal year 2007.

ECONOMY

Rhode Island's economy was historically based overwhelmingly on industry, with agriculture, mining, forestry, and fishing making only small contributions. The state's leading manufactured products were jewelry, silverware, machinery, primary metals, textiles, and rubber products. In the late 1990s, manufacturing declined steadily as a contributor to state economic output, falling from 14.7% in 1997 to 11.1% in 2001. The recession of 2001 only accelerated the contraction in Rhode Island's manufacturing output to 3.3% from its previous rates of about 2% a year. The strongest growth sectors in terms of output coming into the 21st century were: financial services (up 44.3%); trade (up 28.5%); general services (up 25.6%); and government (up 20.6%). Unemployment rates in Rhode Island exceeded those of the United States throughout the 1970s, and the state's economic growth lagged behind that of the nation as a whole. Unemployment fell dramatically in 1983 and 1984, rose again to 8.7% in 1992, but had fallen to around 5% by 1996. Manufacturing employment declined 23% between 1983 and 1992 while service jobs increased 36%. In all, only about 1,000 jobs were lost between 1988 and 1998, mostly in the manufacturing sector, while service-related jobs rose, accounting for about half of all personal income in 1998. The impact of the 2001 national recession and slowdown on Rhode Island's employment and income was the mildest among the New England states. By mid-2002, job growth had surpassed the peak reached in 2000.

In 2004, Rhode Island's gross state product (GSP) was $41.679 billion, of which the real estate sector accounted for $5.421 billion or 13% of GSP, with health and social assistance at $3.798 billion (9.1% of GSP) and construction at $2.459 billion (5.8% of GSP). In that same year, there were an estimated 95,390 small businesses in Rhode Island. Of the 33,253 businesses that had employees, an estimated total of 32,098 or 96.5% were small companies. An estimated 3,932 new businesses were established in the state in 2004, up 13.5% from the year before. Business terminations that same year came to 4,250, up 3.6% from 2003. There were 74 business bankruptcies in 2004, up 54.2% from the previous year. In 2005, the state's personal bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) filing rate was 422 filings per 100,000 people, ranking Rhode Island 35th in the nation.

INCOME

In 2005 Rhode Island had a gross state product (GSP) of $44 billion which accounted for 0.4% of the nation's gross domestic product and placed the state at number 45 in highest GSP among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2004 Rhode Island had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $34,207. This ranked 16th in the United States and was 104% of the national average of $33,050. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of PCPI was 4.5%. Rhode Island had a total personal income (TPI) of $36,940,300,000, which ranked 43rd in the United States and reflected an increase of 5.8% from 2003. The 1994–2004 average annual growth rate of TPI was 5.1%. Earnings of persons employed in Rhode Island increased from $24,586,561,000 in 2003 to $25,887,459,000 in 2004, an increase of 5.3%. The 2003–04 national change was 6.3%.

The US Census Bureau reports that the three-year average median household income for 2002–04 in 2004 dollars was $46,199 compared to a national average of $44,473. During the same period an estimated 11.3% of the population was below the poverty line as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

LABOR

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in April 2006 the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Rhode Island 578,400, with approximately 31,100 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 5.4%, compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. Preliminary data for the same period placed nonfarm employment at 495,000. Since the beginning of the BLS data series in 1976, the highest unemployment rate recorded in Rhode Island was 9.7% in November 1982. The historical low was 2.9% in July 1988. Preliminary nonfarm employment data by occupation for April 2006 showed that approximately 4.6% of the labor force was employed in construction; 10.7% in manufacturing; 16.3% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 7.2% in financial activities; 11.4% in professional and business services; 19.4% in education and health services; 10.1% in leisure and hospitality services; and 13.1% in government.

The BLS reported that in 2005, a total of 79,000 of Rhode Island's 494,000 employed wage and salary workers were formal members of a union. This represented 15.9% of those so employed, down from 16.3% in 2004, but still above the national average of 12%. Overall in 2005, a total of 83,000 workers (16.8%) in Rhode Island were covered by a union or employee association contract, which includes those workers who reported no union affiliation. Rhode Island is one of 28 states with a right-to-work law.

As of 1 March 2006, Rhode Island had a state-mandated minimum wage rate of $7.10 per hour. In 2004, women in the state accounted for 49% of the employed civilian labor force.

AGRICULTURE

The state's total receipts from farm marketings were $63 million in 2005, 50th in the United States. Rhode Island had only about 850 farms in 2004 with an average size of just 71 acres (29 hectares), with the smallest area devoted to crops (21,000 acres, or 8,500 hectares) of any state. Nursery and greenhouse products were the main agricultural commodity. Total crop marketings amounted to $53 million in 2005.

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

In 2005, Rhode Island had around 5,500 cattle and calves, valued at $5.5 million. During 2004, there were some 2,000 hogs and pigs, valued at $220,000. In 2003, the state produced 22 million lb (10 million kg) of milk, from 1,300 milk cows.

FISHING

The commercial catch in 2004 was 97.4 million lb (44.3 million kg), valued at $71.1 million. Point Judith is the main fishing port, ranking 24th in the United States, with catch value at $31.5 million. The state ranked second in the nation for squid catch with 38.1 million lb (17.3 million kg). Other valuable fish and shellfish include whiting, fluke and yellowtail flounders, cod, scup lobster, and clams. In 2001, the commercial fishing fleet consisted of 2,920 boats and 344 vessels. In 2003, there were 16 processing plants employing about 453 people.

In 2004, Rhode Island issued 26,629 sport-fishing licenses. Three hatcheries distribute nearly 326,000 lb (148,000 kg) of trout throughout the state each year.

FORESTRY

In 2004, forests covered 393,000 acres (159,000 hectares), about 60% of the state's land area. Some 340,000 acres (138,000 hectares) were usable as commercial timberland.

MINING

According to preliminary data from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the estimated value of nonfuel mineral production by Rhode Island in 2003 was $25.8 million, an increase from 2002 of about 1%.

According to the preliminary data for 2003, construction sand and gravel, and crushed stone were the state's top nonfuel minerals, accounting for around 52% and almost 48% of output by value, respectively. Industrial sand and gravel, and gemstones (by hobbyists) were also produced in Rhode Island, that same year.

Preliminary data for 2003 showed that a total of 1.9 million metric tons of construction sand and gravel was produced, with a value of $13.5 million, while crushed stone output that year totaled 1.9 million metric tons, valued at $12.3 million.

ENERGY AND POWER

Rhode Island is part of the New England regional power grid and imports most of its electric power. As of 2003, Rhode Island had eight electrical power service providers, of which one was publicly owned, three were investor owned, three were generation-only suppliers and two were delivery-only providers. As of that same year there were 476,316 retail customers. Of that total, 466,805 received their power from investor-owned service providers. Publicly owned providers had 4,525 customers, while generation-only suppliers had 4,986 customers. There was no data on the number of delivery-only customers.

Total net summer generating capability by the state's electrical generating plants in 2003 stood at 1.733 million kW, with total production that same year at 5.621 billion kWh. Of the total amount generated, only 0.2% came from electric utilities, with the remaining 99.8% coming from independent producers and combined heat and power service providers. The largest portion of all electric power generated, 5.454 billion kWh (97%), came from natural gas fired plants, with other renewable sources in second place at 101.768 billion kWh (1.8%) and petroleum fueled plants in third at 58.359 billion kWh (1%). Hydroelectric sources at 0.1% accounted for the remainder.

Rhode island has no refineries, nor any proven reserves or production of crude oil or natural gas.

INDUSTRY

The Industrial Revolution began early in Rhode Island. The first spinning jenny in the United States was built at Providence in 1787. Three years later, in Pawtucket, Samuel Slater opened a cotton mill, one of the first modern factories in America. By the end of the 18th century, textile, jewelry, and metal products were being manufactured in the state.

Over 1,000 manufacturers in the state produce finished jewelry and jewelry parts. Electronic and related products manufactured in the state include online lottery machines, circuit boards, and meteorological, navigational, and medical equipment. Chemicals and allied products made in the state include pigments and dyes, drugs and biomedical products, and liquid and aerosol consumer products.

According to the US Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) for 2004, Rhode Island's manufacturing sector covered some 14 product subsectors. The shipment value of all products manufactured in the state that same year was $11.173 billion. Of that total, miscellaneous manufacturing accounted for the largest share at $1.949 billion. It was followed by electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing at $1.824 billion; fabricated metal product manufacturing at $1.561 billion; computer and electronic product manufacturing at $813.739 million; and plastics and rubber products manufacturing at $736.243 million.

In 2004, a total of 55,367 people in Rhode Island were employed in the state's manufacturing sector, according to the ASM. Of that total, 35,544 were actual production workers. In terms of total employment, the miscellaneous manufacturing industry accounted for the largest portion of all manufacturing employees at 11,614, with 7,618 actual production workers. It was followed by fabricated metal product manufacturing at 9,001 employees (6,706 actual production workers); computer and electronic product manufacturing at 4,825 employees (799 actual production workers); plastics and rubber products manufacturing with 4,083 employees (3,096 actual production workers); and electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing at 3,469 employees (2,052 actual production employees).

ASM data for 2004 showed that Rhode Island's manufacturing sector paid $2.235 billion in wages. Of that amount, the miscellaneous manufacturing sector accounted for the largest share at $384.278 million. It was followed by fabricated metal product manufacturing at $356.366 million; computer and electronic product manufacturing at $282.567 million; electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing at $169.127 million; and machinery manufacturing at $154.401 million.

COMMERCE

According to the 2002 Census of Wholesale Trade, Rhode Island's wholesale trade sector had sales that year totaling $8.5 billion from 1,479 establishments. Wholesalers of durable goods accounted for 936 establishments, followed by nondurable goods wholesalers at 442 and electronic markets, agents, and brokers accounting for 101 establishments. Sales by durable goods wholesalers in 2002 totaled $3.74 billion, while wholesalers of nondurable goods saw sales of $3.71 billion. Electronic markets, agents, and brokers in the wholesale trade industry had sales of $1.1 billion.

In the 2002 Census of Retail Trade, Rhode Island was listed as having 4,134 retail establishments with sales of $10.3 billion. The leading types of retail businesses by number of establishments were: food and beverage stores (695); clothing and clothing accessories stores (565); miscellaneous store retailers (504); and motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers (429). In terms of sales, motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts dealers accounted for the largest share of retail sales at $2.6 billion, followed by food and beverage stores at $1.9 billion; health and personal care stores at $1.07 billion; general merchandise stores at $973.3 million; and gasoline stations at $655.7 million. A total of 50,665 people were employed by the retail sector in Rhode Island that year.

Rhode Island's foreign exports of manufactured goods totaled $1.2 billion in 2005.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

The Consumer Protection Unit of the Department of the Attorney General bears the primary responsibility for investigating and mediating consumer complaints of unlawful and unfair business practices and misleading advertising that arise from violations of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The unit also enforces the state's Telephone Sales Solicitation Act, the registration of health clubs under the state's Health Club Law, and provides information and referral services to the general public. In addition to the Consumer Protection Unit, the state's Attorney General's Office has other office units dedicated to other specific consumer protection related issues such as: charitable trusts (Charitable Trust Unit); antitrust violations (Antitrust Unit); environmental issues (Environmental Unit); insurance advocacy (Insurance Advocacy Unit (covers insurance rate hearings, healthcare and insurance fraud); public utilities (Public Utilities Regulation Unit); open government (complaints over access to public records and violations of the Open Meetings Act); and healthcare advocacy (Office of Health Care Advocate; helps patients with healthcare issues and can act on behalf of those consumers who are not able to act on their own).

When dealing with consumer protection issues, the state's Attorney General's office can initiate civil and criminal proceedings; administer consumer protection and education programs; handle formal consumer complaints; and exercise limited subpoena powers. However, the Attorney General's Office cannot represent the state before regulatory agencies. In antitrust actions, the Attorney General's office cannot act on behalf of those consumers who are incapable of acting on their own, but can initiate damage actions on behalf of the state in state courts and initiate criminal proceedings. The Attorney General's office, cannot represent counties, cities and other governmental entities in recovering civil damages under state or federal law.

The offices of the Consumer Protection Unit and the Department of the Attorney General are located in Providence.

BANKING

As of June 2005, Rhode Island had 14 insured banks, savings and loans, and saving banks, plus 11 state-chartered and 19 federally chartered credit unions (CUs). Excluding the CUs, the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River market area accounted for the largest portion of the state's financial institutions and deposits in 2004, with 40 institutions and $29.179 billion in deposits. As of June 2005, CUs accounted for 14.6% of all assets held by all financial institutions in the state, or some $3.518 billion. Banks, savings and loans, and savings banks collectively accounted for the remaining 85.4% or $20.500 billion in assets held.

As of 2002, about 50% of the state's banks had long-term asset concentrations of greater than 40%. Savings banks represented 50% of insured banks in Rhode Island and residential real estate loans made up 56% of the average loan portfolio in that year.

The median percentage of past-due/nonaccrual loans to total loans in the fourth quarter of 2005 stood at 0.56%, down from 0.56% in 2004 and 0.62% in 2003. regulation of state-chartered banks and other state-chartered financial institutions in Rhode Island is the responsibility of the state's Department of Business Regulation's Division of Banking.

INSURANCE

In 2004, 509,000 individual life insurance policies worth $51.6.0 billion were in force in Rhode Island; total value for all categories of life insurance (individual, group, and credit) was about $83.9 billion. The average coverage amount is $101,000 per policy holder. Death benefits paid that year totaled $233.6 million.

As of 2003, there were 23 property and casualty and 4 life and health insurance companies domiciled in the state. In 2004, direct premiums for property and casualty insurance totaled over $1.9 billion. That year, there were 11,774 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $2 million. About $802 million of coverage was held through FAIR plans, which are designed to offer coverage for some natural circumstances, such as wind and hail, in high risk areas.

In 2004, 56% of state residents held employment-based health insurance policies, 4% held individual policies, and 28% were covered under Medicare and Medicaid; 11% of residents were uninsured. In 2003, employee contributions for employment-based health coverage averaged at 22% for single coverage and 27% for family coverage. The state offers an 18-month health benefits expansion program for small-firm employees in connection with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA, 1986), a health insurance program for those who lose employment-based coverage due to termination or reduction of work hours.

In 2003, there were 672,295 auto insurance policies in effect for private passenger cars. Required minimum coverage includes bodily injury liability of up to $25,000 per individual and $50,000 for all persons injured in an accident, as well as property damage liability of $25,000. Uninsured motorist coverage is also required. In 2003, the average expenditure per vehicle for insurance coverage was $992.22, which ranked as the seventh-highest average in the nation.

SECURITIES

Rhode Island has no securities exchanges. In 2005, there were 500 personal financial advisers employed in the state. In 2004, there were over 21 publicly traded companies within the state, with over seven NASDAQ companies, five NYSE listings, and two AMEX listings. In 2006, the state had two Fortune 500 companies; CVS, based in Woonsocket and listed on the NYSE, ranked 1st in the state and 53rd in the nation, with revenues of over $37 billion, followed by Textron, based in Providence and also on the NYSE, ranked 190th in the nation with revenues of $11.9 billion. FM Global, Hasbro, American Power Conversion, Nortek, and Amica Mutual Insurance were listed in the Fortune 1,000.

PUBLIC FINANCE

The annual budget is prepared by the State Budget Office in conjunction with the governor, and submitted to the legislature for approval. The fiscal year (FY) runs from 1 July through 30 June.

Fiscal year 2006 general funds were estimated at $3.13 billion for resources and $3.14 billion for expenditures. In fiscal year 2004, federal government grants to Rhode Island were $2.3 billion.

On 5 January 2006 the federal government released $100 million in emergency contingency funds targeted to the areas with the greatest need, including $844,000 for Rhode Island.

TAXATION

In 2005, Rhode Island collected $2,629 million in tax revenues or $2,443 per capita, which placed it 12th among the 50 states in per capita tax burden. The national average was $2,192 per capita. Property taxes accounted for 0.1% of the total; sales taxes, 32.1%; selective sales taxes, 20.3%; individual income taxes, 38.0%; corporate income taxes, 4.3%; and other taxes, 5.2%.

Rhode Island, as of 1 January 2006, taxed corporations at a flat rate of 9.0%.

In 2004, state and local property taxes amounted to $1.8 billion or $1,629 per capita. The per capita amount ranks the state fifth nationally. Local governments collected $1,757,602,000 of the total and the state government $1,532,000.

Rhode Island taxes retail sales at a rate of 7%. Food purchased for consumption off-premises is tax exempt. The tax on cigarettes is 246 cents per pack, which ranks first among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rhode Island taxes gasoline at 31 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.

According to the Tax Foundation, for every federal tax dollar sent to Washington in 2004, Rhode Island citizens received $1.02 in federal spending.

ECONOMIC POLICY

The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) exists to preserve and expand Rhode Island businesses, and to attract new businesses to the state. Some of the services available to businesses through RIEDC are: job training assistance; financial assistance; government contracting assistance; site selection; and exporting assistance. The RIEDC includes a Job Creation Grant Fund, an Excellence Through Training Grant Program, an Employee Investment Grant Program, and an Export Management Training Grant Program.

The Innovation [T] Scale strategy is Rhode Island's effort to make its small size a competitive advantage. Innovators can take advantage of the state's manageable size, close knit networks, and densely concentrated resources to quickly and cost effectively test new ways of doing business.

HEALTH

The infant mortality rate in October 2005 was estimated at 5.9 per 1,000 live births. The birth rate in 2003 was 12.3 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate stood at 24.1 per 1,000 women in 2000. In 2003, about 90.9% of pregnant woman received prenatal care be-

ginning in the first trimester, this was the second-highest rate in the nation for prenatal care (after New Hampshire). In 2004, approximately 87% of children received routine immunizations before the age of three.

The crude death rate in 2003 was 9.3 deaths per 1,000 population. As of 2002, the death rates for major causes of death (per 100,000 resident population) were: heart disease, 290.6; cancer, 224.7; cerebrovascular diseases, 56.6; chronic lower respiratory diseases, 48.7; and diabetes, 24.6. The mortality rate from HIV infection was 2.2 per 100,000 population. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was at about 12.2 per 100,000 population. In 2002, about 52.9% of the population was considered overweight or obese. As of 2004, about 21.3% of state residents were smokers.

In 2003, Rhode Island had 11 community hospitals with about 2,400 beds. There were about 122,000 patient admissions that year and 2 million outpatient visits. The average daily inpatient census was about 1.8 patients. The average cost per day for hospital care was $1,591. Also in 2003, there were about 94 certified nursing facilities in the state with 9,376 beds and an overall occupancy rate of about 91%. In 2004, it was estimated that about 78.5% of all state residents had received some type of dental care within the year. Rhode Island had 361 physicians per 100,000 resident population in 2004 and 987 nurses per 100,000 in 2005. In 2004, there were a total of 557 dentists in the state.

About 20% of state residents were enrolled in Medicaid programs in 2003; 16% were enrolled in Medicare programs in 2004. Approximately 11% of the state population was uninsured in 2004. In 2003, state health care expenditures totaled $1.8 million.

SOCIAL WELFARE

In 2004, about 41,000 people received unemployment benefits, with the average weekly unemployment benefit at $324. For 2005, the estimated average monthly participation in the food stamp program included about 76,085 persons (34,751 households); the average monthly benefit was about $86 per person. That year, the total of benefits paid through the state for the food stamp program was about $78.5 million.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the system of federal welfare assistance that officially replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1997, was reauthorized through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. TANF is funded through federal block grants that are divided among the states based on an equation involving the number of recipients in each state. Rhode Island's TANF program is called the Family Independence Program (FIP). In 2004, the state program had 32,000 recipients; state and federal expenditures on this TANF program totaled $91 million in fiscal year 2003.

