Random Stories
Nicholson File
The modest sign remaining on Kinsley Avenue does not do justice to this former industrial behemoth. The contribution of machines, and the parts and tools needed to run them, can sometimes be lost on the consumer who purchases the end…
Coastal Oak Holly Forest
Pardon Gray Preserve has about 160 acres of mixed hardwoods that, when added to the adjacent Weetamoo Woods and Pocasset Ridge, is a highly valuable continuous canopy forest region. Within this forest are significant stands of a rare “coastal…
The Bell School
The Bell School was built in 1841 as a school for District No. 14, on the west side of the river. There was evidently some jealousy aroused in the other school districts when the residents of the Head of Westport decided to build so magnificent a…
Ebenezer Baptist Church
The congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church was born from the first independent African-American church in Providence. In 1819, black congregants withdrew from the First Baptist Church and built the African Union Meeting and Schoolhouse. In 1884, an…
Rhode Island School of Design and RISD Museum
The Rhode Island School of Design, most commonly known by its acronym RISD, is an internationally acclaimed leader in art and design education. Established in 1877 by 34 members of the Rhode Island Women’s Centennial Commission, the school embarked…
Saint Patrick Academy
An increasing Irish-Catholic immigrant population occupying Providence in the 1840s necessitated the need of both a parish and school. Saint Patrick’s Church was established in 1841 and, within two years, the school followed. Opened on November 1,…
Take a Tour
Jamestown Forts: Rhode Island's First Line of Defense
5 Locations ~ Curated by The Jamestown Historical SocietySecond Shift: New Bedford's Industrial and Immigrant Heritage
12 Locations ~ Curated by Ron M. PotvinLittle Compton Commons
4 Locations ~ Curated by John Nicholas Brown CenterWestport River Watershed
10 Locations ~ Curated by students in the 2017 Brown University course, "Power & Water: Material Culture and Environmental Impact." The students Julia Bianchi, Lauren Black, Alexander Fredman, Sasha Lieblein, Luke Perrotta, Charlotte Senders, and Liza Yeager. The instructor was Ron M. Potvin. Other entries were contributed by the Little Compton Historical Society and the Westport Historical Society.Smith Hill Neighborhood
10 Locations ~ Curated by Jennifer Wilson, Assistant Director of the Goff Center of Education at the Rhode Island Historical SocietyFeatured Stories
Shepard Company Building
Few places in downtown evoke such fond memories like the iconic Shepard Company Department Store, a fixture of the 19th and 20th-century Providence shopping experience. Built in the 1870s, Shepard’s…
Spiritual Cleansing: Religion at Mashapaug Pond
In the summers, Providence residents waded into Mashapaug Pond to get clean – or, more precisely, for spiritual cleansing. "The choir would sing and the Word was preached before the candidate…
Butts Hill Fort, Portsmouth
Butts Hill Fort is the largest remaining Revolutionary War fortification in southeastern New England. In 1776, when the Americans built a small battery there, the area was also known as Windmill Hill…
Rhode Tour
A project by the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Council for the HumanitiesRhode Tour is a statewide mobile historical smartphone application. Captivating places, intriguing people, and exciting events fill Rhode Island's history. Rhode Tour offers a new way to interact with these untold tales of the state's past. Using stories, sounds, and images, history comes alive on Rhode Tour. Read more About Us