Talk:Rhode Island/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Rhode Island. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Archive 2

Acquidneck Island lives!

The island has had the Acquidneck from the beginning of the colonies. It was a consolidation of government for the settlements on the island that was given the name Rhode Island in 1644! That name was then chosen as the name of the combined government of the island and mainland when the Rhode Island Colony was created in 1663. Goverments and Islands are different entities! Glenn

76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:48, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Providence Plantation County

Understand that was original name in 1703. Does anyone know when it was officially changed to Providence County? 76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:10, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Shouldn't this page be "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"? There is no U.S. state called "Rhode Island." --Daniel C. Boyer

Unless you want to call it the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, I doubt it. user:Montrealais

Yeah, but on the other hand, the article on Newfoundland is called by its official name of "Newfoundland and Labrador". I am curious if most Canadians call it by the full name, or if they just call the province Newfoundland. soulpatch

As I explained in Talk:Newfoundland and Labrador, the full name is used regularly by the government. For example, http://www.state.ri.us is headed "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," but they proceed to use "Rhode Island" in the rest of the links. http://www.gov.nf.ca, on the other hand, refers to Newfoundland and Labrador all the way through the site. The federal government uses the full name consistently on its pages (for example, check out Elections Canada. And the newspaper I read every morning calls it Newfoundland and Labrador (well, Terre-Neuve-Labrador). Furthermore, they're changing the postal abbreviation from NF to NL. Until I see RP, I don't think the situations are comparable.

Bear in mind that the change to N. and L. is both recent and for a political reason (see Newfoundland and Labrador for details), which may explain the difference. But all indications suggest that N. and L. is much more common than R.I. and P.P. -montrealais

I am curious not so much as to whether the Canadian government uses the full name in its documents (or even newspapers), but how do ordinary Canadians refer to the province? Is it really true that Canadians give the full name whenever they refer to it in conversation? soulpatch

I have not heard a sufficient number of Canadians refer to the province since its name was changed; it is quite recent, as I say. Suffice it to say that it is much more courant than R.I. & P.P. -mtlais

In any case, Rhode Islanders are not using the long formal name of their state but just Rhode Island. The formal name appears only once per couple of years in discussions wheter the name of the state should be changed to simple "Rhode Island". - tracian

They aren't suggesting on changing the name. If you people had any real education, you would know that most states have both a formal and casual name. "Commonwealth of Massachusetts" is the official name for MA. Anywho, both of you have valid points to the name issue.

Actually, Daniels, the official name is even longer. The official name is "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. See this for source under "How Rhode Island Got its Name": http://www.sec.state.ri.us/library/riinfo/riinfo/knowrhode

Island?

Look at bottm please. So it's all "Rhode Island" for short and the island is just part of it (and part of the full name), right? That's not very clear. Could someone know knows such things clarify that somewhere? The First paragraph eludes to it, but I'm still not clear. --Spikey 21:12, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

- - THAT IS TOTALLY INCORRECT WHAT YOU WROTE DOWN THERE!! I am a Rhode Island resident. The name Rhode Island doesn't come from any English settlers at all! NOPE! Not from Roger Williams, The Narragansett Indians, NOT FROM ANY EUROPEAN SETTLERS! Rhode Island was first visited by the Vikings, specifically Eric The Red..When they came to Rhode Island; way before Columbus even deiscovered the new world. He saw that the cliffs of Block Island were the color of red (terracotta to be exact), He so name it Rhode Island. The Viking word for red is rhode...

Silly people get it straight!

Weren't the Vikings European? Originally from Norway? Even Iceland, though not geographically connected, is considered part of Europe, isn't it? --Larry G 18:55, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Spot on Larry. Also, to the anonymous user, shouldn't it be "Norse" or "West Norse" word and not Viking? But then I'm not an expert, even if I am a descendent of one. --hedpeguyuk 9:31, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

The "Viking" (Old Norse) word for red is most certain NOT "rhode". The "Rhode" comes from the explorer's comparison of Manisses (now Block Island) to the island of Rhodes in Greece. There is absolutely no evidence that the Vikings ever landed in what is now modern day Rhode Island. --Roger Williams 01:30, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

How could the Vikings hit Rhode Island and not MA first? If they hit MA first, how did they know that it was MA and RI was something else? Food for thought.--71.235.81.39 03:57, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

They didn't. In the 19th century, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a fanciful epic poem called Skeleton in Armor. It was about a dead body found in Newport, and he assumed it was a Norseman with a piece of armor: a breastplate. Actual research found it to be a local Narragansett native with some metal bits of local make. The poem, though, spawned a lot of conjecture and wishful thinking. See http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/legend/sagas.html

Now, in Newport, is a supposed Viking Tower (it was really made in colonial times), Viking Tours, Viking Dry Cleaning, and so on.

