Newport, Rhode Island Newport, Rhode Island Newport, Rhode Island, aerial view Newport, Rhode Island, aerial view Official seal of Newport, Rhode Island Location of Newport in Newport County, Rhode Island Location of Newport in Newport County, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside town/city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States.
The City of Newport is positioned approximately 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Providence, 21 miles (34 km) south of Fall River, and 74 miles (119 km) south of Boston.
It is also the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport, which homes the United States Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and a primary United States Navy training center.
The town/city is the governmental center of county of Newport County, which has no governmental functions other than court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries.
See also: Timeline of Newport, Rhode Island Newport was established in 1639 on Aquidneck Island, which was called Rhode Island at the time.
They separated inside a year of that settlement, however, and Coddington and the rest began the settlement of Newport on the southern side of the island.
Newport interval to be the biggest of the four initial settlements of Rhode Island, which also encompassed Providence Plantations and Shawomett.
Many of the first colonists in Newport became Baptists, and the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed in 1640 under the leadership of John Clarke.
In 1658, a group of Jews were allowed to settle in Newport who were fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. The Newport congregation is now referred to as Congregation Jeshuat Israel and is the second-oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.
In 1663, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations received its royal charter, and Benedict Arnold was propel as its first governor at Newport.
The Old Colony House served as a seat of Rhode Island's government upon its culmination in 1741 at the head of what is now known as Washington Square, until the current Rhode Island State House in Providence was instead of in 1904 and Providence became the state's sole capital city.
Newport became the most meaningful port in colonial Rhode Island, and a enhance school was established in 1640.
The commercial activeness which raised Newport to its fame as a rich port was begun by a second wave of Portuguese Jews who settled there about the middle of the 18th century.
Rivera introduced into America the manufacture of sperm oil, which became one of the dominant industries and made Newport rich.
"To him in a larger degree than to any one else was due the rapid commercial evolution which made Newport for a quarter of a century afterward the most formidable rival of New York." He induced 40 Portuguese Jewish families to settle there and, inside fourteen years of Lopez's activity, Newport had 150 vessels engaged in trade. He was involved in the slave trade and produced spermaceti candles, ships, barrels, rum, chocolate, textiles, clothes, shoes, hats, and bottles. He became the wealthiest man in Newport but was denied peoplehip on theological grounds, even though British law protected the rights of Jews to turn into citizens. He appealed to the Rhode Island council for redress and was refused with this ruling: "Inasmuch as the said Aaron Lopez hath declared himself by religion a Jew, this Assembly doth not admit himself nor any other of that religion to the full freedom of this Colony.
From the mid 17th century, the theological tolerance in Newport thriving numbers of Quakers, known also and originally as the Society of Friends. The Great Friends Meeting House in Newport (1699) is the earliest existing home of worship in Rhode Island.
In 1727, James Franklin (brother of Benjamin) printed the Rhode-Island Almanack in Newport, and he presented the first journal in 1732, the Rhode Island Gazette.
Throughout the 18th century, Newport suffered from an imbalance of trade with the biggest colonial ports.
As a result, Newport merchants were forced to precarious alternatives to conventional exports. Newport was also a primary center of piracy amid the late 17th and early 18th century.
Many were hanged in Newport and were buried on Goat Island.
During the Colonial period, Newport was the center of the slave trade in New England, active in the "triangle trade" in which slave-produced sugar and molasses from the Caribbean were carried to Rhode Island and distilled into rum, which was then carried to West Africa and exchanged for captives.
In 1764, Rhode Island had about 30 rum distilleries, 22 in Newport alone.
Sixty percent of slave-trading voyages launched from North America issued from tiny Rhode Island, in some years more than 90%, and many from Newport.
William and Samuel Vernon were Newport merchants who later played an meaningful part in financing the creation of the United States Navy; they sponsored 30 African slaving ventures.
In the winter of 1775 and 1776, the Rhode Island Legislature put militia General William West in charge of rooting out loyalists in Newport, and a several notable individuals were exiled to the northern part of the state, such as Joseph Wanton and Thomas Vernon. In the fall of 1776, the British saw that Newport could be used as a naval base to attack New York (which they had recently occupied), so they took over the city.
The following year, the British abandoned Newport, wanting to concentrate their forces in New York.
The first Catholic mass in Rhode Island was said in Newport amid this time.
The Rochambeau Monument in Kings Park on Wellington Avenue along Newport Harbor memorializes Rochambeau's contributions to the Revolutionary War and to Newport's history.
Newport's populace had declined from over 9,000 (according to the census of 1774) to severaler than 4,000 by the time that the war ended (1783).
Also, the war finished Newport's economic wealth, as years of military occupation closed the town/city to any form of trade.
The Newport merchants moved away, some to Providence, the rest to Boston and New York.
It was in Newport that the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to ratify the Constitution in 1791 and turn into the 13th state, acting under pressure from the merchant improve of Providence.
Newport's City Hall By the turn of the 20th century, many of the nation's wealthiest families were summering in Newport, including the Vanderbilts, Astors, and the Widener family, who constructed the biggest "cottages", such as The Breakers (1895) and Miramar. They resided for a brief civil season in grand, gilded mansions with elaborate receiving rooms, dining rooms, music rooms, and ballrooms but with several bedrooms, since the guests were expected to have "cottages" of their own.
Many of the homes were designed by New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, who kept a home in Newport himself.
