The Land Much of Rhode Island is woodland; lowlands in the south and rolling hills in the north and

the west. The state can be divided into two geographic regions; the Coastal Lowland in the south and east, and the Eastern New England Upland in the northwest. The Coastal Lowland of Rhode Island is part of the larger Coastal Lowland Region that covers the entire New England coast. These lowlands cover more than half of the mainland and the islands of Narragansett Bay. West of Point Judith are sandy beaches, lagoons, and salt ponds. To the east of Narragansett Bay, the landscape is characterized by low, rounded slopes with few trees. To the west of Narragansett Bay, the Rhode Island slopes are more rugged and support more forested woodlands. The Eastern New England Upland covers the northwestern corner of Rhode Island; about 1/3 of the state. Sometimes called the Western Rocky Upland, this region of Rhode Island is marked by rolling hills and higher elevations. The land rises from about 200 feet above sea level in the east to over 800 feet above sea level in the northwest. The highest point in Rhode Island,Jerimoth Hill, lies in the northwest corner of Rhode Island. Many small lakes and ponds nestle among the hills of the Eastern New England Upland.
Economy Rhode Island's traditional manufacturing economy has diversified and is now also based on services, trade (retail and wholesale), and finance. In spite of this, many of the products for which Rhode Island is famous are still being manufactured. These include jewelry, silverware, textiles, primary and fabricated metals, machinery, electrical equipment, and rubber and plastic items. Tourism and gambling are also important. Agriculture is relatively unimportant to the economy. Most of the farmland is used for dairying and poultry raising, and the state is known for its Rhode Island Red chickens. Principal crops are nursery and greenhouse items. Commercial fishing is an important but declining industry. Narragansett Bay abounds in shellfish; flounder and porgy are also caught. Naval facilities at Newport contribute to the state's income.

Geography
Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 states and except for New Jersey the most densely populated. The dominant physiographic feature of the state is the Narragansett basin, a shallow lowland area of Carboniferous sediments, extending into SE Massachusetts and, in Rhode Island, partly submerged asNarragansett Bay. The bay cuts inland c.30 mi (50 km) to Providence, where it receives the Blackstone River; it contains several islands, including Rhode Island (or Aquidneck), the largest (and the site of historic Newport); Conanicut Island, with the resort of Jamestown; and Prudence Island. The coastline between Point Judith and Watch Hill is marked by sand spits and barrier beaches, sheltering lagoons and salt marshes. Glaciation left many small lakes, and the rolling hilly surface of the state is cut by short, swift streams with numerous falls. Although more than half of Rhode Island is covered with forests, it is highly urbanized. Providence is the capital and the largest city; other important cities are Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, and Newport.

Rhode Island's coast is lined with resorts noted for their swimming and boating facilities, and windswept Block Island is a favorite vacation spot. Narragansett Bay is famous for its sailboats and yachts. The America's Cup yacht race has been held in Newport several times, beginning in 1930 and most recently in 1983. The state also has many historic attractions.

Government, Politics, and Higher Education Rhode Island's present constitution was adopted in 1842 and has been often amended. The state's executive branch is headed by a governor elected for a four-year term and eligible for reelection. The bicameral legislature has a senate with 50 members and a house with 75, all elected for two-year terms. Local government is carried out on the city level; Rhode Island's counties have no political functions. The state sends two senators and two representatives to the U.S. Congress; it has four electoral votes. Rhode Island is solidly Democratic, but Lincoln Almond, a Republican, was elected governor in 1994 and reelected in 1998, and he was succeeded by another Republican, Donald Carcieri, elected in 2002 and again in 2006. The state's leading educational institutions are Brown Univ. and the Rhode Island School of Design, at Providence, and the Univ. of Rhode Island, at Kingston. Sections in this article:

History Early Exploration and Colonization The region of Rhode Island was probably visited (1524) by Verrazano, and in 1614 the area was explored by the Dutchman Adriaen Block. Roger Williams, banished (1635) from the Massachusetts Bay colony, established in 1636 the first settlement in the area at Providence on land purchased from Native Americans of the Narragansett tribe. In 1638, Puritan exiles bought the island of Aquidneck (now Rhode Island) from the Narragansetts. There they established the settlement of Portsmouth (1638). Because of factional differences, Newport was founded (1639) on the southwest side of the island, but the two towns later combined governments (164047). Another settlement, Warwick, was made on the western shore of Narragansett Bay in 1642. In order to thwart claims made to the area by the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, Williams, through influential friends, secured (1644) a parliamentary patent under which the four towns drew up a code of civil law and organized (1647) a government. The liberal charter granted (1663) by Charles II of England ensured the colony's survival, although boundary difficulties with Massachusetts and Connecticut continued well into the 18th cent. The early settlers were mostly of English stock. Many were drawn to the colony by the guarantee of religious freedom, a cardinal principle with Williams, confirmed in the patent of 1644 and reaffirmed by the royal charter of 1663. Jews settled in Newport in the first year of Williams' presidency (1654), and Quakers followed in large numbers. All the early settlers owned land that, following Williams' practice, was bought from the Native Americans. Fishing and trade supplemented the living won from the soil. Moreover, livestock from the