And please call them Norsemen or Scandinavians. 'Viking' is an activity, as in 'to go a-viking'. The English raconteurs later kind of screwed up the usage. LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 00:33, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

RE: Island

I'll explain it here and somebody else can put it into the right format:

Originally, there were two settlements, one on the actual island of "Rhode Island", and one in Providence, so the whole state name was The State of (Rhode Island) and (Providence Plantations), in other words, the state was the combination of the two settlements. 76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

That consolidation was done in 1663, when Rhode Island colony was formed, long before it became a state. Glenn 76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Later on, the vernacular name was shortened to just "Rhode Island", and the original island by the name of "Rhode Island" was renamed to "Acquidneck Island" to avoid confusion.

Hope this helps.

Brian Narragansett, RI --ZeLonewolf 22:07, 15 Mar 2004 (UTC) 76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:20, 10 March 2008 (UTC) Brian:

I understand it to be the other way around. In 1644 the governments of the varius settlements on Acquidneck Island were consolidated and the name Rhode Island chosen. In 1663 Rhode Island Colony joined together the island and Providence Plantations. I have seen documents citing Acquidneck Island in the 1640's. Glenn 76.102.31.185 (talk) 08:19, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Use the whole name, goddamnit. Hehehe. The formality would help people understand it better. Commonwealth of Virginia, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". I'd compromise with you for "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations".

I have 3 generations in the state. Oh, please, trust me. We say Rodeyland, or Li'l Rodey. Mafia-infested Providence is the biggest feature of our little place, besides the few hundred islands scattered around the shores.

Kenneth Chepachet, RI --Lord Kenneð Alansson 02:06, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

(About the above ^^^, the pronunciation stresses the 'die' - Rho-die-land. LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 00:23, 18 May 2008 (UTC))

Commonwealth of Virginia, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and others are redirects to the common names Virginia and Massachusetts. Rhode Island and Providence Plantations redirects here already. --ZeLonewolf 14:23, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

Ok, lol. Lord Kenneð Alansson 00:25, 28 May 2004 (UTC)

As far as I know (4 generations in Rhode Island, and I had to research this in high School once), Acquidneck Island is the Native American name for the island referred to as Rhode Island. All you Rhode Islanders can admit that there are LOTS of Native American names in RI.

Rhode Island was never "renamed." That is completely inaccurate. It is still officially Rhode Island, though most people in RI call it by the Native American name, Acquidneck Island. It must be true -- I saw it on Jeopardy! once. ;-) I think the topic should be the full name because most people don't know that is the name, and we shoudl be educating them. I remember chanting "smallest state with the longest name" growing up. The silly things we are proud of...

-BevinT

I had always heard and been taught (by a variety of Providence Public School history teachers and a number of sources, including Verrazano's first hand recount) that Giovanni da Verrazano, who explored much of the United States East Coast, had remarked that the area bore a large resemblence to the Island of Rhodes (off the coast of Turkey) and thusly had gained its moniker. As to the "Providence Plantations" part of our name, the state is generally referred to as Rhode Island, even by major publications and federal government forms. You'll notice during an election that Tom Brokaw did not go: "And the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has cast its four electoral votes in the favor of [insert democratic candidate]" he said "the State of Rhode Island." TheMadjester

De jure: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
De facto: Rhode Island

Legal documents, people, etc... all call it Rhode Island.--Loodog 02:13, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Removed text

The following text does not belong in the introduction but I can't find a good other place to put it:

The Ohio Class nuclear missile submarine USS Rhode Island was named in honor of this state, which boasts the Newport Naval Station and its associated Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

- Centrx 22:06, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Some trivia

I don't know where this would fit in, but the first 100 Marines (in 1775) were from Rhode Island.

gabereal Chepachet/Woonsocket

Rhode Island flag

The new version of the flag that I posted is actually official, and it solves the problem that the old flag has in that the border on the old flag is invisible. Before I posted the new flag, I looked for other versions without the border, and found that the version with the border is the most common.