The Fifth Ward of Newport in the southern part of the town/city became a staunch Irish neighborhood for many generations.
Rhode Island did not have a fixed capital amid and after the colonial era, but rotated its legislative sessions among Providence, Newport, Bristol, East Greenwich, and South Kingstown.
In 1854, the sessions were eliminated in the metros/cities other than Providence and Newport, and Newport was finally dropped in 1900.
Mary's Church in Newport on September 12, 1953. Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower both made Newport the sites of their "Summer White Houses" amid their years in office.
Today it hosts the Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA Newport) and remains home to the U.S.
The Preservation Society of Newport County began opening Newport's historic mansions to the public, and the tourist trade became Newport's major commercial enterprise over the subsequent years. According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 11.4 square miles (29.5 km2), of which 7.7 square miles (19.9 km2) is territory and 3.7 square miles (9.6 km2), or 32.64%, is water. The Newport Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in New England, joins Newport to neighboring Conanicut Island athwart the East Passage of the Narragansett.
Newport has one of the highest concentrations of colonial homes in the country in the downtown Newport Historic District, one of three National Historic Landmark Districts in the city.
Many of these homes were restored in the late 20th century through grants made by Newport resident Doris Duke, as well as other small-town efforts such as Operation Clapboard.
As a result, Newport's colonial tradition is well preserved and documented at the Newport Historical Society.
In addition to the colonial architecture, the town/city is known for its Gilded Age mansions, which have also received extensive restoration from both private owners and non-profits such as the Preservation Society of Newport County.
Newport is a maritime town/city with coastlines on the west, south, and east.
Newport Country Club was one of the five beginning clubs of the United States Golf Association; it hosted the first U.S.
In 2001, Newport became the new home of the Newport Gulls baseball team of the NECBL.
Newport is also home to the Newport Tower, Salve Regina University, Hammersmith Farm, Prescott Farm, and the Touro Synagogue, one of the earliest Jewish homes of worship in the Western hemisphere, as well as the Newport Public Library and Redwood Library and Athenaeum, one of the nation's earliest lending libraries.
Newport plays host to a number of celebrations amid the summer months, including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Sunset Music Festival, the Newport Folk Festival (where Bob Dylan infamously "went electric" in 1965), the Newport International Film Festival, and the Newport International Boat Show.
Newport's scenic oceanfront, colonial homes, bustling downtown make it a prominent wedding destination.
Some prominent wedding venues in Newport include the Chanler at Cliff Walk which lies on a cliff overlooking Easton's Beach, the Eisenhower House which is positioned in Fort Adams State Park, and the historic Rosecliff Mansion.
Newport is also known for its famous restaurants that draw tourists from around New England.
Newport Restaurant Week, a week long affair when select restaurants in Newport County offer special, reduced price menus, is a especially prominent time.
In Newport, the biggest enhance beach, Easton's beach, or First Beach, has a view of the famed Cliff Walk.
Gooseberry Beach is a private beach but is open to the enhance on certain days throughout the year, and is positioned on Ocean Drive, along with Newport's two other private beaches, Bailey's Beach (Spouting Rock Beach Association), and Hazard's Beach.
The Newport Cliff Walk is considered one of the most prominent attractions in the city.
Newport is also home to the Newport Country Club.
Fort Adams, an historical fort dating back to the War of 1812, homes the Museum of Yachting and hosts both the Newport Folk Festival and the Newport Jazz Festival annually.
For many years Newport was home to the series of yacht competitions for the America's Cup.
George's School (Middletown), Thompson Middle School, Rogers High School, Newport Area Career and Technical Center, Aquidneck Island Adult Learning Center.
Naval Academy Preparatory School, Salve Regina University, Naval War College, International Yacht Restoration School, Community College of Rhode Island Newport Campus.
Main article: List of citizens from Newport, Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island The Preservation Society of Newport County.
The Preservation Society of Newport County.
(Newport, Rhode Island)".
The Preservation Society of Newport County.
"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Newport city, Rhode Island".
"Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Newport city, Rhode Island".
"Selected Economic Characteristics: 2009-2011 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates (DP03): Newport city, Rhode Island".
A Dependent People: Newport, Rhode Island in the Revolutionary Era (Fordham Univ Press, 1992) "'The first wheel of commerce': Newport, Rhode Island and the slave trade, 1760 1776." The Architectural Heritage of Newport, Rhode Island: 1640-1915 (CN Potter, 1967) Urban expansion in colonial Rhode Island: Newport and providence in the eighteenth century (SUNY Press, 1984) Arnold, History of the State of Rhode Island, (two volumes, New York, (1859 60) Mason, Reminiscences of Newport, (Newport, 1884) Newport History, the journal of the Newport Historical Society National Geographic Magazine/Volume 31/Number 4/Naval Training Station of Newport, Rhode Island Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newport, Rhode Island.
City of Newport official website "Class and Leisure at America's First Resort: Newport 1870 1914" from American Studies at the University of Virginia Wikisource-logo.svg "Newport, a city, a port of entry and the county-seat of Newport county, Rhode Island, U.S.A.".
Municipalities and communities of Newport County, Rhode Island, United States
Categories:
Newport, Rhode Island - Cities in Rhode Island - County seats in Rhode Island - Former state capitals in the United States - Historic Jewish communities in the United States - Populated places established in 1639 - Cities in Newport County, Rhode Island - Seaside resorts in the United States - Providence urbane region - Populated coastal places in Rhode Island - 1639 establishments in Rhode Island
|