Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, located approximately 33 miles (53 km) southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, 20 miles (32 km) south of Fall River, Massachusetts, 73 miles (117 km) south of Boston, and 180 miles (290 km) northeast of New York City. It is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. It was the location of the first U.S. Open tournaments in both tennis and golf, as well as every challenge to the America's Cup between 1930 and 1983. It is also the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport, which houses the United States Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and an important Navy training center. It was a major 18th-century port city and also contains a high number of buildings from the Colonial era.
North Smithfield is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, settled as a farming community in 1666 and incorporated into its present form in 1871. North Smithfield includes the historic villages of Forestdale, Primrose, Waterford, Branch Village, Union Village, Park Square, and Slatersville. The population was 12,314 at the 2015 census.
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was an English colony from 1636 until the American Revolution in 1776, when it became the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Samuel Gorton was an early settler and civic leader of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and President of the towns of Providence and Warwick. He had strong religious beliefs which differed from Puritan theology and was very outspoken, and he became the leader of a small sect of converts known as Gortonists or Gortonites. As a result, he was frequently in trouble with the civil and church authorities in the New England colonies.
Ray Greene was a United States Senator and Attorney General from Rhode Island during the early days of statehood.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Each justice enjoys lifetime tenure and no mandatory retirement age, similar to Federal judges. Justices may be removed only if impeached for improper conduct by a vote of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and convicted by trial in the Rhode Island Senate.
Benedict Arnold was president and then governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving for a total of 11 years in these roles. He was born and raised in the town of Ilchester, Somerset, England, likely attending school in Limington nearby. In 1635 at the age of 19, he accompanied his parents, siblings, and other family members on a voyage from England to New England, where they first settled in Hingham in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In less than a year, they moved to Providence Plantation at the head of the Narragansett Bay at the request of Roger Williams. In about 1638, they moved once again, about five miles south to the Pawtuxet River, settling on the north side at a place commonly called Pawtuxet. Here they had serious disputes with their neighbors, particularly Samuel Gorton, and as a result put themselves and their lands under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, a situation which lasted for 16 years.
Fox Island is an island in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in the United States of America. It lies between Conanicut Island and North Kingstown just south of the village of Wickford, Rhode Island. The island is a part of the town of North Kingstown. The Native Americans called the island "Nanaquonset" The island was purchased from Native Americans by Randall Holden and Samuel Gorton in 1659. In the 1860s a Christian preacher named Captain Jimmie Hammond became the first full-time resident of the island where he lived with his chickens and cat. In 1880, Rev. William Pendleton Chapman, a pastor at the nearby Quidnessett Church, featured the island in his adventure book titled “Budd Boyd’s Triumph: The Boy Firm of Fox Island.” Various other private owners have owned the island since its first habitation. Since 2000 it has been privately owned by a corporation which uses a large wind generator on the east side of the island.
Greene Island is a small island in Narragansett Bay, Warwick, Rhode Island. The island was named after Captain John Greene who purchased the island in 1642 from Native Americans as part of a larger purchase of 660 acres around Occupaspatuxet Cove. Occupaspatuxet means where “meadows cut through by a river,” and the area was also known as Greene's Hold. Chief Miantonomi was one of the Indian witnesses on the deed to Greene, which referenced the "little island." The Greenes were followers of Samuel Gorton, a radical Christian philosopher and theologian, who sought refuge in the Warwick area. Greene Island features shallow tidal flats and marsh grasses.
Charles Warren Lippitt was an American politician and the 44th Governor of Rhode Island.
John Greene Jr. was a deputy governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations who spent almost his entire adult life in the public service of the colony. Born in England, he was the son of John Greene Sr. and Joan Tattersall, and sailed to New England with his parents in 1635 aboard the ship James. His father, after coming from Massachusetts to Providence, became one of the original settlers of Warwick. In 1652 Greene served in his first public role as a commissioner from Warwick, and served in some public capacity every year until 1690 when he was first chosen as deputy governor of the colony. He then served 10 consecutive one-year terms in this capacity, retiring from public service in 1700 at the age of 80. He was one of the 10 Assistants named in the Royal Charter of 1663, which would become the basis for Rhode Island's government for nearly two centuries. During the devastating events of King Phillips War, Greene was one of 16 prominent inhabitants of the colony whose counsel was sought by the General Assembly.
John Greene Sr. was an early settler of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one of the 12 original proprietors of Providence, and a co-founder of the town of Warwick in the colony, sailing from England with his family in 1635. He first settled in Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but he had difficulty with the Puritan authority and soon followed Roger Williams to Providence, becoming one of the original proprietors of that town. In 1643, he joined Samuel Gorton and ten others in purchasing land that became the town of Warwick. Difficulties with Massachusetts ensued, until he accompanied Gorton on a trip to England where they secured royal recognition of their town.
Frances Latham, was a colonial American woman who settled in Rhode Island, and is known as "the Mother of Governors." Having been widowed twice, she had three husbands, and became the ancestor of at least ten governors and three deputy/lieutenant governors, and is related by marriage to an additional six governors and one deputy governor.
William Greene III was a lieutenant governor of the state of Rhode Island, serving for two years shortly after the American Civil War.