BTW, the gold border is not "strange", in that all flags in the USA - the US Flag included - come in versions that include the gold border. The US Flag with the border is used as a "Standard" by the US Military.

CORNELIUSSEON 23:27, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

I think the gold border doesn't add anything to the image, especially if it's on most states' flags. That means it's just a flag thing, and not a Rhode Island thing. The idea is for readers to see the design of the flag, and the gold border isn't really a part of the Rhode Island flag design per se. IMO. —Cleared as filed. 23:32, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

why is everything in Metric?

I don't understand metric, but I did grow up in Rhode Island. Would somebody be so kind as to insert the avoirdupois along side? -super90

what do you mean metric? oh rhode island uses metric most of the time,i grew up in rhode island too,i like kph,meters, and km better than the american metric system.lets put it this way 113KPH=70mph,30C=around 80F and Kilometers is 1/3 shorter than feet or miles.ok?. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.207.156.197 (talk • contribs) 09:23, 22 June 2006.

I think you might be confused on which Rhode Island. This is the article about the U.S. State named Rhode Island (and Providence Plantations), which certainly does not use the metric system. Perhaps you want Rhodes? Counterfit 21:04, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Pop-Culture References

First off, I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone who contributed to the page. I absolutely love what you've done to it. In the pop culture references, it only mentions Rhode Island as appearing in a single episode of Family Guy. Wouldn't it make more sense to mention that the entire show takes place in Rhode Island? --Ghettobean3 20:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860-1929

Can somebody translate this paragraph to English?

Done. EvilOverlordX 23:23, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Depression/Great Depression

I assumed, as a result of the capitalisation, that the reference to the Depression in the Economics section referes to the Great Depression and have directed the link accordingly. I did have a look for something to substantiate this, but failed - perhaps someone with a greater knowledge about the economic history of Rhode Island could confirm that this is acceptable (or indeed tell me that it referes to a different Depression). Thanks. - Politepunk 17:42, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Nickname

Actually, parts of RI are further than 30 miles from the ocean, not including NArragansett bay. Can we just mention the nickname as is unless we have more sourcing on it's originss? Thanks!Tom 14:30, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, if you don't include Narragansett Bay, a good portion of the state is further that 30 miles from the ocean. But isn't this rather moot, as the bay is part of the ocean? Counterfit 22:10, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Narragansett Brewing Company

Hello folks.

I am hoping that I can talk an editor who is interested in Rhode Island into giving some love to the Narragansett Brewing Company article/stub that I just created. I've looked into it a bit and it has a rich and fascinating history complete with wealthy industrialists, a huge philanthropic gift to Brown University, prohibition-era hijinks and early-80s economic doom. It's too far afield for me, unfortunately, but I am glad to at least have put a stake in the ground with the stub. Anyone? --AStanhope 20:29, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

I am actually a Beck's/St.Paulie Girl man myself but I'll try to help, ANYTHING to do with beer is a GOOD cause right? Just give me a few days, thanks Tom 17:16, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Who thinks it's an island?

"The name Rhode Island leads some out-of-staters to believe - mistakenly - that the entire state is an island."

Um...who thinks that, exactly? I mean, I'm from Massachusetts, and I've never met anyone who thinks Rhode Island is an island, even the West-coasters in the schools. I could see someone from outside the country thinking that, but not someone from another state. Twin Bird 15:50, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Having been all over the country, I have to say "plenty of people". A common misconception is that it is an island off the coast of New York. --gabereal

Exactly. I've had people even IN New York think I was a New York resident. Kingoomieiii 08:32, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

It is commonly misinterpreted to be Long Island, New York. some people (not nearly a majority of course) who make these errors range from people out in Maine, Canadians in Toronto, West-coasters and Gulf-coasters. It could very well be that a) they hid their ignorance from you or b) you simply have not met all the people outside of the state of Rhode Island (it does only have 1,000,000 residents) and cannot vouch as to whether "some" people do believe Rhode Island is an Island. After all, its not like their doing polls on these types of things TheMadjester