In December 2004, Social Security benefits were paid to 191,710 Rhode Island residents. This number included 127,350 retired workers, 15,260 widows and widowers, 27,730 disabled workers, 6,480 spouses, and 14,890 children. Social Security beneficiaries represented 17.8% of the total state population and 92.7% of the state's population age 65 and older. Retired workers received an average monthly payment of $955; widows and widowers, $931; disabled workers, $877; and spouses, $471. Payments for children of retired workers averaged $461 per month; children of deceased workers, $664; and children of disabled workers, $256. Federal Supplemental Security Income payments in December 2004 went to 29,703 Rhode Island residents, averaging $430 a month.

HOUSING

In 2004, there were an estimated 446,305 housing units, 409,767 of which were occupied; 61.8% were owner-occupied. About 55.8% of all units were single-family, detached homes; 33.3% of all units were built in 1939 or earlier. Utility gas and fuel oil were the most common energy sources for heating. It was estimated that 13,132 units lacked telephone service, 1,435 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 2,161 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household had 2.53 members.

In 2004, 2,500 new privately owned housing units were authorized for construction. Much of the new residential construction has taken place in the suburbs south and west of Providence. The median home value was $240,150. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,469. Renters paid a median of $740. In 2006, the state received over $5.2 million in community development block grants from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The city of Providence received $5.7 million in similar grant awards.

EDUCATION

In 2004, 81.1% of Rhode Islanders age 25 and older were high school graduates. Approximately 27.2% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher.

The total enrollment for fall 2002 in Rhode Island's public schools stood at 159,000. Of these, 113,000 attended schools from kindergarten through grade eight, and 47,000 attended high school. Approximately 71.2% of the students were white, 8.5% were black, 16.4% were Hispanic, 3.2% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 0.6% were American Indian/Alaskan Native. Total enrollment was estimated at 160,000 in fall 2003 and expected to be 154,000 by fall 2014, a decline of 3.6% during the period 2002 to 2014. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $1.7 billion, or $9,903 per student, the 10th-highest among the 50 states. In fall 2003 there were 28,119 students enrolled in 139 private schools. Since 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tested public school students nationwide. The resulting report, The Nation's Report Card, stated that in 2005, eighth graders in Rhode Island scored 272 out of 500 in mathematics compared with the national average of 278.

As of fall 2002, there were 77,417 students enrolled in college or graduate school; minority students comprised 16.4% of total postsecondary enrollment. In 2005 Rhode Island had 13 degree-granting institutions. Leading institutions include Brown University (1764) in Providence; the University of Rhode Island (1892) in Kingston; and Providence College (1917). The Rhode Island School of Design (1877) is located in Providence.

ARTS

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) was established in 1967. In 2005, RISCA and other Rhode Island arts organizations received 13 grants totaling $806,300 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, founded in 1973, had awarded over $2.5 million to community and academic organizations as of 2005. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Humanities contributed $1,235,058 for eight state programs. The state, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and various private sources also provide funding for arts activities.

Newport and Providence have notable art galleries and museums, including the museum at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence. As of 2005, the RISD Museum housed over 80,000 pieces of art. Theatrical groups include the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence founded in 1964. As of 2005, hosting both an annual production of A Christmas Carol and Trinity Summer Shakespeare, the theater drew an annual audience of more than 185,000. The Rhode Island Philharmonic, with approximately 72 professional musicians, performs throughout the state. New-port is the site of the internationally famous Newport Jazz Festival, founded in 1954, and the Newport Music Festival. In 2006, the Newport Music Festival's 38th season hosted 67 concerts with 46 artists representing 17 countries. The Festival Ballet Providence and the State Ballet of Rhode Island are prominent dance groups. The Providence Performing Arts Center, restored to its original 1920s splendor in the late 1990s (and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places), hosts touring Broadway shows as well as concerts by a variety of performers.

The WaterFire public art installation on the riverfront in downtown Providence has played a key role in the revitalization of the city. The lighting of bonfires in 97 braziers placed in three rivers that flow through Providence has drawn thousands to the downtown area to enjoy music and other entertainment. As of 2006 there were 17 lightings scheduled from May until October.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

For the fiscal year ending in June 2001, Rhode Island had 48 public library systems, with a total of 72 libraries, of which 24 were branches. In that same year, the state's public libraries had a book and serial publication stock of 3,997,000 volumes, and a total combined circulation of 6,627,000. The system also had 109,000 audio and 117,000 video items, 6,000 electronic format items (CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, and disks), and two bookmobiles. The Providence Public Library maintains several special historical collections. The Brown University Libraries, containing more than 2.6 million books and periodicals, include the Annmary Brown Memorial Library, with its collection of rare manuscripts, and the John Carter Brown Library, with an excellent collection of early Americana. In fiscal year 2001, operating income for the state's public library system totaled $36,378,000 and included $172,000 from federal sources and $6,031,000 in state funding.

Among the state's more than 53 museums and historic sites are the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, the Roger Williams Park Museum, also in Providence, the Nathanael Greene Homestead in Coventry, and the Slater Mill Historic Site in Pawtucket. Providence has the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

COMMUNICATIONS

The first automated post office in the US postal system was opened in Providence in 1960. As of 2004, 95.3% of the state's occupied housing units had telephones. In addition, by June of that same year there were 615,398 mobile wireless telephone subscribers. In 2003, 62.3% of Rhode Island households had a computer and 55.7% had Internet access. By June 2005, there were 186,743 high-speed lines in Rhode Island, 177,393 residential and 9,350 for business. In 2005, the state had 7 major AM and 9 major FM radio stations. Rhode Island had five television stations, including one public broadcasting affiliate operated by the state's Public Telecommunications Authority. The Providence-New Bedford area had 565,230 television-viewing homes, 79% with cable in 1999. A total of 23,508 Internet domain names were registered in Rhode Island as of 2000.

PRESS

The Rhode Island Gazette, the state's first newspaper, appeared in 1732. In 1850, Paulina Wright Davis established Una, one of the first women's rights newspapers in the country.

In 2005, Rhode Island had six daily newspapers with three Sunday editions.

The following table shows the approximate circulation for the state's leading dailies in 2005:

Regional interest periodicals include Providence Monthly and Rhode Island Monthly.

ORGANIZATIONS

In 2006, there were over 2,095 nonprofit organizations registered within the state, of which about 1,578 were registered as charitable, educational, or religious organizations. Among the professional and educational organizations with headquarters in Rhode Island are the Foundation for Gifted and Creative Children, Foster Parents Plan USA, The American Boat Builders and Repairers Association, the American Mathematical Society, the Manufacturing Jewelers and Silversmiths of America.

The US Sailing Association is based in Portsmouth and the International Tennis Hall of Fame is in Newport.

State art organizations include the Alliance of Artists' Communities, the Art League of Rhode Island, and the Summer Arts and Festival Organization.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

Tourism is the second-largest and fastest-growing industry in Rhode Island. In 2005, the state hosted over 15 million visitors, generating total revenues of $4.69 billion (a figure that represents an increase of 16.4% from 1999). The industry supports over 57,837 jobs.

Historic sites—especially the mansions of Newport and Providence—and water sports (particularly the America's Cup yacht races) are the main tourist attractions of Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island has over 400 miles of coastline. Block Island is a popular resort reachable by a ferry from Point Judith. Visitors can relax or participate in kayaking, sailing, sport fishing, or horseback riding. The Providence Place Mall, a 13-acre mega shopping complex with 150 specialty shops, restaurants, and cinemas opened in 1999. An architectural marvel, the shopping complex spans a highway, a river, and a train track bed. Rhode Island's state parks and recreational areas total 8,063 acres (3,263 hectares).

SPORTS

Rhode Island has no major league professional sports teams. Pawtucket has a Triple-A minor league baseball team and Providence has a minor league team in the American Hockey League. Providence College has competed successfully in collegiate basketball, winning National Invitational Tournament titles in 1961 and 1963, and advancing to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Final Four in 1973 and 1987.

Historically, Rhode Island has played an important part in the development of both yachting and tennis. The Newport Yacht Club hosted the America's Cup, international sailing's most prestigious event, from 1930 until 1983, when an Australian yacht won the race. It was the first time since 1851 that the cup had been won by a non-American. The cup was returned to America in 1987, but by a yacht from San Diego. Lawn tennis was first played in America at the Newport Casino, which was also the site of the United States Tennis championship from 1881 until 1915. Today it is home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The Museum of Yachting is located in Newport as well. Dog racing at Lincoln and jai alai at Newport are popular spectator sports with pari-mutuel betting.

Other annual sporting events include the Tennis Hall of Fame Championships in Newport in July, the Annual Tuna Tournament near Galilee and Narragansett in September, the Rhode Island Marathon in Newport in November, and summer college baseball league on Martha's Vineyard.

FAMOUS RHODE ISLANDERS

Important federal officeholders from Rhode Island have included US Senators Nelson W. Aldrich (1841–1915), Henry Bowen Anthony (1815–84), Theodore Francis Green (1867–1966), and John O. Pastore (1907–2000), and US Representative John E. Fogarty (1913–67). J. Howard McGrath (1903–66) held the posts of US senator, solicitor general, and attorney general.

Foremost among Rhode Island's historical figures is Roger Williams (b.England, 1603?–83), apostle of religious liberty and founder of Providence. Other significant pioneers, also born in England, include Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643), religious leader and cofounder of Portsmouth, and William Coddington (1601–78), founder of Newport. Other 17th-century Rhode Islanders of note were Dr. John Clarke (b.England, 1609–76), who secured the colony's royal charter, and Indian leader King Philip, known also as Metacomet (1639?–76). Important participants in the War for Independence were Commodore Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) and General Nathanael Greene (1742–86). The 19th century brought to prominence Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805–54), courageous leader of Dorr's Rebellion; social reformer Elizabeth Buffum Chace (1806–99); and naval officers Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819), who secured important US victories in the War of 1812, and his brother, Matthew C. Perry (1794–1858), who led the expedition that opened Japan to foreign trade in 1854. Among the state's many prominent industrialists and inventors are Samuel Slater (b.England, 1768–1835), pioneer in textile manufacturing, and silversmith Jabez Gorham (1792–1869). Other significant public figures include Unitarian theologian William Ellery Channing (1780–1842); political boss Charles R. Brayton (1840–1910); Roman Catholic bishop and social reformer Matthew Harkins (b.Massachusetts, 1845–1921); and Dr. Charles V. Chapin (1856–1941), pioneer in public health.

Rhode Island's best-known creative writers are Gothic novelists H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) and Oliver La Farge (1901–63), and its most famous artist is portrait painter Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828). Popular performing artists include George M. Cohan (1878–1942), Nelson Eddy (1901–67), Bobby Hackett (1915–76), Van Johnson (b.1916), and Spalding Gray (1941–2004).

Important sports personalities include Baseball Hall of Famers Hugh Duffy (1866–1954), Napoleon Lajoie (1875–1959), and Charles "Gabby" Hartnett (1900–1972).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bilder, Mary Sarah. The Transatlantic Constitution: Colonial Legal Culture and the Empire. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004.

Council of State Governments. The Book of the States, 2006 Edition. Lexington, Ky.: Council of State Governments, 2006.

Gaustad, Edwin S. Roger Williams. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Leazes, Francis J. Providence, the Renaissance City. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004.

Méras, Phyllis, and Tom Gannon. Rhode Island, An Explorer's Guide. Woodstock, Vt.: Countryman Press; New York: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2000.

Sherman, Steve. Country Roads of Connecticut and Rhode Island: Day Trips and Weekend Excursions. Lincolnwood, Ill.: Country Roads Press, 1999.

Sletcher, Michael (ed.). New England. Vol. 4 in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004.

Sterne, Evelyn Savidge. Ballots & Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004.

US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau. Rhode Island, 2000. Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics: 2000 Census of Population and Housing. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 2003.

Rhode Island

It is usual in introducing any discussion of Rhode Island to start by pointing out that it is the smallest of the United States. As historic sites are concerned, however, Rhode Island outclasses many other states that dwarf it in physical size, and there are several reasons why. It was among the earliest to be established as a colony. Because of its port facilities Rhode Island was almost immediately involved more intimately in world affairs than were the other colonies. It prospered quickly as a maritime colony, making its fortune during the Anglo-French wars of the colonial era and being particularly sensitive to Britain's efforts after 1763 to reverse the policy of "salutary neglect" of the Navigation Acts. Rhode Island was therefore more closely attuned than other colonies of British America to the economic and political issues that led to the Revolution. Thus Rhode Island was the scene of the earliest instances of overt resistance to British authority: in 1765 a mob in Newport burning a boat of the British ship Maidstone that had been impressing sailors; in 1769 the destruction of the British revenue sloop Liberty at Newport; in 1772 the Gaspee Affair (see gaspee point).

In the field of art Rhode Island also reached gigantic stature, as any student of American architecture, cabinetmaking, silverware, and decoration can assure you. The tradition of excellence has survived, evidence including the fame of the Rhode Island School of Design (see providence) and the state's many outstanding art museums and programs of historic preservation.

Recreation and tourism being a major industry in Rhode Island, state and local agencies publish an abundance of literature for visitors. Schedules and entrance fees (if any) of all major points of interest are published annually by the Rhode Island Tourism Division in their booklet Rhode Island Travel Guide. This agency also distributes the official highway map. The address is 1 West Exchange Street, Providence, R.I. 02903. Other sources of information are identified below.

Battle of Rhode Island Sites

Battle of Rhode Island Sites, island of Rhode Island. The French Alliance was ratified by Congress in the spring of 1778, a large fleet under Admiral d'Estaing moved across the Atlantic, and Patriot hopes for a swift conclusion of the Revolution ran high. Newport had been a major enemy base since the British occupied this strategic place in December 1776. In the summer of 1778 it was held by a relatively small garrison of about three thousand troops under General Robert Pigot, supported by a small fleet. Congress proposed that a combined operation be undertaken to liberate Newport.

This turned out to be one of the most spectacular fiascos of the American Revolution, botched from the start by the undiplomatic attitude of General John Sullivan of the American army, the supercilious attitude of the French toward their provincial allies, the genius of the Royal Navy for frustrating French naval designs, the undependability of the Patriot militia, and bad luck. But the interesting operation involved some of the most famous names of the American Revolution: Nathanael Greene, John Hancock, Lafayette, James Mitchell Varnum, John Glover, Christopher Greene (with a newly raised regiment of African Americans who distinguished themselves), and one of the greatest admirals ever produced by the French, Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez (1729–1788). "Had he been alive in my time," said Napoleon of Suffren, "he would have been my Nelson."

The plan for the combined operation against Newport was for the French fleet to enter the Middle Channel on 8 August, running the British defenses on Jamestown Island and in Newport. The night of 9 to 10 August, Sullivan would cross from Tiverton with his veteran Continentals and a large contingent of militia raised for the campaign. Early the next morning d'Estaing was to land several thousand of his men for operations ashore, then bombard British fortifications as Sullivan moved south to capture Newport. The Allies had overwhelming odds, and it looked like a sure thing.

A preliminary attack by Suffren on 5 August with two frigates destroyed the little British fleet in the East (or Sakonnet) Channel. The French admiral managed to throw the British into such a panic that they ran aground or scuttled their eight warships and several transports. D'Estaing proceeded successfully according to plan, but things then started going wrong quickly. Instead of waiting for the prearranged time to cross over from Tiverton, Sullivan advanced his schedule by some twelve hours because the British had evacuated their positions on the north end of the island. He did not bother to inform d'Estaing in advance of this improvisation, and as the French admiral was adjusting himself to this modification of the plan, word came that a British fleet was heaving into sight.

D'Estaing reembarked the sick he had landed on Jamestown (Conanicut) Island and headed to sea. Although the French fleet was about a third stronger than that commanded by Admiral Richard ("Black Dick") Howe, d'Estaing spent twenty-four hours maneuvering for the attack. Then came a forty-eight-hour storm of record-breaking magnitude that made both admirals devote their full attention to keeping their fleets afloat. British seamanship proved superior, as usual, and as soon as the gale ended, two of their fifty-gun ships attacked crippled French ships of much greater strength. Howe intended to renew the attack on 14 August but found that his fleet had suffered too much damage, so he withdrew to New York.

The French returned to Newport on 20 August but refused to land the men who were supposed to support the Americans in the land attack on Newport. The next night d'Estaing sailed for Boston to make repairs. Sullivan and his officers signed an intemperate letter of protest, and Lafayette rode to Boston to argue unsuccessfully with d'Estaing to come back.

Sullivan's troops had preserved their morale and momentum despite the first French withdrawal and the storm, but when news of d'Estaing's final departure became known the militia deserted in large numbers. The evening of 28 August, Sullivan started withdrawing from the siege lines he had established around Newport.

East and West Main Road today follow the roughly parallel roads that existed in colonial times and that were the two main axes of military operations as Pigot marched out of Newport to pursue Sullivan. While the main body of the Patriot force headed for Butts Hill, delaying actions were conducted along West Main Road by Colonel John Laurens and by Colonel Henry Beekman Livingston on East Main Road. First contact was made along the line of today's Union Street (see below), with Pigot's leading elements pushing on to Turkey Hill on the west and Quaker Hill on the east. This is roughly the line of today's Cory Lane and Hedley Avenue. Sullivan's troops counterattacked to drive the British back in confusion to this line when Pigot's forward elements tried to push on toward Butts Hill.

The British then closed up to prepare for a final assault, moving first from Quaker Hill, being repulsed by the brigades of Glover and Varnum, then shifting their main effort to the west. But Sullivan was able to move his reserves to meet the latter threat. After making three assaults, the British on this front restricted their efforts to gunfire and waited for reinforcements from Newport. Christopher Greene's newly raised African American regiment (which numbered 197 men at that time) distinguished itself in standing fast against three determined attacks by Hessians. The state awarded freedom to any slave who enlisted in the regiment.

During the night of 30 to 31 August the American army slipped away, not a day too soon because five thousand fresh British troops from New York reached Newport on 1 September and the French fleet was still at Boston. John Glover's Marbleheaders ferried most of Sullivan's troops to Tiverton; the heavy baggage and some troops used Bristol Ferry.

SURVIVING SITES

The Butts Hill Fort, one of eighteen Revolutionary War forts on the island of Rhode Island identified as late as 1896, was where Sprague Street now joins East Main Road (R.I. 138) in Portsmouth. A hill now identified by its crown of power lines and a storage tank was first fortified in 1777 by the British, who abandoned it when d'Estaing's fleet forced the Middle Passage on 8 August 1778. Sullivan's troops hastened to occupy it the next day, fearing that the British might change their minds and come back. The Americans enlarged the fort and made it their base for the subsequent advance south toward Newport. As mentioned above, it was the key to the final American defenses before evacuating the island. This site is part of the Newport County Military Heritage Trail. Open daily dawn to dusk. For more information on this site, contact the Portsmouth Historical Society, phone: (401) 683-9178.

Quaker Hill, to the south astride East Main Road (R.I. 138), is an area that preserves some vestige of rural charm on the verges of commercially exploited areas. Still standing and easy to spot at Hedley Street and Middle Road is the Friends Meeting House, in use since about 1700 by the Quakers and occupied during the Revolution by troops of both sides. This, of course, is the "Quaker Hill" of the eighteenth century, and the place from which the right wing of the British army made its unsuccessful efforts in August 1778 to storm Butts Hill.

About 2.3 miles farther south on East Main Road at Union Street is the former Christian Sabbath Society Meeting House, where the first contact was made between the advancing British troops and the delaying force of Colonel Livingston on 29 August 1778. The house is now the home of the Portsmouth Historical Society. It is still a picturesque spot that provides a view to the east over open fields and over the Sakonnet River to Tiverton and Little Compton. Near the church building, now a museum of the Portsmouth Historical Society, is a small structure dating from about 1716 that is said to be the nation's oldest surviving school building. Long used as a farm building, it stood originally at the eastern end of Union Street before being moved to its present location.

