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A Colonial Newport Tunnel Perfect for Smuggling?
9 years ago

A Colonial Newport Tunnel Perfect for Smuggling?

In 1881 and 1905, two respected Rhode Island history authors made the claim that in colonial times, Godfrey Malbone, a wealthy Newport merchant, had constructed a tunnel from the coastline …
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Smallstatebighistory Interviews Bob Ryan of Wakefield Books
9 years ago

Smallstatebighistory Interviews Bob Ryan of Wakefield Books

[Editor’s note: Rhode Island’s independent bookstores have been loyal supporters of authors of Rhode Island state and local history books and their readers. This week we are pleased to interview …
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Brotherly Love: Thomas and Allen Dorr at Phillips Exeter Academy
9 years ago

Brotherly Love: Thomas and Allen Dorr at Phillips Exeter Academy

In 1824, several months after he graduated from Harvard College, Thomas Wilson Dorr (1805-1854), the son of a prominent Providence, Rhode Island merchant, entered into a philosophical debate with his …
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The Republic of Rhode Island
9 years ago

The Republic of Rhode Island

Today, May 29, 2015, is the 225th anniversary of Rhode Island’s entry into the Union under the United States Constitution of 1787. For thirteen months prior to May 29, 1790 …
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John Angell: The Last Gortonist
10 years ago

John Angell: The Last Gortonist

While writing of the diversity of religious leanings in the colony of Rhode Island for my recent book on colonial New England (see the advertisement next to this article), I …
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About That Lake in Westerly’s Wilcox Park
10 years ago

About That Lake in Westerly’s Wilcox Park

The fountain in Westerly’s Wilcox Park Lake (more often called the Pond) started sending streams of water twenty feet into the air on Thursday, September 8, 1908. Remarkably for the …
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Zachariah Allen: Scientist, Inventor, and Visionary
10 years ago

Zachariah Allen: Scientist, Inventor, and Visionary

By  •  Biography

Zachariah Allen was born to Zachariah and Anne (Crawford) Allen in Providence on September 15, 1795. While little is known of his early years, it is evident by eighteenth century …
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The Prisoner-of-War Camps at Forts Getty and Wetherill in Jamestown:  Reeducating World War II German POWs with the Best of Intentions
10 years ago

The Prisoner-of-War Camps at Forts Getty and Wetherill in Jamestown: Reeducating World War II German POWs with the Best of Intentions

This article focuses on the “top secret” World War II German prisoner of war camps at Forts Getty and Wetherill in Jamestown, Rhode Island. A companion article, “The Top Secret …
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The Top Secret World War II Prisoner-of-War Camp at Fort Kearney in Narragansett
10 years ago

The Top Secret World War II Prisoner-of-War Camp at Fort Kearney in Narragansett

The site of the former Fort Kearney, at the end of South Ferry Road and about one mile south of the village of Saunderstown in Narragansett, is now occupied by …
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Newport Philips: A North Kingstown Slave Negotiates his Way to Freedom
10 years ago

Newport Philips: A North Kingstown Slave Negotiates his Way to Freedom

I have no idea exactly when during the mid-eighteenth century that Newport Philips entered this world but I do know the ”where” and the ‘what” of his beginnings. What he …
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