I think it deserves to be mentioned simply because it has "island" in it's name. If we renamed Utah to Lake Utah, it would make sense to explain that Utah is not actually a lake. :) -Quasipalm 15:55, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I have met people from other, mostly western, US states who think that the entire state is an island, and have had to answer questions like "do you have to take a ferry to get off the island, or is there a bridge?" --Roger Williams 01:34, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'm from the UK and upon first hearing the name 'Rhode Island' I had no reason to think that it wasn't an island. And I'd say that the majority of British people think that Rhode Island is a island, afterall, most people here have not heared of more than 3/4 of the states, (and why would we have? Its not our country) and if you are told 'oh I live in Rhode Island' you would assume its an island. It should be explained WHY the state is called Rhode ISLAND and clarify that its not an island. ~ Anon

Look, Americans aren't as smart as you Bris. Since everything else with the name *blank* Island is an island, Americans think Rhode Island must be, which, incidentally, the title originally referred to.--Loodog 15:51, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

vandal-reversion

Some knucklehead vandalized the page. Will endeavor to fix. Can others please review? --C.Bell

Your reversion looks fine. Why would someone want to advertize that by size, he's the smallest in the US? DMacks 16:50, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

NPOV

There's an NPOV in the culture section, with no indication as to why it's there, and I don't see anything obviously wrong with it after reading it, so I'm removing it.

Quahog

I think that Quahog should be removed from the Rhode Island box on the bottom of this page and the rest of the rhode island pages. Unfortunately I don't know how to access that. Quahog shouldn't be listed among the actual cities and towns. --Forestfufighting 19:30, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Makes sense to me. That box is Template:Rhode Island, so its talk page is a good place to discuss it. DMacks 19:39, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

A couple things...

I live on Aquidneck Island. Us residents call it Aquidneck Island and accept it as the name. However, some of us are aware that the name of the island is actually in dispute, but noone seems to want to do anything about it. I think... until "we" can decide whether it is Aquidneck Island or Rhode Island, that it should be labeled as Aquidneck Island. I've lived here my whole life, and have NEVER heard it referred to as Rhode Island... always Aquidneck Island. Only doing research I've learned that the name of the island is in dispute... just a thought.

Also... we do not use the metric system here. There was an effort some decades ago to switch to metric, but as with many places in the US, it never stuck. Standard US measurement for us.

I think at the very least... that regardless of what is official and verifiable, that the above info should be acknowledged.

And lastly... maybe I'm nitpicking... but the name of the state is officially "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." For the sake of being an official reference, shouldn't the name of the article be the name of the state, with everything else redirecting to it?

--Zetabill 00:46, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. As before, here's a source: http://www.sec.state.ri.us/library/riinfo/riinfo/knowrhode . See under "How Rhode Island Got its Name"

Culture Section

This section needs attention from a Rhode Islander. The NPOV tag someone removed probably was in reference to the patronizing tone of the section. Some of the stuff in that section is just plain wrong, such as:

"stuffies", sometimes called "quahogs", which are large cherrystone clams mixed with stuffing and spicy minced sausage and then baked in the shell"

Rhode Islanders have a particular fascination with coffee. There are coffee shops on almost every corner and it is common belief that more coffee ice cream is sold here per-capita than any other state.

Quahogs aren't stuffies. If they're stuffed, they're stuffies. Stuffies aren't called quahogs. "Coffee shops on almost every corner" needs some kind of citation and that coffee ice cream claim is laughably unencylopedic. --Cranston, RI icydid 18:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

In the late 60's, an article in Readers Digest said that RI had the largest per capita comsumption of coffee ice cream. Gatr (talk) 19:47, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Gaspee

As a native RI-lander, I take our history with the Gaspee very seriously, can someone add it in?

Done.--Loodog 03:02, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

References

The references section should be cleaned up, there should be titles for all the weblinks. -Ravedave 18:43, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Hispanic (Lusitanian)?