On West Main Road in the Portsmouth area are several surviving landmarks of the Battle of Rhode Island mentioned above. The Memorial to Black Soldiers, in honor of the first African American regiment to fight for the United States, is at a point where high-speed traffic precludes stopping. It is plotted on the official highway map of Rhode Island just west of the fork of R.I. 114 and 24 and marked by a flagpole that can be seen at some distance. The monument is at the place where Christopher Greene's troops made their successful stand against the Hessians. Less than a mile north on R.I. 114, at Willow Lane, is a parking area and scenic overlook on Lehigh Hill. From here you can safely observe several landmarks of the battle just described. To the south are Turkey Hill and the Memorial to Black Soldiers. To the east is Butts Hill. In the opposite direction is the Middle Passage, up which the French fleet advanced to support Sullivan and where the British later sailed to deliver supporting fire for Pigot's attack on 29 August. According to local tradition thirty Hessians were buried in a common grave after being killed in the latter action. The bodies have never been found, but "Hessian Hole" was long a local landmark. According to the WPA Guide it is off Cory Lane. Other authorities say it is off Willow Lane in low ground near an old frame house visible from Lehigh Hill.

Down Willow Lane from Lehigh Hill are many old houses and family burial grounds. The site of Arnold's Point Fort, occupied by the Patriots in August 1778, is at the end of an unimproved road that passes the Kaiser cable-manufacturing plant. The latter is built over the old coal mines that long were an important economic feature of this part of Rhode Island.

Bristol Ferry Fort was in the vicinity of the Mount Hope Marina east of the present Mount Hope Bridge, where vestiges of the Revolutionary earthworks were visible until recent years.

Retracing the route south on R.I. 114 toward Newport, you will find several surviving landmarks of the Revolution. At 1596 West Main Street (R.I. 114), 1.4 miles south of the intersection of Cory Lane and Hedley Street, is a frame house of saltbox design painted turquoise that is said to have been used by Lafayette in August 1778; it will be to your left (east) as you drive south toward Newport. About a mile farther south, as you crest the hill near the junction of Union Street near Mail Coach Road, is the site of Redwood Farm. Rows of trees here to the left preserve the image of the few old prints of the Battle of Rhode Island that feature this long-gone land-mark where the action against the British left flank started on 29 August. Only in the last few decades have the Revolutionary War earthworks disappeared from this vicinity.

Overing House (1730), a plain, two-and-a-half-story frame structure used by General Richard Prescott until his capture by American raiders there in July 1777, is now the center of the Prescott Farm. The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased and restored the 40-acre farm and offers a number of education programs and nature trails. Phone: (401) 849-7300. The Overing House is privately owned.

Green End Fort, built in 1777 by the British as the eastern anchor of their land defenses of Newport and figuring in the siege of 1778, is also covered separately.

Block Island

Block Island. When Verrazano discovered this island in 1524 he reported that it had "about the bigness of the Island of the Rhodes." He named it Luisa, for the mother of his patron, King Francis I. After exploration by the Dutchman Adriaen Block in 1614 it was known as Block Island (although he named it Adriaen's Eylandt). According to Samuel E. Morison the name Rhode Island was given to the colony because of Roger Williams's mistaken notion that Verrazano had been referring to Aquidneck Island rather than Block Island when he compared it to the famous island in the Aegean (European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, p. 303).

Dominating the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound, Block Island was a well-known place in the naval operations of the American Revolution. The defeat near here of five Continental ships under Admiral Esek Hopkins by a single British frigate shortly after midnight on 6 April 1776 is often called the Battle of Block Island.

Strategic location, moderate climate, productive soil (although in sparse quantity), and an abundant supply of fresh water from about 365 ponds made Block Island a popular place with privateers during the Colonial Wars. It was a refuge for deserters and criminals during the Revolution. Only its lack of harbors until modern times (the first completed in 1878) protected the islanders from serious war damage.

Now served by automobile ferries and airplanes, Block Island is a popular summer resort and artist colony. Tourist attractions include the spot where the first white settlers in 1661 are believed to have landed, Indian burial grounds, and scenery that has been compared with that of islands off Ireland and Scotland.

(Block Island Chamber of Commerce. Website: www.Blockisland.com; phone: (800) 383-2474. Block Island Historical Society, Box 79, Block Island, R.I. 02807.)

Bristol

Bristol. Long a key point on the route between Newport and Providence (see bristol ferry sites), this old port town was bombarded by the British in October 1775 and raided in May 1778. Many historic houses remain standing, including the one used by Lafayette during his detached service as commanding general of two veteran Continental army brigades during the summer of 1778 (see battle of rhode island sites). The colonial houses, marked with their date of construction and the names of owners, are the major attraction of the present city. The Herreshoff House (c. 1790), 142 Hope Street, has a fine collection of eighteenth-century furniture that includes cabinetwork of Newport's Goddard and Townsend. The Art Museum on Wardell Street and the Historical Society and Preservation Museum at 48 Court Street have important exhibits. Phone: (401) 253-7223.

But Bristol is perhaps most outstanding for its anthropological associations. The skeleton of an Indian found near Mount Hope inspired Longfellow's poem "The Skeleton in Armor" (under newport, see Old Stone Mill). The Bristol area was headquarters for King Philip (Metacom), who was killed near Mount Hope in 1676 after his Narragansett Indians had lost the Great Swamp Fight (19 December 1675). Brown University's Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, 300 Tower Street, near the intersection of Metacom Avenue (R.I. 136) and Tower Street, is noted for its materials pertaining to the American Indian and other cultures. Phone: (401) 253-8388.

(Bristol Historical and Preservation Society, 48 Court Street, Bristol, R.I. 02809. Phone: (401) 253-7223.)

Bristol Ferry Sites

Bristol Ferry Sites, Portsmouth. Near the present Mount Hope Bridge between Bristol and Portsmouth the remains of the earthworks erected in February 1776 were visible as recently as 1940. They have since disappeared, and their location around the Mount Hope Marina is not marked. The ferry was established in 1680. Its service was disrupted during the Revolution but then resumed until 1865, when the railroad from Fall River to Newport was opened. (See battle of rhode island sites.)

Butts Hill Fort Site

Butts Hill Fort Site. Seebattle of rhode island sites.

East Greenwich

East Greenwich, Kent County. At the eastern end of Forge Road overlooking the Potowomut River is a granite marker on the site of the forge operated by the family of Nathanael Greene. His birthplace, a large frame house built in 1684 and much remodeled, is in the vicinity. In the yard are several large anchors made at the ford. The armory of the Independent Company of Kentish Guards is on Pierce Street. Chartered in 1774 as the Kentish Light Infantry, this militia unit rejected Nathanael Greene as an officer because of his stiff knee, but he suffered the rebuff and joined as a private. The next year Rhode Island commissioned him a brigadier general to lead the three regiments raised by the state; about a month later he was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental army, and he went on to become one of the most successful troop leaders of the Revolution. At 57 Pierce Street is the restored home of General James Mitchell Varnum, who was made colonel of the Kentish Guards when these fastidious fellows rejected his friend Nathanael Greene in 1774. An honor graduate of the first class of what became Brown University and a highly successful lawyer on the eve of the Revolution, Varnum went on to become an outstanding brigade commander. He took part in the Battle of Rhode Island and is credited with advocating the organization of the African American unit that performed so well in that action. After leaving the army in 1779 he served in Congress (1780 to 1782 and 1786 to 1787) and was appointed judge for the Northwest Territory. In bad health when he reached Marietta, Ohio, in June 1788, he died a few months later at the age of forty-two. The Varnum House is a two-story structure built in 1773 as a town house. With particularly handsome paneling, period furnishings, carriage house, and a garden, the house is owned and administered by the Varnum Continentals and serves as a public museum. It is open June through August. Phone: (401) 884-1776.

The Kent County Courthouse at Main and Court Streets was built in 1750 and enlarged about 1805. The Kentish Guards remain an active historical organization, and they are located in the Kentish Guards Armory at 1774 Armory Street.

Fort Barton Site

Fort Barton Site, Tiverton. On the bluff commanding Howland's Ferry at Tiverton a fort was commissioned on 28 June 1777 and named Tiverton Heights Fort. Its first commander was Major William Barton, who had been there only a week when he undertook his famous raid to capture General Richard Prescott. (For the story of this operation and biographical notes on Barton, see prescott farm restoration.)

Renamed Fort Barton, this was General John Sullivan's point of departure for the ill-fated operations that culminated in the Battle of Rhode Island (see battle of rhode island sites). His ten thousand troops used Howland's Ferry in their advance, and most of them came back this same way in their withdrawal. Fort Barton was lightly held thereafter.

A local committee somewhat restored the site, which was formally opened in 1970. Traces of the old works may be seen in a park and scenic overlook. A newly constructed observation tower provides a fine view, and the park offers 3 miles of nature trails. Fort Barton is on Highland Road at Lawton Avenue and is open daily from dawn to dusk. Phone: (401) 625-6700.

Gaspee Point

Gaspee Point, about 7 miles below Providence on the west side of Narragansett Bay. The "Gaspee Affair" of 1772 was one of the first overt acts of American defiance to British authority. Lieutenant Dudingston had showed more personal interest than the local citizens thought was necessary in commanding the armed revenue schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay. There is evidence also that he permitted his crew to steal cattle and cut fruit trees for firewood. On 9 June 1772 he was in hot pursuit of Captain Thomas Lindsay when he ran aground after trying to take a shortcut through the shallow water off a spit of land then called Namquit (now Gaspee) Point. Lindsay proceeded to Providence, arriving at about 5 p.m., and informed his friend John Brown that the Gaspee would be stuck until high tide refloated it again around 3 a.m. Word was spread that volunteers who cared to join in destroying the hated vessel should rally at Sabin Tavern. Principal instigators of the adventure were John Brown and Captain Abraham Whipple, the latter being given command of the sixty-four men who departed in eight longboats from Fenner's Wharf around 10 p.m. (Under providence see "Sabin Tavern Site.")

The watch called out the alarm as the longboats came close to the Gaspee. Dudington and his crew attempted to defend their ship but were overpowered after a hard hand-to-hand fight. The prisoners were taken ashore and put under guard, the Gaspee was set on fire—virtually destroyed when the flames exploded the powder stored aboard—and the raiders then rowed back to Providence and dispersed.

A royal commission was appointed to identify the leaders, but after sitting for almost three weeks it could find nobody who knew anything about the affair. John Brown was arrested on suspicion but released for lack of evidence. It was believed that suspects might be taken to England for trial, and the Gaspee Affair loomed large in Patriot minds as they turned toward open rebellion.

Gaspee Point cannot be visited, the historic portion being in private hands with a security guard preventing access, but you can see it from several points on the north side of Passeonkquis Cove. A highway marker is on Narragansett Parkway where it makes a right-angle turn just south of Pawtucket. The official highway map shows a state picnic grove in this area, and the street map shows Gaspee Point Drive leading to the water's edge. The tip of Gaspee Point is submerged at high tide, which local mariners knew but the British revenuer obviously did not. Serious visitors to the historic spot may therefore want to go armed with the appropriate United States Coast and Geodetic Chart (number 278).

Greene (Nathanael) Homestead

Greene (Nathanael) Homestead, 50 Taft Street, Anthony Village, town of Coventry. Nathanael Greene built this handsome frame house in 1770 while managing his family's ironworks in Coventry. When he returned at the end of the Revolution to untangle his personal financial affairs, he lived here while dividing his time between Rhode Island and Mulberry Grove Plantation in Georgia. The substantial white house of fourteen rooms has been carefully restored and furnished in the period of General Greene's residence by the Nathanael Greene Homestead Association. It is open from 1 April through 31 October on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Phone: (401) 821-8630. (Greene's birthplace is still standing near East Greenwich, not far from the marked site of another forge established by his family.)

Green End (Bliss Hill) Fort

Green End (Bliss Hill) Fort, Middletown. Earthen ramparts of the fort built by the British in 1777 remain standing in a little neighborhood park of about half an acre. The site is of interest not only as one of the few Revolutionary War fortifications to have escaped urban development on Aquidneck Island, but also as a historic landmark that helps the visitor relate the present landscape to old maps of the Newport defenses. Green End Fort was the eastern anchor of the British works protecting Newport from land attack. It was the point against which the Americans under Sullivan directed their siege works from Honyman Hill in the operations covered under battle of rhode island sites. (Honyman Hill was just to the northeast of Bliss Hill, separated by the tip of Green End Pond.)

The site is plotted on the official highway map of Rhode Island, and is difficult to find. Starting from the junction of R.I. 138 and 114 at about the center of the boundary between Newport and Middletown, drive east on Miantonomi Avenue. On the northwest corner of Green End Pond and Miantonomi Avenue is a 7-foot-high granite marker identifying the historic landmark. From the encircling ramparts there is a fairly good view across Green End Point toward Honyman Hill to the northeast.

Newport

Newport. Fine natural harbors, favorable climate, and strategic location made Newport a major commercial center of colonial America within a few decades of its settlement in 1639. By 1650 the advantages of bypassing Boston and trading directly with the West Indies were realized. Newport quickly became one tip of the Triangular Trade, which had various forms but was basically a matter of using New England shipping in trade between America, England or Africa, and the West Indies. Principal cargoes were colonial raw materials such as fish, lumber, and flour; English manufactured goods; slaves from West Africa; and sugar, molasses, and rum from the West Indies. Thus the slave trade was one major source of the wealth evident today in Newport's surviving colonial mansions. Another was privateering: Newport was the smuggling center of the North American colonies from early in the eighteenth century until 1775. Violation of the Navigation Acts became the major maritime enterprise as the colonies moved toward revolution.

Prosperity and the great natural beauty of the site made Newport a cultural center. "In no spot of the … colonies was there concentrated more individual opulence, learning, and liberal leisure," wrote a distinguished native son of the period prior to the American Revolution (Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, quoted in Lossing, I, 639n). The first golden age came from the great fortunes amassed in the Triangular Trade during the period 1739 to 1760. Some of the finest craftsmanship of the eighteenth century, much of it surpassing Old World models, was produced in Newport by men drawn here to execute lucrative commissions for the resident merchant princes.

During the Revolution Newport naturally came in for special attention from British authorities. A small fleet under Captain James Wallace controlled Narragansett Bay from the outbreak of hostilities until driven away in April 1776 by Patriot shore batteries. A large expeditionary force under General Henry Clinton took Newport in early December 1776, and the British garrison occupied the city until late October 1779. Then came the French expeditionary force of some four thousand troops commanded by the Count de Rochambeau and a powerful supporting fleet under Admiral de Ternay, which arrived in July 1780 and remained about a year.

But the British bottled up the French fleet in Newport until the end of August 1781 (when it broke out to take part in the Yorktown Campaign). Newport therefore was neutralized as a port during the Revolution, having no opportunity to continue the activities that had been so profitable in earlier wars, and suffering great material damage from the British occupation. A mass exodus had started in 1775 in anticipation of British occupation (see Stiles House, below).

Having grown from 7,500 in 1760 to 11,000 in 1775, Newport's population dropped to 5,300 in 1776. The city recovered from the effects of the Revolution very slowly, its population in 1870 being no larger than in 1770.

Newport's misfortune in never recovering commercially from British occupation and the subsequent blockade during the Revolution is today's good fortune from the standpoint of historic preservation. An estimated 350 colonial structures have survived, and these are in an area mercifully spared by a subsequent generation of wealthy Americans who built their ostentatious "cottages" during Newport's second age of affluence. Over the last decade efforts have been made by Revolutionary War historians to purge the popular myth that the British burned and ransacked cities during their wartime occupations. Except for peripheral war damage, no sustained efforts by the British to destroy city infrastructure can be proven. The destruction of colonial houses and other sites have been more the result of poor upkeep, post-Revolutionary War development, and city fires. Newport has more colonial buildings standing than all other American cities combined. The city is also unique for never having had a major fire, which is no doubt the main reason for the city's abundance of colonial structures.

Restoration programs have had to cope with nineteenth- and twentieth-century economic development; consequently, Newport is not Colonial Williamsburg. For the visitor with intellectual curiosity about eighteenth-century American life and historic preservation, however, there probably is no more rewarding a place than Newport.

The three major forces of restoration at work are recent creations. Oldest and perhaps most important is the Preservation Society of Newport County, founded in 1945. The major historic landmarks of Newport are exhibited under its auspices; the Society publishes a quarterly, the Newport Gazette, and an annual schedule of hours and fees for the buildings open to the public. The Preservation Society of Newport is located at 424 Bellevue Avenue, and has an informative website, www.newportmansions.org, that gives details on sites that it manages. Phone: (401) 847-1000. Operation Clapboard was conceived in 1963 and was operated until 1970, primarily to assist owners in restoration of colonial homes; it has proved to be more successful than expected. The Newport Restoration Foundation, located at 51 Touro Street, was founded in 1968 by Doris Duke, a lifelong summer resident. It collects funds for buying and restoring old houses, hoping to rent these to suitable tenants or make them into museums. Phone: (401) 849-7300. (Prescott Farm Restoration is one of its projects.)

All of the important architectural attractions of Newport are outlined in a variety of publications obtainable through the Newport Historical Society or at its bookstore located on 82 Touro Street. Website: www.newporthistorical.org; phone: (401) 846-0813. The standard authority is The Architectural Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1915, by Antoinette F. Downing and Vincent J. Scully, Jr. (Cambridge University Press, 1952; [Reprinted] Clarkson N. Potter, 1967). Newport is one of the five cities studied by Carl Bridenbaugh in his classic two-volume work on urban life in America from 1625 to 1776. First published in 1938 and 1955, these books were issued in paperback by the Oxford University Press in 1971. They are Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America, 1625–1742 and Cities in Revolt: Urban Life in America, 1743–1776. Dealing with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Newport, they are as fascinating for the intelligent general reader as they are indispensable to the serious scholar. Both of these books are hard to come by; a reader's best chance is in public libraries. In many ways they were superseded by the research of Gary Nash and his students in the later twentieth century.

Below, in alphabetical order, are Newport sites associated with persons or events of the Revolution. Only a brief indication can be given of what to look for in Newport's embarrassment of historical and cultural riches.

Bannister House, 56 Pelham Street. Also known as the Prescott House because the British commander used it, this large, gambrel-roof house was built around 1751. It was one of several owned by John Bannister, a prosperous merchant. In the nineteenth century it was home to the well-known African American painter Edward Mitchell Bannister. It is currently a Bed and Breakfast; phone: (401) 846-0059.

Bowen's Wharf, off Thames Street. This is one of the few remaining wharf complexes where eighteenth-century structures survive. A group of citizens stopped plans for demolishing these. Bowen's Wharf serves Newport as a thriving plaza of shops and restaurants.

Brenton's Point (Fort Adams). Fortification work was started here in May 1776 by Patriots to defend the entrance to Newport Harbor. When the British invaders approached in December of that year, the works were abandoned as untenable. The British burned their barracks on the point when they withdrew from Newport in October 1779. After the French arrived nine months later, the site was fortified to some extent, but not until 1793 was construction started on Fort Adams (dedicated in 1799 and named for President John Adams). The fort fell into disrepair in the years following, but reconstruction of a sturdier granite fort began in 1824, lasting until 1857. Today Fort Adams is owned by the state, and it leases it to the Fort Adams Trust, which serves as steward for the 20-acre site (the fort's parade is 6 acres). Fort Adams is open to the public daily from mid-May through October from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 841-0707.