Narragansett county (South County), especially the famous Narragansett pacers, figured largely in the early commerce, which developed rapidly in the late 17th cent. Because of the colony's religious freedom, it was viewed with mixed loathing and fear by the more powerful neighboring colonies and was never admitted to the New England Confederation. However, it bore its share of the devastation caused by King Philip's War in 167576. Between 1750 and 1770 there was bitter strife between Providence and Newport over control of the colony. The Coming of Revolution Until the American Revolution, Newport was the commercial center of the colony, thriving especially on the triangular trade in rum, slaves, and molasses. Rhode Island, like other colonies, objected to British mercantilist policies and consistently violated the Molasses Act of 1733 and the Navigation Acts. Narragansett Bay became a notorious haven for smugglers, and the British revenue cutter Gaspee was burned (1772) by patriots in protest against the enforcement of revenue laws. After the start of the American Revolution, Rhode Island militia under Nathanael Greene joined (1775) the Continental Army at Cambridge, and on May 4, 1776, the province renounced its allegiance to George III. British forces occupied parts of Rhode Island from 1776 to 1779, when they withdrew before the arrival of the French fleet. The Revolution won, Rhode Island, jealous of its independence, refused to sanction a national import duty; it therefore deprived the Continental Congress of a major source of revenue and became one of the states responsible for the failure of the Articles of Confederation. Rhode Island did not send delegates to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia and resisted ratifying the Constitution until the federal government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state; even then, ratification passed (1790) by only two votes. Industrialization The post-Revolutionary era brought bankruptcy and currency difficulties. Shipping, which continued to be a major factor in the state's economy until the first quarter of the 19th cent., was hard hit by Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 and by the competition from larger ports such as New York and Boston. However, this post-Revolutionary period also marked the beginning of Rhode Island's industrial greatness. Samuel Slater built the first successful American cottontextile mill at Pawtucket in 1790. An abundance of water power led to the rapid development of manufacturing, in which merchants and shipping magnates invested their capital. With the growth of industry the towns increased in population, and Providence surpassed Newport as the commercial center of the state. Since suffrage had long been restricted to freeholders, Rhode Island's increased urbanization resulted in the disenfranchisement of most townspeople. Frustrated in repeated attempts to amend the constitution, many Rhode Islanders joined Thomas Wilson Dorr in forcibly establishing an illegal state government in Providence in 1842. Dorr's Rebellion, though abortive, resulted in the adoption of a new constitution (1842) extending suffrage; however, the property qualification was not abolished

until 1888. Antislavery sentiment was strong in Rhode Island, and the state firmly supported the Union in the Civil War. Mill Towns, Discontent, and a Changing Economy Until well into the 20th cent. Rhode Island's political and economic life was dominated by mill owners. (Nelson W. Aldrich was a power in the nation as well as the state.) The small mill towns, with their company houses and company stores and their large numbers of foreignborn residents, were important elements in the social fabric. English, Irish, and Scottish settlers had begun arriving in large numbers in the first half of the 19th cent.; French Canadian immigration commenced around the time of the Civil War; at the end of the 19th cent. and the beginning of the 20th there was a large influx of Poles, Italians, and Portuguese. Politically, Rhode Island was generally controlled by Republicans until the 1930s, when the Democrats' insistence on reapportionment of representation (which tended to favor small towns over urban areas) helped bring their party into power. Sporadic labor troubles in the 19th cent. had little effect on the state's economy. However, after World War I there was a long textile strike, centered in the Blackstone valley; this, together with the gradual removal of the mills to the Souththe source of the cotton supply where labor was cheaperled to a continuing decline in the cotton-textile industry. Nevertheless, the manufacture of textile products is still carried on in the state today and new industries such as high-technology electronics have been introduced. Since the 1970s the overall shift in the state's economy has been away from manufacturing altogether and toward the service sector. This shift has coincided with major suburban growth.

