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Anne Hutchinson, Founding Mother of Religious Tolerance
6 years ago

Anne Hutchinson, Founding Mother of Religious Tolerance

In November 1637, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony convicted Anne Hutchinson of heresy and banished her from the colony. More than just a founding mother of Portsmouth, Rhode …
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Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935 (Part II)
6 years ago

Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935 (Part II)

A major trend that produced the new (but briefly tenuous) Democratic ascendancy was the movement of Franco-American voters into the Democratic Party, especially after Governor Aram Pothier’s death in …
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Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935
6 years ago

Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935

Robert Emmet Quinn, named for the noble Irish patriot, led the political transformation of Rhode Island from Republican to Democratic ascendancy during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s. A similar …
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The Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry’s Wrecked Ship Revenge
6 years ago

The Hunt for Oliver Hazard Perry’s Wrecked Ship Revenge

By  •  Maritime

In the summer of 2011 I received an excited phone call from my sister, Jane Buffum. She said: “Charlie found it! He found it!” I said: “Found what?” “The Revenge, …
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Mariners Beware – Shipwrecks in Rhode Island – Watch Hill
6 years ago

Mariners Beware – Shipwrecks in Rhode Island – Watch Hill

By  •  Maritime

Rhode Island has a rich history intimately involved with maritime interests of every type from local fishermen to international commercial traders. And, as might be expected, as the number of …
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Queen’s Fort—Stone Refuge for Quaiapen, 1675-1676
6 years ago

Queen’s Fort—Stone Refuge for Quaiapen, 1675-1676

The Great Swamp Fight on December 19, 1675, in King Philip’s War, forever destroyed the power of the Narragansett tribe. What is less well known are earlier destructive raids, including …
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Narrative of an Ashaway Teenager’s Role in the Underground Railroad Rediscovered
6 years ago

Narrative of an Ashaway Teenager’s Role in the Underground Railroad Rediscovered

During the period when slavery was lawful in America, it is claimed that the underground railroad assisted more than 100,000 African-American slaves reach freedom.  (The underground railroad was not a …
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Heritage Harbor Foundation Announces Grants for 2019 Totaling $86,155
6 years ago

Heritage Harbor Foundation Announces Grants for 2019 Totaling $86,155

On February 6, 2019, Dr. Patrick T. Conley, president of the Heritage Harbor Foundation, announced that the Foundation has awarded $86,155 in grant money for 2019 to twelve local organizations. …
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Newport’s William Mayes Founds a Pirate Republic in Madagascar
6 years ago

Newport’s William Mayes Founds a Pirate Republic in Madagascar

Contrary to the popular image of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character as an amiable buffoon, pirates in their day were usually cruel thugs, petty criminals, and international terrorists. Pirates had …
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The First Catholic Mass in Rhode Island—Newport, 1780
6 years ago

The First Catholic Mass in Rhode Island—Newport, 1780

The sixteenth, seventeenth and the first part of the eighteenth centuries were times of great turmoil in Europe. They were characterized by a number of wars, such as the Thirty …
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