Brick Market, Thames Street at the foot of Washington Square. One of the few surviving business structures of colonial America, the last work of Newport architect Peter Harrison (probably the country's first professional architect), this National Historic Landmark has a number of other distinctions. It is one of the country's first buildings to have open arcades (later enclosed). The ground floor was intended for use as a market, and the two upper floors (one of them since removed) were used for dry goods stores and offices. All rentals and profits from the building, a civic project of the Proprietors of Long Wharf, went to the town treasury for a public granary. After the Revolution a printing office was housed in the upper floors, which were used from 1793 to 1799 as a theater. In 1842 the building served as the town hall, and from 1853 to 1900 it was Newport's city hall. The Brick Market was built in 1762 to 1763, its details completed in 1772, the third floor removed in an alteration of 1842, and complete restoration (to its present two-story, enclosed-arcade condition) done during the period 1928 to 1930. Owned by the city, it serves as the Museum of Newport History, which is operated by the Newport Historical Society; the museum is open erratically; phone: (401) 846-0813. Brick Market Place is the name of the surrounding area, which includes a plethora of modern shops.

Colonial Burial Ground, Farewell Street. With tombstones from as early as 1660, this cemetery contains the graves of many Revolutionary veterans. There is also a segregated African American section traditionally called "God's Acre." The Burial Ground is a National Historic Site and is open from dawn to dusk.

Fort George Site, Goat Island. A British fort here was one of those that d'Estaing's fleet had to run by in entering Narragansett Bay in August 1779 (see battle of rhode island sites). Fort Liberty was a Revolutionary War work on Goat Island, presumably the American name for what the British called Fort George. The work disappeared when a naval storage facility was built on the island. Efforts were made to locate the lost site, but as of 2005 there are no visible remnants of Fort George. Goat Island succumbed to unbridled development pressure in the early 1970s, leaving it replete with the effects of modern commercialism.

Fort Greene Site, now Battery Park, between Washington Street and the harbor. A temporary gun emplacement was built here overnight as part of the successful efforts to drive the flotilla of Captain James Wallace from Newport Harbor in April 1776. Fort Greene does not figure as one of the important fortifications of the city, but Battery Park provides an exceptionally fine view of the harbor.

Friends Meetinghouse, 30 Marlborough Street. Dating from 1699, it is the oldest surviving house of worship in Newport and probably the oldest Quaker meetinghouse in America. This structure was once distorted by nineteenth-century additions but is still of great interest. On this site in 1717 John Farmer read one of the earliest antislavery statements in America, for which he was expelled from the meeting. In 1773 the Quakers meeting here voted to oppose slavery and disown those who continued to own slaves. Bequeathed to the Newport Historical Society in the early 1970s, this active organization undertook painstaking efforts to restore the Meetinghouse to its original (1807) appearance. This authentic replica of a Quaker meetinghouse is open to the public on a limited schedule during the summer and by appointment; phone: (401) 846-0813.

Hunter House, 54 Washington Street. A stately mansion of two-and-a-half stories, beautifully restored and furnished with a priceless collection of Goddard and Townsend furniture, the Hunter House is considered one of the finest colonial homes surviving in America. It was built between 1748 and 1754 by Jonathan Nichols, Jr., deputy governor of Rhode Island. Admiral Charles de Ternay, commander of the fleet that escorted the French expeditionary force of Rochambeau to America, died in the house on 15 December 1780 and is buried in the cemetery adjacent to Trinity Church (see below). William Hunter, whose name the house bears, was ambassador to Brazil but more famous locally for marrying the Quaker girl down the street in the Robinson House (see below). A National Historic Landmark, the Hunter House is owned by the Preservation Society of Newport and may be visited by contacting them. Website: www.newportmansions.org; phone: (401) 847-1000.

King Park, North Wellington Avenue, overlooking the harbor. A monument at the west end of this park marks the place where French troops under Rochambeau landed on 12 July 1780 to start their eleven-month stay in the city. The park has a handsome statue of Rochambeau.

Long Wharf Site. A street of this name, extending from America's Cup Avenue southwest to the end of Washington Street, is the only vestige of the busy wharf around which Newport's most lucrative trade centered from about 1685. The cove, long since filled in, extended north from the wharf to what is now Bridge Street, and the Long Wharf had a drawbridge giving access from the harbor to the back doors of the craftsmen's shops and homes on Bridge Street (first called Shipwright Street). The Proprietors of Long Wharf, incorporated in 1702, sponsored many important community services, including construction of the Brick Market (above).

Naval War College Museum, 686 Cushing Road. Devoted primarily to the history of naval warfare and the naval heritage of Narragansett Bay, with exhibits on the American Revolution. The Museum is on the grounds of the Naval War College and open to the public year-round on Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on weekends from June through September, noon to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 841-4052. Public access is through Gate 1 of the Newport Naval Station.

Newport Artillery Armory and Military Museum, 23 Clarke Street. The handsome stone building dates from 1835, the work of the mason who built much of Fort Adams (above), but the Newport Artillery of the Rhode Island Militia, founded 1741, survives with headquarters here. It is generally accepted as the oldest active military organization in the United States after Boston's Artillery Company. The museum contains uniforms, accoutrements, and military artifacts, and is open Saturday from May through October, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Phone: (401) 846-8488.

Newport Historical Society and Sabbatarian Meeting House, 82 Touro Street. One of the three connecting buildings here is the meetinghouse erected in 1729 by a congregation of Seventh-Day Baptists. Particularly fine carving is to be seen on the rail of the pulpit steps. The other two buildings house important collections of pictures, furniture, costumes, marine items, Indian relics, and other objects associated with the history of the city. The Society has added an important local history and genealogy library, and is open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to noon. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Old State House (Old Colony House), Washington Square. A National Historical Landmark since 1962, this brick assembly house was built in 1739 to 1742. Designed by Richard Munday, it was Newport's first brick building. A gambrel roof topped by a balustraded deck and cupola, a carved wooden balcony above the wide central entrance, and the sandstone trim of the red brick facade give architectural distinction to the historic building. From the balcony came official proclamations of the death of George II, the accession of George III, and the passage of the Declaration of Independence. In 1774 the first law prohibiting the importation of slaves was passed here. In 1776 the first medical lectures in America were given in the council room by Dr. William Hunter. British and French forces used the building as a hospital and barracks, causing considerable damage. In the single huge room of the ground floor are twenty-six flags of the colonial period. On the second floor is a portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart. The Historical Society manages the site and the state owns it. Tours are conducted from mid-June until the end of August, Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and by appointment. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Old Stone Mill, Touro Park. This picturesque stone tower in the center of Newport was built for a windmill in about 1675 by Governor Benedict Arnold, great-grandfather of the Continental general and traitor. Mythmakers, however, pretend that it was put up by vikings or, later, by Portuguese explorers. Open year-round, dawn to dusk.

Pitts Head Tavern, 77 Bridge Street. A handsome structure that evolved from a much smaller one built in 1726 on Washington Square, where as the very successful Pitts Head Tavern it played host to Patriot, British, and French officers during the Revolution. It has been moved twice. Now a two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof, center-chimney frame house, Pitts Head Tavern is one of the finest restorations of an early Newport house. It is privately owned.

Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 50 Bellevue Avenue. Designed by Peter Harrison, this Georgian adaptation of a Roman temple dates from 1748. Of wood rusticated to resemble stone, it has been called the first example of Palladian architecture in the English colonies. Harrison built the library to house the books of a philosophical society, and Ezra Stiles (see Stiles House, below) was its librarian for twenty years. Today it has a valuable collection of books and early-American paintings, including six by Gilbert Stuart. A statue of George Washington is displayed in front of the building. A National Historic Landmark, it is one of the oldest libraries still used in America. This site closed for renovations in 2005 and is slated to reopen upon completion of the project.

Robinson House, 64 Washington Street. The Quaker Tom Robinson bought this house in 1760 and expanded it to a simple but handsome two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof frame residence. During the billeting of the French the viscount de Noailles lived here and became a devoted friend of the Robinsons. (The viscount was Lafayette's brother-in-law, an outstanding combat leader in the siege of Yorktown, and was selected by Rochambeau to be the French peace commissioner to work with John Laurens in negotiating the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.) The Robinsons were considerably less well disposed toward their neighbor at 54 Washington Street when he married a daughter of the family outside her Quaker faith (see Hunter House, above). The Robinson house has remained in the Robinson family and currently (2005) is privately owned. Furnishings include items bought from John Goddard, another neighbor now better known as one of the finest cabinetmakers in colonial America. (John Goddard's house stands at 81 Second Street.) Another treasure is a Sèvres tea service sent by de Noailles to his hostess from France.

Second Congregational Meeting House, 15 Clarke Street. Designed by Cotton Palmer and built in 1733, this structure has suffered from Greek Revival and Victorian modifications. It has long since ceased to be used as a church, and efforts are being made by a local group to buy it for restoration. Ezra Stiles came to Newport in 1755 to be minister of the church, living in the parsonage across the street now known as the Stiles House (see below). During the British occupation the church was used for barracks, and the pews, pulpit, and fixtures were destroyed during this period. The building was sold to the Baptists in 1847. It was recently converted to condominiums.

Stiles House, also known as the Henderson House, 14 Clarke Street. Ezra Stiles (1727–1795), famous colonial scholar and author of a valuable diary, lived here for more than twenty years (1755–1776) as minister of the Second Congregational Church across the street. The two-story, gambrel-roof house was built about 1756 as the parsonage and is now on the National Register and run by the city as a sanatorium. Fear of British occupation caused a mass exodus from Newport long before any soldiers actually landed. In October 1775 Stiles noted in his diary that "three quarters of my beloved Chh (sic) & Congregation are broken up and dispersed." Five months later he left with his family and household goods. In 1778 he became president of Yale College, but his Newport parishioners held him in such high esteem that he remained technically their pastor until May 1786.

Touro Synagogue, 72 Touro Street. America's oldest synagogue, this was designed by Peter Harrison in 1759 and completed in 1763. The austere exterior cloaks one of the finest and most ornate interiors in the country. The synagogue is a National Historic Landmark open to the public and still conducts services, although it is closed for renovations through 2005.

Trinity Church, Queen Anne Square. Richard Munday built this outstanding colonial church in 1725 on the simple lines of Christopher Wren's examples in England, although it has since been somewhat altered. The church sits on two city blocks wherein all the buildings were cleared in the 1970s to create Queen Anne Square. The site earned a bicentennial dedication by Queen Elizabeth. The adjacent cemetery has the graves of Admiral de Ternay (who died in the Hunter House, noted above) and the chevalier de Fayelle (one of Lafayette's aides-de-camp). It is a National Historic Landmark and offers a number of musical performances in addition to religious services, its organ being widely admired; phone: (401) 846-0660.

Vernon House, 46 Clarke Street. The original part of this handsome Georgian frame house dates from the early 1700s. It was probably enlarged in 1759 by Metcalf Bowler when this wealthy merchant owned the house. (Modern research has revealed that this great "Patriot," chief justice of Rhode Island in 1776, was one of General Henry Clinton's informers. See Carl Van Doren, Secret History of the American Revolution, pp. 127-29, 235, 429.) In 1773 the house was bought by William Vernon, who served in Boston as president of the Eastern Navy Board from April 1777 until the end of the Revolution. The British used the Vernon House during their occupation, after which it became the quarters of the count de Rochambeau. Washington stayed here during the second week of March 1781. The two-story house has a hip roof and captain's walk, fine interior trim and stairs, curious murals of Chinese style under some paneling, and a rusticated exterior attributed to Peter Harrison. A National Historic Landmark, it is privately owned.

Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, 17 Broadway. Newport's oldest house (built 1675) and one of New England's finest specimens of Jacobean architecture, this National Historic Landmark has been carefully restored and furnished by the Newport Historical Society. Rhode Island's last royal governor, Joseph Wanton, owned the house until his death in 1781, after which it was confiscated. Later it was returned to descendants who had been on the winning side. Of architectural interest are the steep roof and its plastered cornice; behind the house is a small colonial garden. A back room on the second floor served as slave quarters. Tours are available from mid-June through the end of August, Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Phone: (401) 846-0813.

Warren House, 62 Washington Street. Once known as the Henry Collins House, this two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof house was built about 1736 and later enlarged. It was owned by a wealthy Loyalist, George Rome, confiscated during the Revolution, and used briefly by Gilbert Stuart's wife and daughter. The French naval artillery headquarters was in the building while Admiral de Ternay's fleet was blockaded by the British in Newport. The admiral's headquarters were a few doors away at the Hunter House (see above). Warren House is privately owned.

White Horse Tavern, Farewell and Marlborough Streets. America's oldest tavern, built 1673, was has been restored by the Preservation Society. It is privately owned.

Tourist information is available from the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, 45 Valley Road, Middletown, R.I. 02842. Phone: (401) 847-1600. The most important sites open to the public are shown under the auspices of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Washington Square, Newport, R.I. 02840. Another source of current information on schedules and fees is the annual Rhode Island Tourist Guide, listed previously at the beginning of the chapter.

Newport County

Newport County comprises the three towns on the island of Rhode Island (Newport, Middletown, and Portsmouth), Jamestown (Conanicut Island), Little Compton, and Tiverton. More than twenty forts existed in this region during the course of the American Revolution, their locations known as recently as 1896 when Edward Field published Revolutionary Defences in Rhode Island. Only three are plotted on the official highway map as points of interest as of this writing: Butts Hill Fort (see under battle of rhode island sites), Green End Fort, and Fort Barton Site in Tiverton. In the undeveloped southern tip of Conanicut Island (Jamestown) extensive remains of Beaver Head Fort have been found in a lonely spot where trees are growing from earthworks in the middle of a field. Beaver Tail Fort has disappeared, but Beaver Tail Lighthouse stands on the site. The area is remote and picturesque. Vestiges of other Revolutionary War works undoubtedly survive unmarked throughout Newport County. The Newport County Chamber of Commerce is a primary information source.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth, Newport County. At one time the village of Portsmouth (established 1638) was the most important one in Rhode Island, but it was soon eclipsed by Newport and Providence. It has many historic landmarks (see battle of rhode island sites).

Prescott Farm Restoration

Prescott Farm Restoration, 2009 West Main Road (R.I. 114) near Union Street, Middletown. Easy to spot on the east side of the highway is the large, two-and-a-half-story, gambrel-roof, red frame house that has been known since the Revolution as the Overing House (c. 1730). The house was the country estate of Henry Overing. Its present name comes from a once famous episode of the Revolution, the capture here in 1777 of the thoroughly detested commander of the British occupying forces in Newport.

Richard Prescott (1725–1788) was an experienced professional soldier before coming to Canada in 1773 as brevet colonel of the Seventh Foot. He first became unpopular with American Patriots because of his harsh treatment of Ethan Allen after the latter's capture near Montreal on 25 September 1775. Prescott was himself captured less than two months later when he tried to escape from Montreal (see montreal under Canada). By this time he had the local rank of brigadier general, and in September 1776 he was exchanged for Major General John Sullivan, who had been captured in the Battle of Long Island, New York, about a month earlier. In December 1776 Prescott reached Newport with the large force under Sir Henry Clinton that occupied the island. He stayed to command the reduced garrison holding Newport and in this capacity alienated the Americans by his high-handed and contemptuous conduct. The night of 9 to 10 July 1777 he was kidnapped from his country headquarters, the Overing House, by forty raiders under the leadership of Major William Barton.

Commanding the fort at Tiverton that now bears his name (see fort barton), he learned that General Prescott was quartered in the Overing House and that his small guard there might easily be surprised. General Charles Lee, considered by many at this time to be second only to Washington as a Patriot military leader, had been captured at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, by a British patrol under similar circumstances. Barton thought it would be a great triumph to take Prescott and give Congress a general to exchange for Lee. Leaving Tiverton in boats on 4 July, Barton spent several days moving slowly through Mount Hope Bay recruiting volunteers. He visited Bristol and Warren (his home) before reaching his final assembly area across the bay at Warwick Neck. On 9 July the raiders crossed the bay, landed near their objective, and surprised the general in his bedroom. Prescott was taken back to Warwick and held in the Daniel Arnold Tavern, where the final plans for the operation had been made. (Portions of the old tavern are believed to be incorporated in the house standing on the site.)

Barton became a national hero, and his exploit lifted Patriot morale at a time when this was especially needed. Prescott was exchanged in due course and continued to serve in Newport, commanding a brigade in the Battle of Rhode Island and eventually succeeding General Pigot. In October 1779 he evacuated his garrison of about four thousand troops to New York, ending the occupation of Newport. Barton was promoted to lieutenant colonel four months after his famous exploit, having meanwhile been voted thanks by the state and national governments and been given a sword by Congress. When Lafayette visited the United States in 1824 to 1825 he found that Barton had been held a prisoner for fourteen years for refusal to pay a judgment on land he had acquired in Vermont. Lafayette paid the claim; Barton returned to Rhode Island from Danville, Vermont, and died about six years later in Providence. Prescott was a lieutenant general for six years before his death in 1788.

Developed by the Newport Restoration Foundation, this site was opened in 1972. Six of the eleven buildings on the site were brought in from other locations to protect them from urban development. One of the houses here has been moved from the Bristol Ferry Road. The windmill is from Lehigh Hill. Henry Overing's house is on its original site. (See battle of rhode island sites.) The farm site is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: 401-847-6230.

Another "Prescott House" is at 56 Pelham Street in Newport, where it is now known as the John Bannister House. This was the house Prescott used in town during the British occupation.

Providence

Providence, Providence River, Providence County. When Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for religious nonconformity in 1636, he founded a settlement in the wilderness and named it in commemoration of God's providence. The place is now the second-largest city in New England, but the name is still Providence. Although it was the first settlement in what is now Rhode Island, Providence was overshadowed by Newport until about 1770. But the vigor of Providence's leaders and the advantages of being better situated for land communications with the interior (while having the advantage of being a port only 27 miles from the sea) gave this city the lead over Newport even before the latter was rendered hors de combat by the Revolution. Newport never recovered; Providence never stopped growing.

Whereas this may be applauded on the grounds of progress, much of historic Providence has been leveled in the last two centuries. Nothing remains of the nine forts in the area of Providence identified in 1896 by Edward Field in his Revolutionary Defences in Rhode Island.

The historic portion of the city lies on the east bank of the river (Exchange Street Exit of I-95). Within a half-mile radius of the First Baptist Meeting House (see below) are more than two hundred well-preserved old houses and public buildings of architectural or historical importance, or both. The Providence Preservation Society, located at 21 Meeting Street, publishes an architectural guide, PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture. Phone: (401) 831-7440.

Rhode Island's colonial heritage of fine craftsmanship and excellence in the arts has been continued into modern times. The famous Rhode Island School of Design, opened in 1878 and now covering more than a city block, is largely responsible for the high standards. Many of the attractions in Providence—houses, museums, and libraries—pertain to the period following the Revolution. Some of these are covered by the Providence Chamber of Commerce's website at www.provodenceri.com. Phone: (401) 421-7740. The following paragraphs are restricted to sites associated with people and events through the eighteenth century.

Brick School House, 24 Meeting Street. The Providence Preservation Society now occupies this structure built in 1769 as a school (on one floor) and a place for town meetings (on the other floor). In 1770 it was the temporary facility of what became Brown University (see below). Munitions were stored in the school during the Revolution, after which it became, in turn, one of the country's first four free public schools (1800), a school for African Americans (before the Civil War), and the first of the country's "fresh air" schools (1908).

Brown (John) House, 52 Power Street. Now the home of the Rhode Island Historical Society and a house museum of ten rooms furnished with a priceless collection of Rhode Island cabinetmakers' work, plus exhibition rooms depicting the history of the state, the John Brown House is one of the country's finest examples of Georgian architecture. It was designed by Joseph Brown in 1786 for his brother John. The latter (1736–1803) is remembered for his leading role in the Gaspee Affair (see gaspee point) and for the prominent part he and his famous brothers had in public affairs. John and his brothers had much to do with relocating Rhode Island College (later Brown University) from Warren to Providence. He laid the cornerstone of University Hall and performed valuable service for twenty years as treasurer of the institution. The John Brown House is a National Historic Landmark. The Rhode Island Historical Society can be found on the internet at www.rihs.org; phone: (401) 273-7507.