Bibliography See P. J. Coleman, Transformation of Rhode Island, 17901860 (1963); F. G. Bates, Rhode Island and the Formation of the Union (1967); W. G. McLoughlin, Rhode Island: A History (1978); M. Wright and R. Sullivan, The Rhode Island Atlas (1982); P. T. Conley, An Album of Rhode Island History, 16361986 (1986).

Law and government Presidential elections results Year Republican Democratic

2008 35.21% 165,391 63.13% 296,571 2004 38.67% 169,046 59.42% 259,760

2000 31.91% 130,555 60.99% 249,508 1996 26.82% 104,683 59.71% 233,050 1992 29.02% 131,601 47.04% 213,299 1988 43.93% 177,761 55.64% 225,123 1984 51.66% 212,080 48.02% 197,106 1980 37.20% 154,793 47.70% 198,342 1976 44.10% 181,249 55.40% 227,636 1972 53.00% 220,383 46.80% 194,645 1968 31.80% 122,359 64.00% 246,518 1964 19.10% 74,615 80.90% 315,463 1960 36.40% 147,502 63.60% 258,032 1956 58.30% 225,819 41.70% 161,790 1952 50.90% 210,935 49.10% 203,293 The capital of Rhode Island is Providence. The state's current governor is Lincoln Chafee (I), and the lieutenant governor isElizabeth H. Roberts (D). Its United States Senators are Jack Reed (D) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D). Rhode Island's two United States Congressmen are David Cicilline (D-1) and Jim Langevin (D-2). See congressional districts map. Rhode Island is one of a few states that do not have an official Governor's residence. See List of Rhode Island Governors. The state legislature is the Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member House of Representatives and the 38-member Senate. Both houses of the bicameral body are currently dominated by the Democratic Party. Because Rhode Island's population barely crosses the threshold for additional votes in both the federal House and electoral college, it is well represented relative to its population, with the eighth-highest number of electoral votes and second-highest number of House Representatives per resident. Based on its area, Rhode Island even has the highest density of electoral votes.[36] Federally, Rhode Island is a reliably Democratic state during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. In the 1980 U.S. Presidential

Election, Rhode Island was one of only 6 states to vote against Ronald Reagan. Reagan did carry Rhode Island in his 49-state victory in 1984, but the state was the second weakest of the states Reagan won. Rhode Island was the Democrats' leading state in 1988 and 2000, and second-best in 1966, 1996 and 2004. Rhode Island's most one sided Presidential election result was in 1964; over 80% of Rhode Islanders voted for Lyndon B. Johnson. The last fifteen Presidential elections in Rhode Island have resulted in the Democratic party winning the State's electoral college votes eleven times. The state was devoted to Republicans until 1908, but has only strayed from the Democrats 7 times in the 24 elections that have followed. In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4% of its vote. All but three of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate. The only exceptions were East Greenwich, West Greenwich and Scituate.[37] In 2008, Rhode Island gaveBarack Obama a 29-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 64% of its vote. All of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns voted for the Democratic candidate, except for Scituate.[38] Also, the 2008 Presidential election brought out 83% of the active voters in the State. Further information: Political party strength in Rhode Island Voter registration and party enrollment as of March 15, 2011[39][40] Party Active voters Inactive voters Total voters Percentage 10,729 7,392 101 39,953 58,175 134,817 79,425 5,633 470,076 689,951 19.54% 11.51% 0.82% 68.13% 100%

Democratic 124,088 Republican 72,033 Moderate 5,532

Unaffiliated 430,123 Total 631,776

Rhode Island has abolished capital punishment, making it one of 15 states that have done so. Rhode Island abolished the death penalty very early, just after Michigan, the first state to abolish it, and carried out its last execution in the 1840s. Rhode Island was the second to last state to make prostitution illegal. Until November 2009 Rhode Island law made prostitution legal provided it took place indoors.[41] In a 2009 study Rhode Island was listed as the 9th safest state in the country.[42] In 2011 Rhode Island became the third state in the United States to pass legislation to allow the use of medical marijuana. Additionally the Rhode Island General Assembly passed civil unions and it was signed into law by Governor Lincoln Chafee on July 2, 2011. Rhode Island became the eighth state to fully recognize either same-sex marriage or civil unions.[43] Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes, and sixth in real estate taxes.[44]

Religion

Grace Church, a historic church at 175 Mathewson Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The religious affiliations of the people of Rhode Island are:[52]