Greetings,

As per the edit history I removed a line that labeled the county average of 8.6% portuguese-descent as "Hispanic (Lusitanian)". There is no such thing and the labeling of "Hispanic" is not meant to be applied to iberian immigrants, even if the Census would make it so; fortunatly in this case it doesn't: as anyone can see in http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/44/44001.html Bristol County as 1.4% of "Hispanic" population, and much more than the average of 8.6% of portuguese-descendent americans. --195.245.185.32 13:39, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

I strongly suggest re-evauliating the demographs and religious numbers in this article, and re-sourceing them. There has been an IP vandal changing these stats in several State articles. See Minnesota for sources if needed. -Ravedave 16:51, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

You are right, I regreted having completely deleted the sentence when thinking about it while driving home :) ~~The Hispanic statistic was correct~~, the "Lusitanian" part was what falsified the meaning. Thanks for the quick feedback and FWIW I agree with the revert and edit. I'm not sure if you were refering to me as the possible "IP vandal", I'll create an account in this wikipedia to prevent this confusions.--89.26.150.34 22:15, 18 August 2006 (UTC) Update: I've revisited the RI census page and the Hispanic statistic is 10.3%. I don't know if there is a better source than this, so I'll abstain for editing, but feel free to do so --89.26.150.34 22:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Nonono not you, you are doing everything right. This is one of the IP's I have seen making random edits: User:71.87.214.99 there have been several though. This is the source I would use for demographics: [1] and this is the one for religion [2] Make sure the sources are very clerly added before the stats are listed out. If you need help using the <ref> style feel free to leave me a message. -Ravedave 22:49, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Food

It should be noted that "dynamites" are another nickname in the long list of nicknames for hot weiners. I was born and raised in Rhode Island(and continue to live here) and have never heard anyone refer to a sandwich with ground beef and spices as a "dynamite". Any type of nickname for weiners can be found in the 2006 Best of Rhode Island issue of the Rhode Island Monthly.

I've corrected the "food" entry vis-a-vis Dunkin' Donuts. The original edit claimed that there were "over 30 in the state alone" - a gross undercount. There are over 100 locations within Rhode Island. Scary, I suppose, but true. --Roger Williams 01:35, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

My father's family (originating in Woonsocket) refers to ground beef, peppers, onions, and spices on a roll as "dynamites", and I can't say I've ever heard the term applied to weiners. I've also seen "gaggers" defined as a footlong hot dog, rather than a weiner (which isn't really long enough to gag anyone old enough to have teeth). Counterfit 21:08, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

I concur. The above beef, spice, etc. mixture (which I haven't encountered anywhere else in the USA) was always labeled dynamites when I lived in Chepachet and Woonsocket. Also on the Dunkin Donuts: Some RI folklore suggests that jelly-cream donuts are only available in the DD shops in Woonsocket RI and nowhere else on the planet. Gabereal 23:39, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Regarding, the "weiners" or "dynamites", I've lived (as a second residnence) in South Kingston my entire life (still do) and never heard these terms. I'm not disuputing them, I'm wondering if it's the same as what we call (Charlestown, Greenhill, Moonstone area)"saugies"?

Restored Page

edited the page back to the 15:51, 21 September 2006 Version because a User vandalized the top of the page with nonsense insertions.

- Duke23 21:32, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Demographics section - "Hispanic" is a proper noun

The word "Hispanic" in the box in the Demographics section needs to be capitalized. I'd do it myself, but I'm not sure exactly how - when I hit "Edit," I don't see the box come up. Funnyhat 03:24, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

New Sports section added to updated Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states format

The Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states format has been updated to include a new Sports section, that covers collegiate sports, amateur sports, and non-team sports (such as hunting and fishing). Please feel free to add this new heading, and supply information about sports in Rhode Island. Please see South_carolina#Sports_in_South_Carolina as an example. NorCalHistory 13:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi I am a sixth grader in need of information for a brochure project on Rhode Island. I need info as fast as possible so that I can finish on time. If you need other stuff on RI I am making a page called rhode island benefits and could use some help. Thanks.