Brown University and University Hall. At the end of College Street, the campus covers a large area of downtown Providence in the historic section east of the river. Rhode Island College was chartered at Warren in 1764. In the intense rivalry between Providence and Newport that came to a climax just before the Revolution, the victory of Providence in winning selection as the new site for the college was decisive. (This is the opinion of Carl Bridenbaugh, who touches on the Newport-Providence rivalry in his Cities in Revolt, pp. 11, 53, 222, 264, and 378. See newport.) Renamed Brown University in 1804, this is the seventh-oldest college in America and still one of its finest. Buildings include the Annmary Brown Memorial with its valuable collections of books (some incunabula dating from 1460) and paintings, the John Carter Brown Library, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Library, and the John Hay Library. Directly associated with the period of the Revolution is University Hall, a National Historic Landmark. Built in 1770 as the original "college edifice" to accommodate twenty-five students, it was designed by Joseph Brown and probably patterned on Princeton's Nassau Hall. The college had been located temporarily in the Brick School House (see above). Between 1776 and 1782 the building was used by American and French troops as a barracks and hospital, suffering severe damage. Since its reconstruction in 1940 University Hall has housed administrative facilities.

First Baptist Meeting House, 75 North Main Street. The tall, slender spire of this church, one of the most remarkable public buildings in New England (and a National Historic Landmark), is in the center of an exceptionally rich collection of American architecture that spans close to three centuries. Roger Williams founded the congregation in 1638, making it the first Baptist organization in America. The existing church was designed by Joseph Brown, prosperous merchant and amateur architect, who used as his primary source material the Book of Architecture by James Gibbs. Started in 1774, construction was completed and the church dedicated in May 1775. Since that time it has been used for commencement ceremonies for Brown University, and it is still a place of religious worship, with guided tours following Sunday services. The Meeting House was rededicated in 1958 after being completely rehabilitated and restored. Phone: (401) 454-3418.

French Barracks, Billets, Campsites, and Graves. Americans seem to have an inordinate interest in houses occupied by Frenchmen. Four such places will be found today on Main Street. The Morris Homestead (1750), North Main Street at Rochambeau Avenue, once stood in the lower corner of a great field "of cold, wet land, rough and rocky," as Lossing described it as late as 1848. In this field the troops of Rochambeau camped for about two weeks in November 1782 before continuing to Boston (thence to the West Indies). A memorial is at Summit Avenue and Brewster Street. The Morris house is opposite the North Burial Ground, where many French soldiers were buried. Some of these graves undoubtedly date from the French encampments of 1781 (see below) and 1782. The Joseph Russell House, 118 North Main Street, was built by this China merchant in 1773 and occupied at one time by the chevalier de Chastellux. Best known today for his valuable Travels in North America, the latter was a major general in Rochambeau's army and a principal figure in Franco-American military cooperation during the years 1780 to 1782. Interiors of the Russell House have been moved to museums in Brooklyn, Denver, and Minneapolis, but its handsome external features remain. The Joseph Brown House (1774), 50 South Main Street, was designed by the distinguished amateur architect responsible for Providence's finest colonial structures (above). Joseph Brown's spacious, three-story brick house had been made available to Rochambeau's officers as quarters. Having survived the Revolution, it was for 128 years occupied by the venerable Providence Bank. At 312 South Main Street is a house that was the billet of Count Axel de Fersen (1755–1810). This young Swedish nobleman, persistently identified despite lack of solid evidence as "a lover of Marie Antoinette," had left the French court to be Rochambeau's aide-de-camp in America. In 1791 and 1792 he had a leading role in the unsuccessful attempts to organize the escape of the French royal family from Versailles. French troops were quartered in the Old Market House and, as previously mentioned, in University Hall of Brown University. One of their camps in the march from Newport to Yorktown is in a run-down area on Pine Street just west of the junction of I-95 and I-195. From here the troops marched to the campsite near Potterville.

Hopkins (Esek) House, 97 Admiral Street. This frame house of about 1750 was the home of the first commander in chief of the Continental navy, Esek Hopkins (1718–1802). Younger brother of Stephen Hopkins (see below), Esek had no qualifications for his task other than political influence. He was suspended from command in March 1777 and formally dismissed in January 1778. The partially furnished house is the property of the city and is currently (2005) undergoing renovation.

Hopkins (Stephen) House, Benefit Street at 15 Hopkins Street (its third location). A charming little red house enclosed by a wooden fence and bearing a large bronze plaque, this was the home of the biggest man in Rhode Island during the Revolution. Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) started as a farmer and surveyor but went on to become chief justice of the colony, governor for ten terms, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. The oldest part of the simple two-and-a-half-story structure dates from 1707, with additions made in the period 1742 to 1755 and the most recent restoration in 1927. Furnishings include a bed used by George Washington, who was a guest of Hopkins in 1776 and 1781. The property belongs to the state and is open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturday. Phone: (401) 421-0694.

Old Market House, Market Square. A marketplace here in colonial days was also the center of political activity. The surviving market house, now part of the Rhode Island School of Design, was completed in 1774. The third floor was added in 1797 by the local Masonic lodge. In 1939 the building was restored to its appearance of the last century.

Old State House, North Main Street between North Court and South Court Streets. Completed in 1762 to replace one that had burned, this was where the General Assembly met until 1900. (From 1776 to 1900 the assembly held its sessions in various county seats, usually meeting in Providence in January.) This remarkable structure has been the home of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission since 1975.

Pendleton House and Collection, 224 Benefit Street. Works of cabinetmakers John Goddard and Job Townsend and a fine collection of silver are exhibited in one room devoted to Rhode Island. The house is a replica (1906) of an early dwelling and was built to display the Pendleton Collection of colonial American decorative arts. It is part of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; phone: (401) 454-6500.

Prospect Terrace, Congdon at Cushing Street. Visiting Providence in the 1840s, Benson J. Lossing commented on "the fine view of the city and surrounding country" as he "passed … along the brow of Prospect Hill" toward the site of the French encampment of 1782 "on the western slope of the northern termination of Prospect Hill" (Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, I, p. 624). Prospect Terrace is a vestige of this hill in downtown Providence. The view has changed but is still remarkable. What Lossing called the north end of Prospect Hill is a built-up area east of Old North Burial Ground. (See French Barracks, Billets, Campsites, and Graves, above.) At Prospect Terrace is Leo Friedlander's gallant statue (1939) of Roger Williams.

Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, 460 Aborn Street, traces the history of African Americans in Rhode Island from the seventeenth century on, including information of the First Rhode Island Regiment. Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Phone: (401) 751-3490.

Sabin Tavern Site and "Gaspee Room." A building on the northeast corner of South Main and Planet Streets has a recently restored plaque indicating the site of Sabin Tavern (1763). Here volunteers assembled for the famous raid on Gaspee Point in 1772, making their final plans in the tavern operated by Joseph Sabin and leaving in boats from nearby Fenner's Wharf. The staircase and much of the tavern's interior woodwork are in the so-called Gaspee Room. This room was reconstructed when Sabin Tavern was demolished during the last century, but is not the one in which the plotters met in 1772. In 1980 the local DAR gave the building to the Rhode Island Historical Society, which sold the building to a private entity in 1983. It is now an apartment house. Winterthur Museum, near Wilmington, Delaware has much of the paneling from the "Gaspee Room" of Sabin Tavern.

State House, 82 Smith Street. A gigantic building of white marble overlooking the city from a hill north of Civic Square, this structure of 1902 contains valuable relics of the Revolution. These objects are moved around from time to time, and it may be necessary to make inquiries at the information desk as to their location if you visit the building. In the Senate lobby is the original charter granted to the colony in 1663 and effective until the present constitution was adopted in 1843. (A copy is in the John Brown House.) In the rotunda are the only two surviving regimental flags of Rhode Island's Continental army units. The governor's reception room on the second floor has a full-length portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart (one of the best of many), and Nathanael Greene's field desk, sword, and other items associated with this major figure of the Revolution. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except holidays; phone: (401) 222-2357; website: www.state.ri.us/.

Smith's Castle

Smith's Castle,: U.S. 1 near Wickford. On the site of a trading post burned during King Philip's War, this house was built in 1678 using timbers of an earlier structure. The two-and-a-half-story, barn-like building is believed to be the only one surviving where Roger Williams preached to the Indians. Completely restored, it has furnishings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and a garden of the latter period. Smith's Castle also features a museum shop and guided tours. Website: www.smithcastle.org; phone: (401) 294-3521. The site is 1.5 miles north of Wickford on U.S. 1 at Cocumscussoc.

Stuart (Gilbert) Birthplace

Stuart (Gilbert) Birthplace, near Saunderstown. Between scenic stretches of U.S. 1 and 1A is the restored and furnished house in which the painter Gilbert Stuart was born in 1755, about four years after the little frame house was built by his father. The site, a National Historic Landmark, includes the restored and working snuff mill operated by the painter's father. It is open to the public from April to October, Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone: (401) 294-3001.

Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) studied in Newport and worked in London (as a pupil of Benjamin West), Dublin, and Paris, achieving great success as a portrait painter during the years 1775 to 1793. Returning to his native country to escape his debts, he is best known today for his two portraits of Washington and the many replicas of these he subsequently executed. He did portraits of Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and many other prominent people, including Generals Henry Knox and Horatio Gates. Stuart's grasp of character and his technique make him one of the great portrait painters of his time.

Waterman Tavern and Adjacent Campsite

Waterman Tavern and Adjacent Campsite, near Potterville. A day's march west of Providence, this was a much-used campground during the Revolution. In an area rapidly being built over are depressions in the ground where wells and fireplaces once served the village of sod huts. Across the road on the north side is Waterman Tavern. Rochambeau and his officers stayed here on at least one occasion when their troops were marching through. The site is about 0.7 mile east of Potterville on Town Farm Road.

Whitehall

Whitehall,: Middletown. Rescued by the Colonial Dames and beautifully restored along with its garden, this ancient frame house of 1729 had fallen into such disrepair that it had become a barn. The two-story house with hipped roof and central chimney was the home of George Berkeley during the three years he spent in Newport (1729–1731). The philosopher and Anglican dean stimulated the cultural development of Newport before moving on to Bermuda. Whitehall is 2 miles southeast of Middletown on 311 Berkeley Avenue at the head of Paradise Avenue. Furnished in the period of Dean Berkeley's occupancy, it is operated by the Colonial Dames and included among the houses of Newport shown by appointment during the months of June, July, and August under the auspices of the Preservation Society. Phone: (401) 846-3116.

Rhode Island

1 Location and Size

2 Topography

3 Climate

4 Plants and Animals

5 Environmental Protection

6 Population

7 Ethnic Groups

8 Languages

9 Religions

10 Transportation

11 History

12 State Government

13 Political Parties

14 Local Government

15 Judicial System

16 Migration

17 Economy

18 Income

19 Industry

20 Labor

21 Agriculture

22 Domesticated Animals

23 Fishing

24 Forestry

25 Mining

26 Energy and Power

27 Commerce

28 Public Finance

29 Taxation

30 Health

31 Housing

32 Education

33 Arts

34 Libraries and Museums

35 Communications

36 Press

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

38 Sports

39 Famous Rhode Islanders

40 Bibliography

State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

ORIGIN OF STATE NAME: Named for Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay, which was likened to the isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea.

NICKNAME : The Ocean State; Little Rhody.

CAPITAL: Providence.

ENTERED UNION: 29 May 1790 (13th).

OFFICIAL SEAL: A golden anchor is surrounded by four scrolls, the topmost bearing the state motto; the words “Seal of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 1636” encircle the whole.

FLAG: In the center of a white field is a golden anchor with a blue ribbon containing the state motto in gold letters beneath it, all surrounded by a circle of 13 gold stars.

MOTTO: Hope.

SONG: “Rhode Island.”

FLOWER: Violet.

TREE: Red maple.

ANIMAL: Quahaug.

BIRD: Rhode Island Red.

MINERAL: Bowenite.

ROCK OR STONE: Cumberlandite.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year’s Day, 1 January; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Victory Day, 2nd Monday in August; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day, 2nd Monday in October; Veterans’ Day and Armistice Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 7 AM EST = noon GMT.

1 Location and Size

One of the six New England states in the northeastern United States, Rhode Island is the smallest of all the 50 states. The total area of Rhode Island is 1,212 square miles (3,139 square kilometers), of which land comprises 1,055 square miles (2,732 square kilometers) and inland water 157 square miles (407 square kilometers). The state extends 37 miles (60 kilometers) from east to west and 48 miles (77 kilometers) from north to south. The total boundary length of Rhode Island is 160 miles (257 kilometers). The state has 38 islands, including Block Island, southwest of Point Judith.

2 Topography

Rhode Island can be divided into two main regions. The New England Upland Region, which is rough and hilly and marked by forests and lakes, occupies the western two-thirds of the state. The Seaboard Lowland, with its sandy beaches and salt marshes, occupies the eastern third. The highest point in the state is Jerimoth Hill, at 812 feet (248 meters). Rhode Island’s rivers include the Blackstone, Providence, Sakonnet, and Pawcatuck. Of the state’s 38 islands, the largest is Aquidneck.

3 Climate

Rhode Island has a humid climate with cold winters and short summers. The average annual temperature is 50°f (10°c). At Providence the temperature ranges from an average of 28°f (-1°c) in January to 73°f (22°c) in July. The record high temperature, 104°f (40°c), was registered at Providence on 2 August 1975. The record low, -23°f (-31°c), was recorded at Kingston on 11 January 1942.

In Providence, the average annual precipitation is 45.1 inches (114 centimeters). Snowfall averages 35.6 inches (90 centimeters) a year. Blizzards and hurricanes are occasional threats.

4 Plants and Animals

Though small, Rhode Island has three distinct life zones: sand-plain 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 2006, the small whorled pogonia was threatened, the sandplain gerardia endangered.

Swordfish, bluefish, lobsters, and clams populate coastal waters. Brook trout and pickerel are among the common freshwater fish. In

Rhode Island Population Profile

Population by Age Group

2006, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed 14 Rhode Island animal species as threatened

or endangered, including the American burying beetle, bald eagle, finback and humpback whale, and four species of sea turtle.

5 Environmental Protection

The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) coordinates all of the state’s environmental protection and management programs, including water supply management.

In 2003, Rhode Island had 187 hazardous waste sites listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s database, 12 of which were on the National Priorities List in 2006. In 1996, 10% of the state’s area was wetlands.

6 Population

In 2006, Rhode Island ranked 43rd in population among the 50 states with an estimated total of 1,067,610 residents. The population is projected to reach 1.15 million by 2025. The population density in 2004 was 1,041.3 persons per square mile (402 persons per square kilometer), making Rhode Island the nation’s second most densely populated state (behind New Jersey). The median age in 2004 was 38.1 years. In 2005, about 14% of all residents were 65 or older while 24% were 18 or younger.

Providence, the capital, had an estimated population of 176,862 in 2005. Other large cities are Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket.

7 Ethnic Groups

According to the 2000 census, Rhode Island’s black American population numbered 46,908 residents. There were 90,820 Hispanics and Latinos (8.7% of the total population) and 5,121 Native Americans. The Asian population was 23,665, including 4,974 Chinese, 4,522 Cambodians, 2,942 Asian Indians, and 2,062 Filipinos. Pacific Islanders numbered 567. Foreign-born residents made up 11.4% of the population, or 119,277 persons.

8 Languages

English in Rhode Island is of the Northern dialect, with the distinctive features of eastern New England, such as the absence of the final r sound. In 2000, 80% of all residents age five and older spoke only English in the home. Other principal languages and the number of speakers were Spanish, 79,443; Portuguese, 37,437; French, 19,385; and Italian, 13,759.

9 Religions

The first European settlement in Rhode Island was founded by an English clergyman, Roger Williams, who left Massachusetts to find freedom of worship. The Rhode Island Charter of 1663 proclaimed that the state should maintain “full liberty in religious concernments.” Rhode Island has maintained this viewpoint throughout its history and has long been a model of religious pluralism. The first Baptist congregation in the United States was established in 1638 in Providence. The oldest synagogue (founded in 1763) and the oldest Quaker meetinghouse (founded in 1699) in the United States are both found in Newport.

As of 2004, there were 679,275 Roman Catholics in the state, accounting for 64% of the total state population. The largest Protestant denominations were Episcopalians, with 26,756 adherents in 2000, and American Baptists USA,

Rhode Island Population by Race

Census 2000 was the first national census in which the instructions to respondents said, “Mark one or more races.” This table shows the number of people who are of one, two, or three or more races. For those claiming two races, the number of people belonging to the various categories is listed. The U.S. government conducts a census of the population every ten years.

with 20,997 adherents in 2000. An estimated 16,100 Jews resided in the state the same year, as did about 1,827 Muslims. Friends–USA (Quakers) had only 599 members. About 36.5% of the population were not counted as members of any religious organization.

10 Transportation

As of 2003, Providence & Worcester was the only freight hauling railroad in operation, utilizing 102 rail miles (164 kilometers) of track. As of 2006, Amtrak operated daily trains through Rhode Island, via its Acela Express train and its Regional northeast corridor trains.

In 2004, there were 6,419 miles (10,334 kilometers) of public highways and roads. There were approximately 824,000 motor vehicles registered in 2004 and 741,841 licensed drivers. The major route through New England, I-95, crosses Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority provides commuter bus service connecting urbanized areas.

Some of the best deepwater ocean ports on the east coast are in Narragansett Bay. The port at Providence is the state’s primary port.

There were 28 airfields in 2005, including 10 airports, 17 heliports, and 1 seaplane base. Theodore Francis Green Airport is the major air terminal, with 2,732,524 boarding passengers in 2004.

11 History

Before the arrival of the first white settlers, the Narragansett Native Americans inhabited the area from what is now Providence south along Narragansett Bay. Their principal rivals, the Wampanoag, dominated the eastern shore region. In 1524, Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazano became the first European to explore Rhode Island. The earliest permanent settlement was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyman Roger Williams and a small band of followers who left the Massachusetts Bay Colony to seek freedom of worship.

Other nonconformists followed, settling Portsmouth (1638), Newport (1639), and Warwick (1642). In 1644, Williams journeyed to England, where he secured parliamentary permission to unite the four original towns into a single colony, the Providence Plantations. In 1663, a royal charter was obtained. Between 1675 and 1676, a Native American uprising known as King Philip’s War was soundly defeated.

Statehood The early 18th century was marked by significant growth in agriculture and commerce, including the rise of the slave trade. Having the greatest degree of self-rule, Rhode Island had the most to lose from British efforts after 1763 to increase supervision and control over the colonies. On 4 May 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony formally to renounce all allegiance to King George III. Favoring the weak central government established by the Articles of Confederation, the state quickly ratified them in 1778, but later resisted the strong central government of the federal constitution. Rhode Island withheld ratification until 29 May 1790, making it the last of the original 13 colonies to join the Union.

The principal trends in 19th-century Rhode Island were industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. During the first half of the century, the state’s royal charter, which remained in effect, gave disproportionate influence to landowners and rural towns. Political reformers, led by Thomas Wilson Dorr, drafted a “People’s Constitution,” ratified in a popular referendum in December 1841. The latter half of the 19th century was marked by continued industrialization and urbanization.

Present-Day Rhode Island Politically the state was dominated by the Republican Party until the 1930s, when Democrats seized power during the New Deal and have mostly kept it since then. Present-day Rhode Island is predominantly Catholic and Democratic, but it retains an ethnic and cultural diversity surprising in view of its size but consistent with its heritage. The Rhode Island economy has seen little growth since the 1950s. Manufacturing jobs, once held by 30% of the workforce, declined in the early 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, service jobs had replaced manufacturing jobs, and unemployment was down to 4%. Although about 10,000 new jobs were created in 1999, researchers predicted further growth was not likely. By 2001, the nation was in the grip of recession, and Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was at 5.6% in July 2003, albeit below the national average of 6.2%. The state faced a $164 million budget deficit in 2005.