Christian 87.5% Roman Catholic 63.6% Protestant 21.6% Episcopal 8.1% Baptist 6.3% Evangelical 4% other 3.2% Other Christian 2.3% Self-identified non-religious 6% Other religions 1.9% Jewish 1.4% Muslim 1.2%

Touro Synagogue The largest single Protestant denominations are the Episcopalianswith 26,756 and the Baptists with 20,997 adherents.[53] The Jewish community of Rhode Island is centered in the Providence area, and emerged during a wave of Jewish immigration (predominately) from the Shtetl between 1880 and 1920. The presence of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, the oldest existing synagogue in the United States, emphasizes that these second-wave immigrants did not create Rhode Island's first Jewish community; A comparatively smaller wave of Portuguese Jews immigrated to Newport during the colonial era. Rhode Island has one of the highest percentage of Roman Catholics[54] in the nation mainly due to large Irish, Italian, and French Canadian immigration in the past; recently, significant Portuguese and various Hispanic communities have also been established in the state. Though it has one of the highest overall Catholic percentages of any state, none of Rhode Island's individual counties ranks among the 10 most Catholic in the United States, as Catholics are very evenly spread throughout the state. Additionally, Rhode Island and Utah are the only two states in which a majority of the population are members of a single religious body. Transportation [edit]Public transportation

A RIPTA bus at Kennedy Plaza.

The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge [edit]Bus The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority(RIPTA) operates statewide intra- and intercity bus transport from its hubs atKennedy Plaza in Providence, Pawtucket, and Newport. RIPTA bus routes serve 38 of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns (New Shoreham on Block Island being the only exception). RIPTA currently operates 58 routes, including daytime trolley service (using trolley-style replica buses) in Providence and Newport. [edit]Ferry From 2000 through 2008, RIPTA offered seasonal ferry service linking Providence and Newport, funded by grant monies from the Department of Transportation. Though the service was popular with residents and tourists, RIPTA was unable to continue on after the federal funding ended. Service was discontinued as of 2010.[81] The privately run Block Island Ferry links Block Island with Newport andNarragansett with traditional and fast-ferry service, while the Prudence Island Ferry connects Bristolwith Prudence Island. Private ferry services also link several Rhode Island communities with ports inConnecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. The Vineyard Fast Ferry offers seasonal service toMartha's Vineyard from Quonset Point with bus and train connections to Providence, Boston, and New York. Viking Fleet offers seasonal service from Block Island to New London, Connecticut andMontauk, New York. [edit]Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail's Providence/Stoughton Line links Providence and T.F. Green Airport with Boston. The line is being extended southward to Wickford Junction, with service expected to begin in 2012. The state hopes to extend the MBTA line to Kingston and Westerly. as well as explore the possibility of extending Connecticut's Shore Line East to T.F. Green Airport.[82] Amtrak's Acela Express stops at Providence Station (the only Acela stop in Rhode Island), linking Providence to other cities in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak's Northeast Regional service makes stops at Providence Station, Kingston, and Westerly. [edit]Aviation See also: Aviation in Rhode Island and List of airports in Rhode Island Rhode Island's primary airport for passenger and cargo transport is T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, though Rhode Islanders who wish to travel internationally on direct flights

or who seek a greater availability of flights and destinations often fly through Logan International Airport in Boston. [edit]Limited access highways Interstate 95 runs southwest to northeast across the state, linking Rhode Island with other states along the East Coast. Interstate 295 functions as a partial beltway encircling Providence to the west.Interstate 195 provides a limited-access highway connection from Providence (and Connecticut and New York via I-95) to Cape Cod. Initially built as the easternmost link in the (now cancelled) extension of Interstate 84 from Hartford, Connecticut, a portion of U.S. Route 6 through northern Rhode Island is limited-access and links I-295 with downtown Providence. Several Rhode Island highways extend the state's limited-access highway network. RI-4 is a major north-south freeway linking Providence and Warwick (via I-95) with suburban and beach communities along Narragansett Bay. RI-10 is an urban connector linking downtown Providence with Cranston andJohnston. RI-37 is an important east-west freeway through Cranston and Warwick and links I-95 with I-295. RI-99 links Woonsocket with Providence (via RI-146). RI-146 travels through the Blackstone Valley, linking Providence and I-95 with Worcester, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Turnpike.RI-403 links RI-4 with Quonset Point. Several bridges cross Narragansett Bay connecting Aquidneck Island and Conanicut Island to the mainland, most notably the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge. [edit]Bicycle paths The East Bay Bike Path stretches from Providence to Bristol along the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, while the Blackstone River Bikeway will eventually link Providence and Worcester. In 2011, Rhode Island completed work on a marked on-road bicycle path through Pawtucket and Providence, connecting the East Bay Bike Path with the Blackstone River Bikeway, completing a 33.5 miles (53.9 km) bicycle route through the eastern side of the state.[83] Culture