--Moodyboy11 02:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)GMR

Proposed WikiProject

I have created a basic proposal for a WikiProject to deal exclusively with the state of Rhode Island at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Rhode Island. Any editors who would be interested in being a part of such a group should indicate their interest there, so that we can know whether there is enough support to begin the project in earnest. Thank you. Badbilltucker 00:29, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't see a wikiproject Rhode Island proposal on there.--Loodog 01:52, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Follow the link above. It should take you right there. Badbilltucker 01:58, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll do it! --Moodyboy11 00:54, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The recent move

I think moving the article (away from its common name of Rhode Island to Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) was a bad idea; generally, here on Wiki, we name things by their most-common name rather than their most-precise name and I note that there are more than a thousand links to the now-redirect page.

Opinions from others?

Atlant 15:42, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Agree. Move it back. Look at Massachusetts; they mention in the page that its full name is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but the page itself is at the more common name.--Loodog 16:01, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Agree. WP:PLACES tells us "Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature." There's no other "Rhode Island", and that's the term that's most often used and recognized. DMacks 17:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Area

Looking around both on Wikipedia and the internet, I've been finding some conflicting numbers as to the area of Rhode Island (both the land and water area combined). The article says (forgive me, but km are easier to compare right now) 3,144 km², but the List of U.S. states by area lists its total area at 4,002 km² (2,706 km² of land, 1,295 km² of water - which strangely equals 4,001 km²). The orders of magnitude page 1 E9 m² gives an area of 4,005 km². Finally, a Google search seems to be somewhat consistent with a total area of 1,545 mi², which is about 4,001.53 km². Still, other land areas can be found.

Clearly I am nitpicking with all of this, but I wanted to point it out so others can see the differences; I didn't want to go changing Rhode Island's area (which may be very important to some) without consulting people who may know more about it than me. I just can't find another place that lists Rhode Island's area at 3,144 km². So on that note, thoughts on this? Should the listing on this page be changed?--Vter4life 02:15, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

A few sources: 3144, [[3]], 4002 (when converted), 4002 (when converted) 3144 (converted). I don't know. Between 4001 and 4002, that's a rounding difference. 3144 and 4002, that's 25% of the state. There must be somebody counting something differently...--Loodog 04:44, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Bad forwarding to "The size of Rhode Island"

Click on it and it doesn't go to the topic at hand. I'm not fluent in wikipedia forwarding but figured I'd bring this to the attention of someone that can fix it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.33.102.176 (talk) 04:11, 17 March 2007 (UTC).

The size of Rhode Island redirects to The size of Wales. Partway down that page is a paragraph that begins:

In the United States, newscasters similarly refer to the sizes of Texas (big) and Rhode Island (small) when discussing geographic areas...

I just added an intro sentence to that article that explains that there are many regional variations of the expression, in order to give a more general perspective before launching into each country's specifics. Hope that clarifies things. DMacks 05:14, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

List of firsts

Is that really necessary? No other state articles have anything of the sort (to my knowledge), and it seems a little Napoleonic. And, you know, probably appropriated from some other site. 69.253.193.234 22:31, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd say source it, and add the same for the other states (if possible). It's factual information (I assume); removing it would do nothing but make the article less informative. Kingoomieiii 08:39, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

The Station Fire?

There's NOTHING about it in this article, not even a link to it's page. It was a fairly notable event, but it apparently didn't happen. Fix? Kingoomieiii 08:43, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

No, you're right. It should be mentioned. For a period of 4 years after, anytime I told anyone I was from Rhode Island, all they associated was the Fire. Here's what should happen: someone should write the article about the Station Fire incident itself...check, I just found it The Station nightclub fire, and we write a very summarized version of it into the "history" section with a tag.--Loodog 17:29, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:State seal of Rhode Island.png

Image:State seal of Rhode Island.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 05:01, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

Isn't it fair use since it is a product of the government? It's use is only restricted when applied to things like official documents or marketing in a way that would imply association with or endorsement of the government entity. Tolstoy143 - "Quos vult perdere dementat" (talk) 05:52, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Richmond, Rhode Island

I'm hoping someone more familiar with RI can take a peek at the article for the town of Richmond here. Frankly, there seems to be a lot of stuff about some ESPN analyst that doesn't make any sense to me, but it might be legitimate stuff that's been confused. I would normally just post on the talk page for that article, but it appears to be quite low traffic. Thanks! Matt Deres (talk) 05:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