In 1999, a lawsuit was settled over a 1996 oil spill, the worst in the state’s history. The spill contaminated the water and destroyed lobsters in Block Island Sound. The state was to direct $18 million in ongoing cleanup and recovery efforts following the settlement.

Republican Governor Donald Carcieri, elected in 2002, allowed a minimum wage increase of 60 cents to become law without his signature in 2003. Rhode Island’s minimum wage as of 1 January 2004 was $6.75 per hour. Voters approved Carcieri’s 2004 proposal to use new state bonds to provide the funding necessary to preserve Narragansett Bay and to safeguard drinking water resources.

12 State Government

Legislative authority is vested in the Rhode Island General Assembly, a two-chamber body composed of 38 senators and 75 representatives. All legislators are elected for two-year terms. The assembly may override the governor’s veto by a three-fifths vote, and has the power to establish all courts below the supreme court.

The chief officers of the executive branch are the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and general treasurer. All are elected to four-year terms.

The legislative salary as of December 2004 was $12,285.53 and the governor’s salary was $105,194.

13 Political Parties

For nearly five decades, Rhode Island has been one of the nation’s most solidly Democratic states. It has voted for the Republican presidential candidate only four times since 1928. In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to favor Jimmy Carter. In 1984, however, Republican Edward DiPrete was elected governor, and Ronald Reagan narrowly carried the

state in the presidential election. In the 2000 presidential election, Democratic nominee Al Gore captured 61% of the popular vote, while Republican George W. Bush received 32%. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry won 59.5% of the vote to incumbent President Bush’s 38.9%.

The governor’s office is held by Republican Donald L. Carcieri, elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006. Republican Senator Lincoln D. Chafee was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse II in the 2006 midterm elections; Democrat Jack Reed is Rhode Island’s other US senator. Both US representatives as of the 2006 elections were Democrats. Following those elections, there were 33 Democrats and 5 Republicans in the state senate, and 60 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the state house. Nineteen women were elected to the state legislature in 2006, or 16.8%.

14 Local Government

As of 2005, Rhode Island was subdivided into 5 counties, 8 cities, 31 townships, and 75 special districts. Many smaller communities retain the New England town meeting form of government. Larger cities and towns are governed by a mayor and/or city manager and a council. There were 36 school districts in 2005.

15 Judicial System

The five-member supreme court is the state’s highest appeals court. It may also issue advisory opinions on the constitutionality of actions by

Rhode Island Governors: 1775–2007

the governor or either house of the legislature. The second judicial level consists of the superior court, the state’s trial court, which hears all jury trials in criminal cases and in civil matters involving more than $5,000, but can also hear nonjury cases.

Civil matters involving $5,000 or less, small claims procedures, and nonjury criminal cases are handled at the district level. District courts do not hold jury trials. All cities and towns appoint judges to operate probate courts for wills and estates. Providence and a few other communities each have a municipal or police court. The 2004 violent crime rate (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) was 247.4 reported incidents per 100,000 persons. Crimes against property

Rhode Island Presidential Vote by Major Political Parties, 1948–2004

(burglary, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft) in 2004 totaled 2,884.1 reported incidents per 100,000 people. There were 3,430 prisoners in state and federal prisons as of 31 December 2004. Rhode Island does not have a death penalty.

16 Migration

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the major immigrant groups who came to work in the state’s growing industries were Irish, Italian, and French Canadian. Significant numbers of British, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, and German immigrants also moved to Rhode Island.

Between 1990 and 1998, Rhode Island had a net loss of 64,000 in domestic migration and a net gain of 16,000 in international migration. In the period 2000–05, net international migration was 18,965 and net internal migration was -4,964, for a net gain of 14,001 people.

17 Economy

Rhode Island’s economy historically was based overwhelmingly on industry. Agriculture, mining, forestry, and fishing make only small contributions. The state’s traditional leading manufactures were jewelry, silverware, machinery, primary metals, textiles, and rubber products. In the late 1990s, manufacturing declined steadily as a portion of state economic output, and the national recession of 2001 contributed to a further contraction of Rhode Island’s manufacturing output. The impact of the 2001 recession on the state’s employment and income, however, was the mildest among the New England states. In the early 21st century, financial services, trade, and government were strong growth areas of the economy. In 2004, Rhode Island’s gross state product (GSP) was $41.68 billion, of which the real estate sector contributed $5.42 billion, or 13% of GSP, followed by health and social assistance at $3.79 billion (9.1% of GSP), and construction at $2.46 billion (5.8% of GSP).

18 Income

In 2005, Rhode Island ranked 45th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia with a gross state product of $44 billion. In 2004, Rhode Island had a per capita (per person) income of $34,207, 16th highest in the United States. The average median annual household income for 2002–04 was $46,199, compared to the national average of $44,473. For the same period, 11.3% of the state’s residents lived below the federal poverty level, as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

19 Industry

The Industrial Revolution began early in Rhode Island. In 1790, Samuel Slater opened a cotton mill in Pawtucket, one of the first modern factories in America. The state’s leading manufactured products have been jewelry, silverware, machinery, primary metals, textiles, and rubber products. Over 1,000 manufacturers in the state produce finished jewelry and jewelry parts. Electronic and related products manufactured in the state include online lottery machines, circuit boards, and meteorological, navigation, and medical equipment. Chemicals and allied products made in the state include pigments and dyes, drugs and biomedical products, and liquid and aerosol consumer products. Hasbro, one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers, is headquartered in Pawtucket. As of 2004, the shipment value of all products manufactured in the state was $11.17 billion.

20 Labor

In April 2006, the civilian labor force in Rhode Island numbered 578,400, with approximately 31,100 workers unemployed, yielding an unemployment rate of 5.4% compared to the national average of 4.7% for the same period. In 2006, 4.6% of the labor force was employed in construction; 10.7% in manufacturing; 16.3% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 7.2% in financial activities; 11.4% in professional and business services; 19.4% in education and health services; 10.1% in leisure and hospitality services; and 13.1% in government.

In 2005, 79,000 of Rhode Island’s 494,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions, representing 15.9% of those so employed. The national average was 12%.

21 Agriculture

The state’s total receipts from farm marketings were $63 million in 2005, 50th in the United States. Rhode Island had only about 850 farms in 2004, with an average size of just 71 acres (29 hectares). Nursery and greenhouse products were the main agricultural commodity.

22 Domesticated Animals

In 2005, Rhode Island had around 5,500 cattle and calves, valued at $5.5 million. During 2004, there were some 2,000 hogs and pigs, valued at $220,000. In 2003, the state produced 22 million pounds (10 million kilograms) of milk, from 1,300 milk cows.

23 Fishing

The commercial catch in 2004 was 97.4 million pounds (44.3 million kilograms), valued at $71.1 million. Point Judith is the primary fishing port, ranking 24th in the United States catch value at $31.5 million. The state ranked second in the nation for squid catch with 38.1 million pounds (17.3 million kilograms). Other valuable fish and shellfish include whiting, fluke and yellowtail flounders, cod, scup lobster, and clams. In 2001, the commercial fishing fleet consisted of 2,920 boats and 344 vessels. In 2003, there were 16 processing plants employing about 453 people.

In 2004, Rhode Island issued 26,629 sport fishing licenses. Three hatcheries distribute nearly 326,000 pounds (148,000 kilograms) of trout throughout the state each year.

24 Forestry

In 2004, forests covered 393,000 acres (159,000 hectares), about 60% of the state’s land area. Some 340,000 acres (138,000 hectares) were usable as commercial timberland.

25 Mining

The value of mineral production in Rhode Island in 2003 was estimated to be $25.8 million. Crushed stone accounted for 48% and construction sand and gravel accounted for 52% of the state’s production. Small amounts of industrial sand and gemstones were also mined.

26 Energy and Power

Rhode Island is part of the New England regional power grid and imports most of its electric power. The state’s generating capability was 1.7 million kilowatts in 2003 and power production totaled 5.6 billion kilowatt hours. In 2000, Rhode Island’s total per capita energy consumption was 239 million Btu (60.2 million kilocalories), ranking it 49th among the 50 states. Rhode Island has no refineries, nor any proven reserves or production of crude oil or natural gas.

27 Commerce

Wholesale sales totaled $8.5 billion for 2002; retail sales were $10.3 billion. Foreign exports of manufactured goods were $1.2 billion in 2005.

28 Public Finance

The annual budget is prepared by the State Budget Office in conjunction with the governor, and submitted to the legislature for approval. The fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

State revenues for 2004 were $7.26 billion and expenditures were $6.38 billion. The largest general expenditures were for public welfare ($1.96 billion), education ($1.47 billion), and highways ($256 million). The total outstanding debt was $6.49 billion, or $6,009.91 per capita (per person).

29 Taxation

As of 1 January 2006, the basic corporate tax rate was 9%. The state sales and use tax is 7%. Most property taxes are collected at the local level. The tax on cigarettes is 246 cents per pack, which ranks first in the nation. Rhode Island taxes gasoline at 31 cents per gallon. This is in addition to the 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax on gasoline.

The state collected $2.629 billion in taxes in 2005, of which 38% came from individual income taxes, 32.1% came from the general sales tax, 20.3% from selective sales taxes, 4.3% from corporate income taxes, 0.1% from property taxes, and 5.2% from other taxes. In 2004, Rhode Island ranked fifth among the states in terms of combined state and local tax burden, which amounted to about $1,629 per capita (per person).

30 Health

As of October 2005, Rhode Island’s infant mortality rate was 5.9 per 1,000 live births. The overall death rate was 9.3 per 1,000. Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death. Among Rhode Island adults ages 18 and older, 21.3% were smokers in 2004. The rate of death

from HIV-related infections stood at 2.2 per 100,000 population.

Rhode Island’s 11 community hospitals had about 2,400 beds in 2003. The average expense for community hospital care was $1,591 per inpatient day in 2003. In 2004, Rhode Island had 361 doctors per 100,000 residents and 987 nurses per 100,000 residents in 2005. In 2004, 11% of Rhode Island residents were uninsured.

31 Housing

In 2004, there were an estimated 446,305 housing units, 409,767 of which were occupied; 61.8% were owner-occupied. About 55.8% of all units were single-family, detached homes; 33.3% of all units were built in 1939 or earlier. Utility gas and fuel oil were the most common energy sources for heating. It was estimated that 13,132 units lacked telephone service, 1,435 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 2,161 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household size was 2.53 people.

In 2004, 2,500 new privately owned housing units were authorized for construction. Much of the new residential construction has taken place in the suburbs south and west of Providence. The median home value was $240,150. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $1,469, while renters paid a median of $740.

32 Education

In 2004, 81.1% of Rhode Islanders age 25 and older were high school graduates. Approximately 27.2% had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Total public school enrollment was estimated at 159,000 in fall 2002 and is expected to drop to 154,000 by fall 2014. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $1.7 billion. Enrollment in nonpublic schools in fall 2003 was 28,119.

As of fall 2002, there were 77,417 students enrolled in college or graduate school. In 2005, Rhode Island had 13 degree-granting institutions. Leading institutions include Brown University, the University of Rhode Island, and Providence College. The Rhode Island School of Design is located in Providence.

33 Arts

Newport and Providence have notable art galleries and museums, including the museum at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Theatrical groups include the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence. The Rhode Island Philharmonic performs throughout the state. Newport is the site of the internationally famous Newport Jazz Festival and the Newport Music Festival. The Festival Ballet Providence and the State Ballet of Rhode Island are prominent dance groups. The Providence Performing Arts Center, restored to its original 1920s splendor in the late 1990s (and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places), hosts touring Broadway shows as well as concerts by a variety of performers.

The WaterFire public art installation on the riverfront in downtown Providence has played a key role in the revitalization of the city. The lighting of bonfires in 97 braziers placed in three rivers flowing through Providence has drawn thousands to the downtown area to enjoy music and other entertainment. The success of the installation, begun as a one-time commemorative event in 1994, inspired a grassroots movement to make WaterFire an ongoing event.

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) supports many programs with the help of state and federal funds. The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (est. 1973) had awarded over $2.5 million to community and academic organizations as of 2005. The New England Foundation for the Arts also contributes to state programs.

34 Libraries and Museums

In 2001, Rhode Island had 48 public library systems, with a total of 72 libraries, of which 24 were branches. That year, the state’s public libraries had a total book and serial publication stock of 3.9 million volumes and a circulation of 6.6 million. The Providence Public Library maintains several special historical collections. The Brown University Libraries, containing more than 2.6 million books and periodicals, include the Annmary Brown Memorial Library, with its collection of rare manuscripts, and the John Carter Brown Library, with an excellent collection of early Americana.

Among more than 53 museums and historic sites are the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology in Bristol, the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, the Roger Williams Park Museum, also in Providence, the Nathanael Greene Homestead in Coventry, and the Slater Mill Historic Site in Pawtucket. Providence has the Roger Williams Park Zoo.

35 Communications

The first automated post office in the US postal system was opened in Providence in 1960. As of 2004, some 95.2% of the state’s occupied housing units had telephones; by June of that year, there were 615,398 mobile telephone subscribers. In 2003, 62.3% of Rhode Island households had a computer and 55.7% had Internet access. In 2005, the state had 7 major AM and 9 major FM radio stations. Rhode Island had five television stations, including one public broadcasting affiliate.

36 Press

The Rhode Island Gazette was the state’s first paper, appearing in 1732. In 1850, Paulina Wright Davis established the Una, one of the first women’s rights newspapers in the country. In 2005, Rhode Island had six daily newspapers with three Sunday editions. The largest was the Providence Journal, with a circulation of 168,021 daily and 236,746 Sunday. Regional interest periodicals include Providence Monthly and Rhode Island Monthly.

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

Tourism is the second largest and fastest growing industry in Rhode Island. In 2000, the state hosted 15.7 million visitors; total revenues from tourism have been $4.69 billion. The industry supports over 57,837 jobs.

Historic sites—especially the mansions of Newport and Providence—and water sports (particularly the America’s Cup yacht races) are the main tourist attractions. Block Island is a popular resort. The Providence Place Mall, a 13-acre mega shopping complex with 150 specialty shops, restaurants, and cinemas opened in 1999. An architectural marvel, the shopping complex spans a highway, a river, and a train track bed. Rhode Island’s state parks and recreational areas total 8,063 acres (3,263 hectares).

38 Sports

Rhode Island has no major league professional sports teams. Pawtucket has a AAA minor league baseball team and Providence has a minor league team in the American Hockey League. Providence College has competed successfully in collegiate basketball.

Historically, Rhode Island has played an important part in the development of both yachting and tennis. The Newport Yacht Club hosted the America’s Cup, international sailing’s most prestigious event, from 1930 until 1983. Lawn tennis was first played in America at the Newport Casino, which was also the site of the United States Tennis championship from 1881 until 1915. Today it is home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The Museum of Yachting is located in Newport as well. Dog racing at Lincoln and jai alai at Newport are popular spectator sports with parimutuel betting.

Other annual sporting events include the Tennis Hall of Fame Championships in Newport in July, the Annual Tuna Tournament near Galilee and Narragansett in September, and the Rhode Island Marathon in Newport in November.

39 Famous Rhode Islanders

Important federal officeholders from Rhode Island were US senators Nelson W. Aldrich (1841–1915), Theodore Francis Green (1867–1966), John O. Pastore (1907–2000), and Claiborne de Borda Pell (b.1918).

Foremost among Rhode Island’s historical figures is Roger Williams (b.England, 1603?–1683), founder of Providence. Other significant pioneers, also born in England, include Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643), religious leader and cofounder of Portsmouth; and William Coddington (1601–1678), founder of Newport. Important in the War for Independence was General Nathanael Greene (1742–1786).

The 19th century brought to prominence reformer Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805–1854). Also important were naval officers Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819), who secured important US victories in the War of 1812; and his brother, Matthew C. Perry (1794–1858), who led the expedition that opened Japan to foreign trade in 1854. Samuel Slater (b.England, 1768–1835) was a pioneer in textile manufacturing. Other significant public figures include Unitarian theologian William Ellery Channing (1780–1842).

Rhode Island’s best known creative writer is gothic novelist H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). The state was also home to portrait painter Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828). Popular performing artists include George M. Cohan (1878–1942), Nelson Eddy (1901–1967), Bobby Hackett (1915–1976), Van Johnson (b.1916), and Spalding Gray (1941–2004).

Important sports personalities include Baseball Hall of Famers Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie (1875–1959) and Charles “Gabby” Hartnett (1900–1972).

40 Bibliography

BOOKS

Bristow, M .J. State Songs of America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Feeney, Kathy. Rhode Island Facts and Symbols. Rev. ed. Mankato, MN: Hilltop Books, 2003.

Heinrichs, Ann. Rhode Island. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2004.

McNair, Sylvia. Rhode Island. New York: Children’s Press, 2000.

Murray, Julie. Rhode Island. Edina, MN: Abdo Publishing, 2006.

Severin, Carol. Rhode Island. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 2007.

WEB SITES

Rhode Island Tourism Division. Visit Rhode Island. visitrhodeisland.com (accessed March 1, 2007).

State of Rhode Island. Government Information. www.info.state.ri.us (accessed March 1, 2007).

Visit New England. Rhode Island. www.visitri.com (accessed March 1, 2007).

Rhode Island

■ BROWN UNIVERSITY D-8

Providence, RI 02912
Tel: (401)863-1000
Admissions: (401)863-2378
Fax: (401)863-9300
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.brown.edu/

Description:

Independent, university, coed. Awards bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and first professional degrees. Founded 1764. Setting: 140-acre urban campus with easy access to Boston. Total enrollment: 8,261. Faculty: 888 (630 full-time, 258 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 9:1. 16,911 applied, 15% were admitted. 90% from top 10% of their high school class, 99% from top quarter, 100% from top half. 160 valedictorians. Full-time: 5,931 students, 53% women, 47% men. Part-time: 245 students, 64% women, 36% men. Students come from 52 states and territories, 72 other countries, 96% from out-of-state, 1% Native American, 7% Hispanic, 7% black, 14% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 6% international, 1% 25 or older, 85% live on campus, 2% transferred in. Retention: 97% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: social sciences; biological/life sciences; physical sciences. Calendar: semesters. Services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, self-designed majors, honors program, independent study, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at Rhode Island School of Design, Tougaloo College, Wheaton College (MA), Dartmouth Medical School. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army (c).

Entrance Requirements:

Options: electronic application, early admission, early decision, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, 2 recommendations, SAT and SAT Subject Tests or ACT. Required for some: 3 recommendations. Entrance: most difficult. Application deadlines: 1/1, 11/1 for early decision. Notification: 4/1, 12/15 for early decision.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $70. Comprehensive fee: $42,020 includes full-time tuition ($32,264), mandatory fees ($960), and college room and board ($8796). College room only: $5498. Room and board charges vary according to board plan. Part-time tuition: $4033 per course. Tuition guaranteed not to increase for student's term of enrollment.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, marching band, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 240 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities; 12% of eligible men and 2% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: Community Outreach, Bruin Club, Undergraduate Council of Students, orchestra and chorus, Daily Herald. Major annual events: Spring Weekend, Homecoming, Commencement. Student services: legal services, health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 4,350 college housing spaces available; all were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required through junior year. Options: coed, women-only housing available. John D. Rockefeller Library plus 5 others with 3 million books, 17,000 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 500 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

In its early days, Providence was a shipping and shipbuilding town, running the Triangular Trade route with slaves, rum, and molasses between Africa, the West Indies and the colonies. Providence, the second largest city in New England, is the industrial and commercial center in addition to being the capital of Rhode Island. The city is one of the largest manufacturing centers in the world and excels in several branches of the metal and rubber industries. Textile manufacturing is of first importance. Historical sites and points of interest include Cathedral of St. John, Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, John Brown House, the Arcade (oldest shopping center in the U.S.), Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Waterplace Park, the Athenaeum (oldest library in the U.S.), the Rhode Island Historical Society, Round Top Church, and the State House.