Beavertail State Park

Redwood Library and Athenaeum Some Rhode Islanders speak with a non-rhotic accent that many compare to a "Brooklyn" or a cross between a New York and Boston accent ("water" becomes "wata"). Many Rhode Islanders distinguish the aw sound [], as one might hear in New Jersey; e.g., the word coffee is pronounced [kfi] kaw-fee.[84] This type of accent was brought to the region by early settlers from eastern England in the Puritan migration to New England in the midseventeenth century.[85] Rhode Islanders refer to drinking fountains as "bubblers," (pronounced bub-luhs.) Nicknamed "The Ocean State", the nautical nature of Rhode Island's geography pervades its culture. Newport Harbor, in particular, holds many pleasure boats. In the lobby of the state's main airport, T. F. Green, is a large life size sailboat,[86] and the state's license plates depict an ocean wave or a sailboat.[87] Additionally, the large number of beaches in Washington County lures many Rhode Islanders south for summer vacation.[88] The state was notorious for organized crime activity from the 1950s into the 1990s when the Patriarca crime familyheld sway over most of New England from its Providence headquarters. Rhode Islanders developed a unique style of architecture in the 17th century, called the stoneender.[89] Rhode Island is the only state to still celebrate Victory over Japan Day. It is known locally as "VJ Day", or simply "Victory Day".[90] Food and beverages Several foods and dishes are unique to Rhode Island and some are hard to find outside of the state.Hot wieners, which are sometimes called gaggers, weinies, or New York System wieners, are smaller than a standard hot dog, served covered in a meat sauce, chopped onions, mustard, and celery salt. Famous to Rhode Island is Snail Salad, which is served at numerous restaurants throughout the state. The dish is normally prepared "family style" with

over five pounds of snails mixed in with other ingredients commonly found in seafood dishes.[91] Grinders are submarine sandwiches, with a popular version being the Italian grinder, which is made with cold cuts (usually ham, prosciutto, capicola,salami, and Provolone cheese). Linguia (a spicy Portuguese sausage) and peppers, eaten with hearty bread, is also popular among the state's large Portuguese community. Pizza strips are prepared in Italian bakeries and sold in most supermarkets and convenience stores, they are rectangular strips of pizza without the cheese and are served cold. Party pizza is a box of these pizza strips. Spinach pies are similar to a calzone but filled with seasoned spinach instead of meat, sauce and cheese. Variations can include black olives or pepperoni with the spinach. As in colonial times, johnny cakes are made with corn meal and water, then pan-fried much like pancakes. During fairs and carnivals, Rhode Islanders enjoy dough boys, which are platesized disks of deep fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar (or pizza sauce). Zeppole are Italian doughnut-like pastries traditionally eaten on Saint Joseph's Day, often made with exposed centers of vanilla pudding, cream filling, or ricotta cream, and sometimes topped with a cherry.

Waterplace Park in Providence As in many coastal states, seafood is readily available.Shellfish is extremely popular, with clams being used in multiple ways. The quahog, from the Narragansett Indian word "poquauhock"; see A Key into the Language of America by Roger Williams 1643) is a large clam usually used in a chowder. It is also ground and mixed with stuffing (and sometimes spicy minced sausage) and then baked in its shell to form a stuffie. Steamed clams are also a very popular dish. Calamari (squid) is sliced into rings and fried and is served as an appetizer in most Italian restaurants, typically Sicilian-style, i.e. tossed with sliced banana peppers and with marinara sauce on the side. Rhode Island, like the rest of New England, has a tradition of clam chowder. While both the white New England variety and the red Manhattan variety are popular, there is also a unique clear chowder, known as Rhode Island Clam Chowder available in many restaurants. According to Good Eats, the addition of tomatoes in place of milk was initially the work of Portuguese immigrants in Rhode Island, as tomato-based stews were already a traditional part of Portuguese cuisine, and milk was costlier than tomatoes. Scornful New Englanders called this

