Image

About Mark Kenneth Gardner

Mark Kenneth Gardner is an educator and public historian. He has been teaching social studies and history for the Chariho School District since 1988. He is also the historian at the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society and is the president of the Rhode Island Council for the Social Studies. Mr. Gardner earned his MA from Rhode Island College in 2012 with his thesis, "As Publick As Possible: Democratic Localism and Political Economy in a Rhode Island Town Government, 1760-1820." Born and raised in Charlestown, Rhode Island, he currently lives in West Warwick with his daughter, her cat, and their small flock of unruly chickens.
Latest Posts | By Mark Kenneth Gardner
South Kingstown at 300 – Part 2: From King Philip’s War to 1723
2 years ago

South Kingstown at 300 – Part 2: From King Philip’s War to 1723

Long-simmering tensions in southeastern New England over land and the mistreatment of Indigenous people finally exploded into all-out conflict in June 1675. King Philip’s War, as it became known, began …
Read More

The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island
3 years ago

The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island

At the current time, informed by our shared experience with Covid-19, most Americans now have more than just a passing familiarity with how our government and health-care system responds to …
Read More

A Letter from Gull Rock, Little Compton: A Story of the Hurricane of 1938
6 years ago

A Letter from Gull Rock, Little Compton: A Story of the Hurricane of 1938

In the summer of 2012, I took on the task of organizing and arranging the library and archive at the Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society, located in the …
Read More