■ BRYANT UNIVERSITY C-6

1150 Douglas Pike
Smithfield, RI 02917-1284
Tel: (401)232-6000
Free: 800-622-7001
Admissions: (401)232-6100
Fax: (401)232-6741
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.bryant.edu/

Description:

Independent, comprehensive, coed. Awards bachelor's and master's degrees and post-master's certificates. Founded 1863. Setting: 392-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston and Providence. Endowment: $159.1 million. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $5861 per student. Total enrollment: 3,642. Faculty: 262 (133 full-time, 129 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 16:1. 4,214 applied, 58% were admitted. 18% from top 10% of their high school class, 56% from top quarter, 90% from top half. 3 valedictorians. Full-time: 3,012 students, 40% women, 60% men. Part-time: 191 students, 50% women, 50% men. Students come from 30 states and territories, 28 other countries, 81% from out-of-state, 0.3% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 3% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 2% international, 6% 25 or older, 78% live on campus, 4% transferred in. Retention: 88% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; computer and information sciences; communications/journalism. Core. Calendar: semesters. Services for LD students, advanced placement, honors program, independent study, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Common Application, electronic application, early admission, early decision, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, 1 recommendation, senior year first-quarter grades, SAT or ACT. Recommended: minimum 3.3 high school GPA. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadlines: 2/15, 11/15 for early decision. Notification: 3/15, 12/15 for early decision.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $50. Comprehensive fee: $34,330 includes full-time tuition ($24,762) and college room and board ($9568). College room only: $5550. Full-time tuition varies according to course load. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility. Part-time tuition: $891 per course. Part-time tuition varies according to course load. Full-time tuition includes cost of personal laptop computer.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 60 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities; 6% of eligible men and 4% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: Bryant Outdoor Activities Club, Student Programming Board, Rhythm and Pride Dance Team, radio station, Bryant Players (drama club). Major annual events: homecoming, Parents' and Family Weekend, Spring Weekend. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access, bicycle patrols, video cameras, lighted pathways/sidewalks, monitored one point of access/egress. 2,484 college housing spaces available; 2,371 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. Options: coed, women-only housing available. Douglas and Judith Krupp Library with 133,250 books, 14,500 microform titles, 970 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $1 million. 467 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

The college is located in the midst of the social, cultural, and recreational center that is southern New England. Its 392-acre campus offers the best of two worlds: the security of its suburban location with easy access to the excitement of the city. The setting, the campus, and the ultramodern facilities have been designed to maximize the interaction between faculty, students and administrators. This integrative atmosphere contributes to an individualistic approach to education and fosters an intimate relationship among all segments of the college community.

■ COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF RHODE ISLAND G-8

400 East Ave.
Warwick, RI 02886-1807
Tel: (401)825-1000
Admissions: (401)333-7302
Fax: (401)825-2418
Web Site: http://www.ccri.edu/

Description:

State-supported, 2-year, coed. Awards certificates, transfer associate, and terminal associate degrees. Founded 1964. Setting: 205-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston. Endowment: $1.2 million. Total enrollment: 16,293. 6,510 applied, 72% were admitted. Full-time: 5,731 students, 56% women, 44% men. Part-time: 10,562 students, 68% women, 32% men. Students come from 17 states and territories, 14 other countries, 1% Native American, 10% Hispanic, 7% black, 3% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0.1% international, 3% transferred in. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, external degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships. Off campus study at Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army (c).

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission except for nursing, dental, radiography, physical therapist assistant, computer programming, engineering, cardio-respiratory care, medical laboratory technician, occupational therapy assistant. Options: Peterson's Universal Application, deferred admission. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous. Preference given to state residents, New England Regional Student Program applicants.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $20. State resident tuition: $2180 full-time, $102 per credit hour part-time. Nonresident tuition: $6410 full-time, $307 per credit hour part-time. Mandatory fees: $290 full-time, $8 per credit hour part-time, $32 per term part-time. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to course load.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group. Social organizations: 54 open to all. Most popular organizations: Distributive Education Clubs of America, theater group, ABLE, Phi Theta Kappa. Major annual events: Christmas Dinner Theater, Spring Fest, ABLE Handicapped Awareness Day. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols. College housing not available. Community College of Rhode Island Learning Resources Center plus 3 others with 98,140 books, 81,340 microform titles, 872 serials, 20,231 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 1,200 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from off-campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY D-8

8 Abbott Park Place
Providence, RI 02903-3703
Tel: (401)598-1000
Free: 800-342-5598
Admissions: (401)598-2310
Fax: (401)598-1835
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.jwu.edu/

Description:

Independent, comprehensive, coed. Awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees (branch locations in Charleston, SC; Denver, CO; North Miami, FL; Norfolk, VA; Gothenberg, Sweden). Founded 1914. Setting: 47-acre urban campus with easy access to Boston. System endowment: $168.3 million. Total enrollment: 10,171. Faculty: 406 (279 full-time, 127 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 27:1. 15,258 applied, 80% were admitted. Full-time: 8,400 students, 52% women, 48% men. Part-time: 937 students, 56% women, 44% men. Students come from 50 states and territories, 51 other countries, 78% from out-of-state, 0.2% Native American, 5% Hispanic, 8% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 4% international, 4% transferred in. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; personal and culinary services; foreign languages and literature. Core. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, freshman honors college, honors program, independent study, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Peterson's Universal Application, Common Application, electronic application, early admission, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: high school transcript. Recommended: minimum 2.0 high school GPA. Required for some: essay, minimum 2.75 high school GPA, recommendations, interview, SAT or ACT. Entrance: minimally difficult. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $0. Comprehensive fee: $28,126 includes full-time tuition ($19,875), mandatory fees ($951), and college room and board ($7300). Part-time tuition: $368 per quarter hour.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper. Social organizations: 77 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities, local fraternities, local sororities; 1% of eligible men and 2% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: Delta Epsilon Chi, Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, Phi Beta Lambda, FHA/HERO, FFA. Major annual events: Spring Weekend, Homecoming Weekend. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service. 3,614 college housing spaces available. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required in freshman year. Option: coed housing available. Johnson & Wales University Library plus 1 other with 91,180 books, 408,876 microform titles, 643 serials, 2,726 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 400 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY G-8

2500 Post Rd.
Warwick, RI 02886-2244
Tel: (401)739-5000
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.neit.edu/

Description:

Independent, primarily 2-year, coed. Awards transfer associate, terminal associate, and bachelor's degrees. Founded 1940. Setting: 10-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston. Total enrollment: 2,839. Students come from 10 states and territories, 22 other countries, 1% Native American, 6% Hispanic, 5% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 6% international, 48% 25 or older. Core. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, distance learning, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships.

Entrance Requirements:

Open admission. Options: early admission, deferred admission. Required: high school transcript, interview. Entrance: noncompetitive. Application deadline: Rolling.

Collegiate Environment:

Student services: personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: security personnel during open hours. College housing not available. Library with 42,614 books, 3,961 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. 325 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from off-campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ PROVIDENCE COLLEGE D-8

River Ave. and Eaton St.
Providence, RI 02918
Tel: (401)865-1000
Free: 800-721-6444
Admissions: (401)865-2535
Fax: (401)865-2826
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.providence.edu/

Description:

Independent Roman Catholic, comprehensive, coed. Awards associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees. Founded 1917. Setting: 105-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston. Endowment: $115.3 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $325,578. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $8698 per student. Total enrollment: 4,832. Faculty: 369 (287 full-time, 82 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 12:1. 8,237 applied, 54% were admitted. 38% from top 10% of their high school class, 79% from top quarter, 98% from top half. 25 National Merit Scholars, 51 class presidents, 16 valedictorians, 311 student government officers. Full-time: 3,896 students, 57% women, 43% men. Part-time: 16 students, 63% women, 38% men. Students come from 43 states and territories, 78 other countries, 88% from out-of-state, 0.1% Native American, 2% Hispanic, 1% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 1% international, 8% 25 or older, 75% live on campus, 2% transferred in. Retention: 93% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; social sciences; education. Core. Calendar: semesters. Services for LD students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, honors program, independent study, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Common Application, electronic application, early admission, early action, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, 2 recommendations, SAT or ACT. Recommended: SAT Subject Tests. Entrance: very difficult. Application deadlines: 1/15, 11/1 for early action. Notification: 4/1, 1/1 for early action.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $55. Comprehensive fee: $34,580 includes full-time tuition ($24,800), mandatory fees ($510), and college room and board ($9270). College room only: $4970. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility. Part-time tuition: $827 per credit.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 94 open to all. Most popular organizations: Board of Programmers, Student Congress, student newspaper, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Pastoral Council. Major annual events: Junior Ring Weekend, Mr. PC Pageant, Clam Jam. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 3,074 college housing spaces available; 3,063 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required through sophomore year. Options: coed, men-only, women-only housing available. Phillips Memorial Library with 563,289 books, 12,019 microform titles, 11,809 serials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $2.8 million. 164 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

See Brown University.

■ RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE D-8

600 Mount Pleasant Ave.
Providence, RI 02908-1991
Tel: (401)456-8000
Free: 800-669-5760
Admissions: (401)456-8234
Fax: (401)456-8379
Web Site: http://www.ric.edu/

Description:

State-supported, comprehensive, coed. Awards bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees and post-master's certificates. Founded 1854. Setting: 180-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston. Endowment: $11.9 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $7.6 million. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $10,905 per student. Total enrollment: 8,871. Faculty: 639 (306 full-time, 333 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 16:1. 3,385 applied, 78% were admitted. 7% from top 10% of their high school class, 33% from top quarter, 75% from top half. Full-time: 5,310 students, 67% women, 33% men. Part-time: 2,167 students, 68% women, 32% men. Students come from 10 states and territories, 11% from out-of-state, 0.3% Native American, 5% Hispanic, 5% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0.5% international, 24% 25 or older, 12% live on campus, 9% transferred in. Retention: 78% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: education; business/marketing; psychology. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, services for LD students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, freshman honors college, honors program, independent study, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at Community College of Rhode Island, Providence College, University of Rhode Island. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army (c).

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Common Application, early admission, deferred admission. Required: essay, high school transcript, recommendations, SAT or ACT. Required for some: interview. Application deadline: 5/1. Notification: continuous.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $50. State resident tuition: $3888 full-time, $168 per credit part-time. Nonresident tuition: $11,200 full-time, $466 per credit part-time. Mandatory fees: $788 full-time, $21 per credit part-time, $60 per term part-time. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to course load. College room and board: $7010. College room only: $3740. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 60 open to all; local fraternities, local sororities; 10% of eligible men and 10% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: student government, newspaper, campus radio station (WXIN), OASPA (Organization of African Students and Professionals in the Americas), Asian Student Association. Major annual events: Midnight Madness, Spring RIC End, Spring Cotillion. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour patrols, late night transport-escort service. 840 college housing spaces available; all were occupied in 2003-04. Options: coed, women-only housing available. Adams Library with 639,489 books, 1.4 million microform titles, 1,192 serials, 3,982 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $2.8 million. 350 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN D-8

2 College St.
Providence, RI 02903-2784
Tel: (401)454-6100
Free: 800-364-7473
Admissions: (401)454-6307
Fax: (401)454-6309
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.risd.edu/

Description:

Independent, comprehensive, coed. Awards bachelor's, master's, and first professional degrees. Founded 1877. Setting: 13-acre urban campus with easy access to Boston. Endowment: $262.1 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $394,498. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $13,445 per student. Total enrollment: 2,258. Faculty: 494 (139 full-time, 355 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 9:1. 2,512 applied, 35% were admitted. 28% from top 10% of their high school class, 72% from top quarter, 94% from top half. Full-time: 1,878 students, 66% women, 34% men. Students come from 51 states and territories, 44 other countries, 94% from out-of-state, 1% Native American, 5% Hispanic, 2% black, 14% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 13% international, 4% 25 or older, 40% live on campus, 6% transferred in. Retention: 94% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Core. Calendar: 4-1-4. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, independent study, internships. Off campus study at Brown University, Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: electronic application, early admission, early action, deferred admission. Required: essay, high school transcript, portfolio, drawing assignments, SAT or ACT. Recommended: 3 recommendations. Entrance: very difficult. Application deadlines: 2/15, 12/15 for early action. Notification: 4/1, 1/25 for early action.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $50. Comprehensive fee: $40,740 includes full-time tuition ($31,145), mandatory fees ($235), and college room and board ($9360). College room only: $5260.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, student-run newspaper. Social organizations: 60 open to all. Most popular organizations: athletic clubs, Industrial Design Club, Korean Students Association, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Alliance. Major annual events: Beaux Arts Ball, Artists' Ball, RISD Apparel Showcase. Student services: legal services, health clinic, personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 790 college housing spaces available; all were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required in freshman year. Option: coed housing available. RISD Library plus 1 other with 107,436 books, 1,855 microform titles, 420 serials, 683,580 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $1.4 million. 400 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

See Brown University.

■ ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY G-9

1 Old Ferry Rd.
Bristol, RI 02809
Tel: (401)253-1040
Free: 800-458-7144
Admissions: (401)254-3500
Fax: (401)254-3557
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.rwu.edu/

Description:

Independent, comprehensive, coed. Awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and first professional degrees. Founded 1956. Setting: 140-acre small town campus with easy access to Boston. Endowment: $77.8 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $380,000. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $8610 per student. Total enrollment: 5,214. Faculty: 398 (178 full-time, 220 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 16:1. 6,658 applied, 78% were admitted. 11% from top 10% of their high school class, 35% from top quarter, 72% from top half. 1 National Merit Scholar, 1 valedictorian, 45 student government officers. Full-time: 3,741 students, 51% women, 49% men. Part-time: 618 students, 40% women, 60% men. Students come from 44 states and territories, 37 other countries, 87% from out-of-state, 0.2% Native American, 2% Hispanic, 1% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 2% international, 2% 25 or older, 79% live on campus, 3% transferred in. Retention: 78% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; security and protective services; psychology. Core. Calendar: semesters. ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, self-designed majors, freshman honors college, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, external degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Common Application, electronic application, early decision, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, minimum 2.0 high school GPA, recommendations, SAT or ACT. Recommended: interview. Required for some: portfolio/audition. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadlines: Rolling, 12/1 for early decision. Notification: continuous, 12/15 for early decision.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $50. Comprehensive fee: $34,759 includes full-time tuition ($22,932), mandatory fees ($1134), and college room and board ($10,693). College room only: $5569. Part-time tuition: $956 per credit.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 54 open to all. Most popular organizations: Entertainment Network, Student Senate, American Institute of Architects, John Jay Society, residence hall councils. Major annual events: Spring Week/Winter Weekend, Midnight Madness, Super Stars. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 2,864 college housing spaces available; 2,845 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required through sophomore year. Option: coed housing available. Roger Williams University Library plus 2 others with 202,495 books, 138,579 microform titles, 2,132 serials, 70,859 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $1.5 million. 410 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

■ SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY J-9

100 Ochre Point Ave.
Newport, RI 02840-4192
Tel: (401)847-6650; 888-GO SALVE
Fax: (401)848-2823
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.salve.edu/

Description:

Independent Roman Catholic, comprehensive, coed. Awards associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees and post-master's certificates. Founded 1934. Setting: 70-acre suburban campus with easy access to Boston and Providence. Endowment: $32.6 million. Educational spending for 2005 fiscal year: $5960 per student. Total enrollment: 2,499. Faculty: 240 (122 full-time, 118 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 14:1. 4,555 applied, 60% were admitted. 16% from top 10% of their high school class, 54% from top quarter, 89% from top half. 152 National Merit Scholars, 4 class presidents, 59 student government officers. Full-time: 1,987 students, 71% women, 29% men. Part-time: 104 students, 76% women, 24% men. Students come from 31 states and territories, 11 other countries, 84% from out-of-state, 0.3% Native American, 2% Hispanic, 1% black, 1% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 1% international, 5% 25 or older, 60% live on campus, 3% transferred in. Retention: 81% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: education; business/marketing; security and protective services. Core. Calendar: semesters. ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, freshman honors college, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army (c).

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Peterson's Universal Application, Common Application, electronic application, early action, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, 2 recommendations, SAT or ACT. Recommended: minimum 2.7 high school GPA. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadlines: 3/1, 11/1 for early action. Notification: continuous, 12/15 for early action.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $40. Comprehensive fee: $33,450 includes full-time tuition ($23,500), mandatory fees ($450), and college room and board ($9500). Room and board charges vary according to board plan. Part-time tuition: $783 per credit. Part-time mandatory fees: $40 per term. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to course load.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 30 open to all. Most popular organizations: Orpheus Musical Society, Student Government Association, Student Outdoor Adventures, Student Nurse Organization, Stagefright Theatre Company. Major annual events: Family Weekend, Spring Weekend. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 1,177 college housing spaces available; 1,170 were occupied in 2003-04. Freshmen given priority for college housing. On-campus residence required through sophomore year. Options: coed, men-only, women-only housing available. McKillop Library with 139,161 books, 44,553 microform titles, 1,221 serials, 19,098 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $1.3 million. 163 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Newport, RI, an island community and home of Salve Regina, was founded in 1639 and thrived as a Colonial seaport. Today, yachting and sailing regattas still fill its harbor and the Museum of Yachting displays America's Cup memorabilia. The Newport Historical Society and Newport Preservation Society support the City-by-the-Sea's bountiful historic and architectural legacy, including colonial structures, Victorian cottages, and Gilded Age mansions. The Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive provide stirring ocean vistas. The Redwood Library is the oldest library building in the United States in continuous use. The Newport Art museum exhibitions focus on the art of Newport and New England. The Newport Casino, which contains the Tennis Hall of Fame, hosts international tennis matches on its grass courts. World-acclaimed musicians perform at the Newport Music Festival. Opportunities abound for students to participate in the rich historical and cultural aspects of the community through university-sponsored work-study, volunteer, and intern programs.

■ UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND J-6

Kingston, RI 02881
Tel: (401)874-1000
Admissions: (401)874-7100
Fax: (401)874-5523
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.uri.edu

Description:

State-supported, university, coed. Part of Rhode Island State System of Higher Education. Awards bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and first professional degrees. Founded 1892. Setting: 1,200-acre small town campus. Endowment: $68 million. Research spending for 2004 fiscal year: $39.1 million. Total enrollment: 15,095. Faculty: 691 (668 full-time, 23 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 19:1. 13,388 applied, 77% were admitted. 21% from top 10% of their high school class, 88% from top half. Full-time: 9,766 students, 56% women, 44% men. Part-time: 1,780 students, 62% women, 38% men. Students come from 38 states and territories, 39% from out-of-state, 0.3% Native American, 4% Hispanic, 4% black, 2% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 0.3% international, 14% 25 or older, 39% live on campus, 5% transferred in. Retention: 80% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; communications/journalism; engineering. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, services for LD students, advanced placement, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at National Student Exchange, New England Land Grant University Exchange Program. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Peterson's Universal Application, Common Application, electronic application, early admission, early action. Required: high school transcript, SAT or ACT. Recommended: minimum 3.0 high school GPA, recommendations, interview. Required for some: minimum 3.0 high school GPA. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadlines: 2/1, 12/15 for early action. Notification: continuous, 1/15 for early action. Preference given to state residents.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $50. State resident tuition: $5258 full-time, $219 per credit part-time. Nonresident tuition: $17,900 full-time, $746 per credit part-time. Mandatory fees: $2026 full-time, $74 per credit part-time, $48 per term part-time. Full-time tuition and fees vary according to reciprocity agreements. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to reciprocity agreements. College room and board: $8114. College room only: $4620. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, marching band, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 85 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities, local sororities; 10% of eligible men and 10% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: Student Entertainment Committee, student radio station, intramural sport clubs, Student Alumni Association, student newspaper. Major annual events: Family Weekend, Homecoming, Spring Week. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, student patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. Option: coed housing available. University Library plus 1 other with 1.2 million books, 1.7 million microform titles, 7,926 serials, 11,671 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending for 2004 fiscal year: $5.8 million. 552 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from off-campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

The quiet village of Kingston was founded about 1700. Some of the many interesting houses here date from pre-Revolutionary days. Community facilities include churches of all faiths, a museum, art center, hospitals, and numerous major civic, fraternal and veteran's organizations. Recreational activities include boating, fishing, golf, skiing, and summer theatre. International and deep-sea yacht races are special events. Many part-time jobs are available.