modified version "Manhattan-style" clam chowder because, in their view, calling someone a New Yorker was an insult.[citation needed] Perhaps the most unusual culinary tradition in Rhode Island is the clam cake. The clam cake (also known as a clam fritter outside of Rhode Island) is a deep fried ball of buttery dough with chopped bits of clam inside. They are sold by the half-dozen or dozen in most seafood restaurants around the state. The quintessential summer meal in Rhode Island is chowder and clam cakes. Clams Casino originated in Rhode Island after being invented by Julius Keller, the maitre d' in the original Casino next to the seaside Towers in Narragansett.[92] Clams Casino resemble the beloved stuffed quahog but are generally made with the smaller littleneck or cherrystone clam and are unique in their use of bacon as a topping. According to a Providence Journal article, the state features both the highest number and highest density of coffee/doughnut shops per capita in the country, with 342 coffee/doughnut shops in the state. At one point, Dunkin' Donuts alone had over 225 locations.[93] The official state drink of Rhode Island is coffee milk,[94] a beverage created by mixing milk with coffee syrup. This unique syrup was invented in the state and is sold in almost all Rhode Island supermarkets, as well as border states. Although coffee milk contains some caffeine, it is sold in school cafeterias throughout the state. Strawberry milk is also as popular as chocolate milk. Sports

McCoy Stadium where the Pawtucket Red Sox play baseball

Dunkin' Donuts Center Rhode Island has two professional sports teams, both of which are top-level minor league affiliates for teams in Boston. The Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team, of the Triple-

A International League, are an affiliate of theBoston Red Sox. They play at McCoy Stadium inPawtucket and have won two league titles, the Governors' Cup, in 1973 and 1984. McCoy Stadium also has the distinction of being home to the longest professional baseball game ever played 33 innings. The other professional minor league team is theProvidence Bruins ice hockey team, of the American Hockey League, who are an affiliate of theBoston Bruins. They play in the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence and won the AHL's Calder Cupduring the 199899 AHL season. Additionally, the Rhode Island Rebellion rugby league team are scheduled to play in the USA Rugby League in 2011.[100][101] The National Football League's New England Patriots and Major League Soccer's New England Revolution play at Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough, Massachusetts, approximately 18 miles (29 km) north of Providence and 9 miles (14 km) from the State's border.

Bryant University's Bulldogs Stadium

University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium and Ryan Center There are fourNCAA Division I schools in Rhode Island. All four schools compete in different conferences. The Brown University Bearscompete in the Ivy League, the Bryant University Bulldogscompete in the Northeast Conference, the Providence College Friars compete in the Big East Conference and the University of Rhode Island Rams compete in the Atlantic-10 Conference. Three of the schools' football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision, the second-highest level of college football in the United States. Brown plays FCS football in the Ivy League and Bryant and Rhode Island play FCS football in the Northeast Conference. All four of the Division I schools in the State compete in an intrastate all-sports competition known as the Ocean State Cup.

1884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays Rhode Island also has a long and storied history for athletics. Prior to the great expansion of athletic teams all over the country Providence and Rhode Island in general played a great role in supporting teams. The Providence Grays won the first World Championship in baseball history in 1884. The team played their home games at the old Messer Street Field in Providence. The Grays played in the National League from 1878 to 1885. They defeated the New York Metropolitans of the American Association in a best of five game series at the Polo Grounds in New York. Providence won three straight games to become the first champions in major league baseball history. Babe Ruth played for the minor league Providence Grays of 1914 and hit his only official minor league home run for that team before being recalled by the Grays parent club, the Boston Red Stockings[disambiguation needed]. A now-defunct professional football team, the Providence Steam Roller won the 1928 NFL title. They played in a 10,000 person stadium called the Cycledrome.[102] A team by a similar name, theProvidence Steamrollers, played in the Basketball Association of America; which would become theNational Basketball Association. From 1930 to 1983, America's Cup races were sailed off Newport, and the both extremesport X Games and Gravity Games were founded and hosted in the state's capital city. The International Tennis Hall of Fame is in Newport at the Newport Casino, site of the first U.S. National Championships in 1881. The Hall of Fame and Museum were established in 1954 by James Van Alen as "a shrine to the ideals of the game." The Hall of Fame Museum encompasses over 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of tennis history, chronicling tennis excellence from the 12th century to today. The Hall of Fame has 13 grass courts, and is the site of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, the only professional tennis event played on grass courts in the United States. The first members of the Hall of Fame were inducted in 1955, and as of 2008, there are 207 players, contributors, and court tennis players in the Hall of Fame.