■ ZION BIBLE INSTITUTE F-9

27 Middle Hwy.
Barrington, RI 02806
Tel: (401)246-0900
Free: 800-356-4014
Fax: (401)246-0906
Web Site: http://www.zbi.edu/

Description:

Independent, 4-year, coed, affiliated with Assembly of God Church. Founded 1924. Calendar: semesters.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $35. Comprehensive fee: $10,922 includes full-time tuition ($5842), mandatory fees ($480), and college room and board ($4600). College room only: $3200.

Rhode Island

BROWN UNIVERSITY

Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, MD

African-American/Black Studies, B

Allopathic Medicine, PO

American/United States Studies/Civilization, BMD

Anthropology, BMD

Applied Mathematics, BMD

Archeology, BMD

Architectural History and Criticism, B

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, BMD

Art/Art Studies, General, B

Behavioral Sciences, B

Biochemistry, BMDO

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, MDO

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Biomedical Engineering, MD

Biomedical Sciences, B

Biomedical/Medical Engineering, B

Biophysics, B

Biostatistics, MDO

BioTechnology, MD

Cancer Biology/Oncology, D

Cell Biology and Anatomy, MDO

Chemical Engineering, BMD

Chemistry, BMD

Civil Engineering, B

Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, BMD

Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics, B

Cognitive Sciences, MD

Community Health and Preventive Medicine, MDO

Comparative Literature, BMD

Computer Engineering, B

Computer Science, BMD

Creative Writing, B

Demography and Population Studies, D

Development Economics and International Development, B

Developmental Biology and Embryology, MD

Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, B

East Asian Studies, B

Ecology, D

Economics, BMD

Education, BM

Electrical Engineering, MD

Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, B

Elementary Education and Teaching, M

Engineering, B

Engineering and Applied Sciences, MD

Engineering Physics, B

English, MD

English Education, M

English Language and Literature, B

Environmental Sciences, B

Environmental Studies, BM

Epidemiology, MDO

Evolutionary Biology, D

Film/Cinema Studies, B

Fine/Studio Arts, B

French Language and Literature, BMD

French Studies, B

Geochemistry, B

Geology/Earth Science, B

Geophysics and Seismology, B

Geosciences, MD

German Language and Literature, BMD

German Studies, B

Health Services Research, MD

Hebrew Studies, MD

Hispanic Studies, MD

Hispanic-American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American/Chicano Studies, B

History, BMD

History of Science and Technology, MD

Immunology, MD

International Relations and Affairs, B

Italian Language and Literature, BMD

Italian Studies, B

Jewish/Judaic Studies, B

Latin American Studies, BMD

Linguistics, BMD

Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, B

Materials Engineering, B

Materials Sciences, MD

Mathematics, BMD

Mathematics and Computer Science, B

Mechanical Engineering, BMD

Mechanics, MD

Medieval and Renaissance Studies, B

Microbiology, MD

Molecular Biology, BMDO

Molecular Pharmacology, MDO

Multilingual and Multicultural Education, M

Music, BMD

Musicology and Ethnomusicology, B

Near and Middle Eastern Studies, B

Neuroscience, BD

Organizational Behavior Studies, B

Pathobiology, MD

Pathology/Experimental Pathology, D

Philosophy, BMD

Physics, BMD

Physiology, MDO

Political Science and Government, BMD

Psychology, BMD

Public Health, M

Public Policy Analysis, M

Religion/Religious Studies, BMD

Russian Language and Literature, MD

Russian Studies, B

Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education, M

Secondary Education and Teaching, M

Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, MD

Social Studies Teacher Education, M

Sociology, BMD

South Asian Studies, B

Spanish Language and Literature, B

Theater, M

Toxicology, D

Urban Studies/Affairs, B

Visual and Performing Arts, B

Western European Studies, MD

Women's Studies, B

Writing, M

BRYANT UNIVERSITY

Accounting, BMO

Accounting Technology/Technician and Bookkeeping, B

Actuarial Science, B

Business Administration and Management, B

Business Administration, Management and Operations, MO

Communication Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric, B

Computer and Information Sciences, B

Economics, B

Electronic Commerce, MO

English Language and Literature, B

Finance, B

Finance and Banking, MO

Finance and Financial Management Services, B

History, B

Industrial and Manufacturing Management, M

Information Science/Studies, M

Information Technology, B

International Business/Trade/Commerce, B

International Relations and Affairs, B

Management, MO

Management Information Systems and Services, MO

Marketing, MO

Marketing/Marketing Management, B

Psychology, B

Taxation, MO

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF RHODE ISLAND

Accounting, A

Administrative Assistant and Secretarial Science, A

Adult Development and Aging, A

Art/Art Studies, General, A

Banking and Financial Support Services, A

Biological and Physical Sciences, A

Business Administration and Management, A

Business/Commerce, A

Chemical Technology/Technician, A

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Technician, A

Computer Engineering Technology/Technician, A

Computer Programming/Programmer, A

Criminal Justice/Police Science, A

Dental Hygiene/Hygienist, A

Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, A

Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering Technology/Technician, A

Engineering, A

Fashion Merchandising, A

Fire Science/Firefighting, A

General Studies, A

Instrumentation Technology/Technician, A

Kindergarten/PreSchool Education and Teaching, A

Labor and Industrial Relations, A

Legal Administrative Assistant/Secretary, A

Legal Assistant/Paralegal, A

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, A

Marketing/Marketing Management, A

Medical Administrative Assistant/Secretary, A

Medical Radiologic Technology/Science - Radiation Therapist, A

Music, A

Nursing - Registered Nurse Training, A

Occupational Therapist Assistant, A

Physical Therapist Assistant, A

Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician, A

Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions, A

Respiratory Care Therapy/Therapist, A

Retailing and Retail Operations, A

Social Work, A

Special Education and Teaching, A

Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling, A

Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology, A

Urban Studies/Affairs, A

JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY

Accounting, ABM

Advertising, AB

Baking and Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef, AB

Business Administration and Management, AB

CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician, A

Computer and Information Sciences, B

Computer Engineering, B

Computer Engineering Technology/Technician, A

Computer Graphics, AB

Computer Programming/Programmer, A

Computer/Information Technology Services Administration and Management, AB

Consumer Merchandising/Retailing Management, AB

Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration, AB

Culinary Arts/Chef Training, AB

Education, M

Educational Leadership and Administration, D

Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering Technology/Technician, AB

Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, B

Equestrian/Equine Studies, AB

Farm/Farm and Ranch Management, AB

Fashion Merchandising, A

Finance, B

Finance and Banking, M

Food Technology and Processing, B

Foodservice Systems Administration/Management, B

Hospitality Administration/Management, BM

Hospitality and Recreation Marketing Operations, AB

Hotel/Motel Administration/Management, AB

Information Science/Studies, B

International Business/Trade/Commerce, M

International Trade, M

Legal Assistant/Paralegal, AB

Marketing, M

Marketing/Marketing Management, AB

Mass Communication/Media Studies, B

Organizational Management, M

Parks, Recreation and Leisure Facilities Management, AB

Parks, Recreation, Leisure and Fitness Studies, AB

Public Relations/Image Management, B

Restaurant, Culinary, and Catering Management/Manager, AB

Retailing and Retail Operations, AB

Sales, Distribution and Marketing Operations, AB

Special Products Marketing Operations, AB

Tourism and Travel Services Management, AB

Tourism and Travel Services Marketing Operations, AB

NEW ENGLAND INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Architectural Engineering Technology/Technician, AB

Automobile/Automotive Mechanics Technology/Technician, A

Business Administration and Management, AB

Computer and Information Sciences, AB

Computer Technology/Computer Systems Technology, A

Construction Engineering Technology/Technician, A

Electrical, Electronic and Communications Engineering Technology/Technician, AB

Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, B

Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician, A

Industrial Technology/Technician, AB

Interior Design, A

Marine Maintenance/Fitter and Ship Repair Technology/Technician, A

Medical/Clinical Assistant, A

Occupational Therapist Assistant, A

Pipefitting/Pipefitter and Sprinkler Fitter, A

Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/Technician, AB

Surgical Technology/Technologist, A

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE

Accounting, B

American/United States Studies/Civilization, B

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, B

Biochemistry, B

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Business Administration and Management, B

Business Administration, Management and Operations, M

Business/Managerial Economics, B

Chemistry, B

Computer Education, M

Computer Science, B

Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services, M

Econometrics and Quantitative Economics, B

Economics, B

Education, M

Educational Administration and Supervision, M

English Language and Literature, B

Finance, B

Fine/Studio Arts, B

French Language and Literature, B

General Studies, B

Health/Health Care Administration/Management, B

History, BM

Human Services, B

Humanities/Humanistic Studies, B

Interdisciplinary Studies, B

International/Global Studies, B

Italian Language and Literature, B

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, B

Marketing/Marketing Management, B

Mathematics, B

Mathematics Teacher Education, M

Music, B

Pastoral Studies/Counseling, M

Philosophy, B

Political Science and Government, B

Psychology, B

Reading Teacher Education, M

Religion/Religious Studies, M

Secondary Education and Teaching, B

Social Sciences, B

Social Work, B

Sociology, B

Spanish Language and Literature, B

Special Education and Teaching, BM

Systems Science and Theory, B

Theology and Religious Vocations, M

Theology/Theological Studies, B

Visual and Performing Arts, B

RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE

Accounting, BM

African-American/Black Studies, B

Anthropology, B

Art Education, M

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, B

Art Teacher Education, B

Arts Management, M

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, M

Biology Teacher Education, B

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Business Administration and Management, B

Chemistry, B

Chemistry Teacher Education, B

Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology/Technologist, B

Communication Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric, B

Computer and Information Sciences, B

Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services, MO

Criminal Justice/Safety Studies, B

Dance, B

Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, B

Early Childhood Education and Teaching, BM

Economics, B

Education, BD

Educational Administration and Supervision, MO

Elementary Education and Teaching, BM

English, M

English as a Second Language, M

English Language and Literature, B

English/Language Arts Teacher Education, B

Film/Cinema Studies, B

Finance, B

Fine Arts and Art Studies, M

Fine/Studio Arts, B

Foreign Language Teacher Education, M

Foreign Languages and Literatures, B

French Language and Literature, BM

French Language Teacher Education, B

Geography, B

Health Education, M

Health Teacher Education, B

History, BM

History Teacher Education, B

Industrial Technology/Technician, B

Kindergarten/PreSchool Education and Teaching, B

Labor and Industrial Relations, B

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, B

Management Information Systems and Services, B

Marketing/Marketing Management, B

Mathematics, BMO

Mathematics Teacher Education, B

Multilingual and Multicultural Education, M

Music, B

Music Performance, B

Music Teacher Education, BM

Nursing, B

Nursing - Registered Nurse Training, B

Philosophy, B

Physical Education Teaching and Coaching, B

Physics, B

Physics Teacher Education, B

Political Science and Government, B

Psychology, BM

Public Administration, B

Reading Teacher Education, M

Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education, BM

Secondary Education and Teaching, BM

Social Science Teacher Education, B

Social Work, BM

Sociology, B

Spanish Language and Literature, B

Spanish Language Teacher Education, B

Special Education and Teaching, BMO

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods, B

Teacher Education, Multiple Levels, B

Technical Teacher Education, B

Technology Teacher Education/Industrial Arts Teacher Education, B

Theater, M

Vocational and Technical Education, M

Women's Studies, B

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Applied Arts and Design, M

Architecture, BM

Art Education, M

Ceramic Arts and Ceramics, BM

Computer Art and Design, M

Fashion/Apparel Design, B

Fiber, Textile and Weaving Arts, B

Film/Cinema Studies, B

Fine Arts and Art Studies, B

Furniture Design and Manufacturing, B

Graphic Design, BM

Illustration, B

Industrial Design, BM

Interior Architecture, B

Interior Design, M

Jewelry/Metalsmithing, M

Landscape Architecture, M

Metal and Jewelry Arts, B

Painting, BM

Photography, BM

Printmaking, BM

Sculpture, BM

Textile Design, M

ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY

Accounting, B

American/United States Studies/Civilization, B

Anthropology, B

Architecture, BM

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, B

Art/Art Studies, General, B

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Building/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection, B

Business Administration and Management, AB

Chemistry, B

Communication and Media Studies, B

Computer Science, B

Creative Writing, B

Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration, AB

Criminology, M

Dance, B

Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, B

Education, M

Elementary Education and Teaching, BM

English Language and Literature, B

Environmental Sciences, B

Finance, B

Financial Planning and Services, B

Foreign Languages and Literatures, B

Forensic Psychology, M

Graphic Design, B

Health/Health Care Administration/Management, B

Historic Preservation and Conservation, B

History, B

International Business/Trade/Commerce, B

Law and Legal Studies, PO

Legal Assistant/Paralegal, B

Legal Professions and Studies, B

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, AB

Management Information Systems and Services, B

Manufacturing Technology/Technician, B

Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, B

Marketing/Marketing Management, B

Mathematics, B

Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, B

Philosophy, B

Political Science and Government, B

Pre-Dentistry Studies, B

Pre-Medicine/Pre-Medical Studies, B

Pre-Veterinary Studies, B

Psychology, B

Public Administration, BM

Reading Teacher Education, M

Secondary Education and Teaching, B

Social Sciences, B

Sociology, B

Visual and Performing Arts, B

SALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY

Accounting, B

American/United States Studies/Civilization, B

Anthropology, B

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, B

Art Therapy/Therapist, O

Biology Teacher Education, B

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Business Administration and Management, AB

Business Administration, Management and Operations, MO

Ceramic Arts and Ceramics, B

Chemistry, B

Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology/Technologist, B

Communications Technology/Technician, B

Counseling Psychology, MO

Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration, B

CytoTechnology/Cytotechnologist, B

Drama and Dance Teacher Education, B

Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts, B

Early Childhood Education and Teaching, B

Economics, B

Elementary Education and Teaching, B

English Language and Literature, B

English/Language Arts Teacher Education, B

Finance, B

Fine/Studio Arts, B

French Language and Literature, B

French Language Teacher Education, B

Graphic Design, B

Health Services Administration, MO

Historic Preservation and Conservation, B

History, B

History Teacher Education, B

Human Resources Development, O

Human Resources Management and Services, O

Humanities/Humanistic Studies, MDO

Information Science/Studies, B

International Affairs, MO

Law Enforcement, MO

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, AB

Management, MO

Mathematics, B

Mathematics Teacher Education, B

Military and Defense Studies, M

Music, B

Music Teacher Education, B

Nursing - Registered Nurse Training, B

Painting, B

Philosophy, B

Photography, B

Political Science and Government, B

Psychology, B

Rehabilitation Counseling, MO

Religion/Religious Studies, B

Secondary Education and Teaching, B

Social Work, B

Sociology, B

Spanish Language and Literature, B

Spanish Language Teacher Education, B

Special Education and Teaching, B

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

Accounting, BM

Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching, M

Agricultural Economics, MD

Animal Sciences, BM

Anthropology, B

Apparel and Accessories Marketing Operations, B

Apparel and Textiles, B

Applied Economics, B

Applied Mathematics, D

Aquaculture, M

Art History, Criticism and Conservation, B

Art/Art Studies, General, B

Biochemistry, MD

Biological and Biomedical Sciences, MD

Biology/Biological Sciences, B

Biomedical/Medical Engineering, B

Business Administration and Management, B

Business Administration, Management and Operations, MD

Cell Biology and Anatomy, MD

Chemical Engineering, BMD

Chemistry, BMD

Child and Family Studies, M

Civil Engineering, BMD

Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, B

Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology/Technologist, B

Clinical Laboratory Sciences, M

Clinical Psychology, D

Clothing and Textiles, M

Communication Disorders, BM

Communication Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric, B

Comparative Literature, B

Computer and Information Sciences, B

Computer Engineering, BMD

Computer Science, MD

Consumer Economics, B

Counseling Psychology, M

Dental Hygiene/Hygienist, B

Dietetics/Dieticians, B

Econometrics and Quantitative Economics, B

Economics, BMD

Education, M

Electrical Engineering, MD

Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, B

Elementary Education and Teaching, BM

Engineering and Applied Sciences, MD

English, MD

English Language and Literature, B

Entomology, MD

Environmental Engineering Technology/Environmental Technology, MD

Environmental Policy and Resource Management, MD

Environmental Studies, B

Experimental Psychology, D

Finance, B

Finance and Banking, M

Fish, Game and Wildlife Management, MD

Fishing and Fisheries Sciences and Management, B

Food Science and Technology, MD

Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, B

French Language and Literature, BM

Geology/Earth Science, B

Geosciences, M

Geotechnical Engineering, MD

German Language and Literature, B

Health Education, M

Health/Health Care Administration/Management, B

History, BM

Home Economics Education, M

Human Development and Family Studies, B

Human Services, B

Industrial and Labor Relations, M

Industrial Engineering, B

Industrial/Management Engineering, M

Information Science/Studies, M

Interdisciplinary Studies, B

International Business/Trade/Commerce, BM

International Development, O

Italian Language and Literature, B

Journalism, B

Landscape Architecture, B

Latin American Studies, B

Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies and Humanities, B

Library Science, M

Management, M

Management Information Systems and Services, B

Manufacturing Engineering, M

Marine Affairs, M

Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, B

Marketing, M

Marketing/Marketing Management, B

Mathematics, BMD

Mechanical Engineering, BMD

Mechanics, MD

Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology, B

Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, MD

Microbiology, MD

Molecular Biology, MD

Music, BM

Music Performance, B

Music Teacher Education, B

Music Theory and Composition, B

Natural Resources and Conservation, BMD

Natural Resources Management/Development and Policy, B

Nursing, MD

Nursing - Registered Nurse Training, B

Nursing Administration, M

Nursing Education, M

Nutritional Sciences, MD

Ocean Engineering, BMD

Oceanography, Chemical and Physical, MD

Pharmaceutical Administration, M

Pharmaceutical Sciences, MD

Pharmacognosy, MD

Pharmacology, MD

Pharmacy, BP

Philosophy, BM

Physical Education Teaching and Coaching, BM

Physical Therapy/Therapist, M

Physics, BMD

Plant Pathology/Phytopathology, MD

Plant Sciences, MD

Political Science and Government, BMO

Psychology, BMD

Public Administration, M

Public Policy Analysis, BM

Quantitative Analysis, D

Reading Teacher Education, M

Recreation and Park Management, M

School Psychology, MD

Secondary Education and Teaching, BM

Sociology, B

Spanish Language and Literature, BM

Sport and Fitness Administration/Management, M

Statistics, MD

Structural Engineering, MD

Systems Engineering, MD

Toxicology, MD

Transportation and Highway Engineering, MD

Turf and Turfgrass Management, B

Urban and Regional Planning, M

Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management, B

Women's Studies, B

Zoology/Animal Biology, B