There had been vandalism and it hadn't been fixed because of low trafficness. Fixed it.--Loodog (talk) 05:33, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I think I was thrown off by the numerous proper edits of those IPs to other articles. Could be a school or library IP. Matt Deres (talk) 05:35, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Government

Does anyone know how many electoral votes Rhode Island has? I am suspecting three or four, but I am not sure. You should include that info of the main page under Government and Law. 75.49.38.79 (talk) 04:31, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Four, in fact it's the least populous state to have four vote, which gives it very good comparitive representation, 8th number of electoral votes per citizen to be exact.--Loodog (talk) 04:54, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Providence meetup

There is now a planning page to arrange a meetup in Providence. Please sign up if you are interested. --mikeu (talk) 18:22, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

There are now two dates scheduled for Meetup in Providence. --mikeu ^talk 14:09, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Block Island Bluffs

The picture near the top is captioned Block Island Bluffs. It's been a few years, but those look a lot like the Mohegan Bluffs. Can anyone verify this? I don't know that there are Block Island Bluffs besides the Mohegan ones (unless the ones on the North End have gotten bigger...) LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 00:44, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Graphic

The graphic is adorable:

But I don't think appropriate.--Loodog (talk) 14:47, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Distance from ocean

While most of Rhode Island is near the water's edge, it is more than a 30 or 45 minute drive for inland parts. I am a resident of RI and this is a fact dispite the reference.

Then you will need to find a source that says so. DCEdwards ¹⁹⁶⁶ 17:08, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Agree. Verifiability, not truth. Although, part of your objection may rest in a misconception of what's being claimed. It's not 30 minutes from the ocean; it's 30 minutes from the "[salt] water's edge", which I'll take to mean the ocean or Narraganset Bay. Just to pick the most northwest part of the state, Pascoag, Rhode Island is 20.1 miles from Collier Park, according to google maps.--Loodog (talk) 17:37, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

How can one use a unit of time to describe something that should be a unit of measurment? a 30 minute drive? at which speed? is it still 30 minutes regardless of whether one drives at 1 m.p.h. or at 100 m.p.h? I think the best way to describe the distance from the ocean/salt-water/water/or-whatever-else' edge is to use proper units of measurement. In this case milage would be the prefered unti of measure, although inches and feet could apply here but would result in ridiculously large numbers. Ghostqueen (talk) 06:24, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Independence

Someone had this article reading that RI was the second colony to declare independence (after NH) rather than the first. Of course this conflicts with everything I was taught back in elementary school in Cranston. I have found a reliable source (RI Secretary of State [[4]]) and edited the article, sourced appropriately.

Wrong. New Hampshire ratified an independent constitution in January 1776. [[5]]. As the reconciliation described in the first few paragraphs never occurred, this constitution constitutes a declaration of independence by the state of New Hampshire, effective January 5, 1776, which was before May 4, 1776. New Hampshire was first.68.33.32.75 (talk) 23:14, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

King Philip's War

Despite an earlier contributer's reference to what it says in The Regional Review (1938) it appears from all other sources I can find that none of the Rhode Island Militia were involved in the Great Swamp Fight or any other military actions in King Philip's War, despite the destruction to Rhode Island's cities. MarginalNote (talk) 16:18, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

I'll get citations. They're commemorated on the monument, and Benjamin Church was a colonel in Bristol at the time - I'll have to check if he was still in Plymouth's pay or not. LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 00:09, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

rhode island and it's founders

rhode islands founders were roger williams, anne hutchinson, john clarke, and william coddington. they moved away from massachussets bay because the puritan were very strict, and they were tired of there rules and wanted to be free from there rules so they started a colony of their own. roger williams started his in 1636 and anne, jonh, and william started thiers in 1638

Fairly close, but Williams and Hutchinson were cast out more than they left of their own free will. Take a look at the articles on those two - they're fairly well documented. LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 00:14, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

No sourcing to say Rhode Islanders have an influenced Brooklyn accent.

I don't think this is an accurate description of the Rhode Island accent. I couldn't find anywhere where it was sourced that it could be comparable to a Brooklyn accent. In many ways, it'd be similar to the Boston accent, since it's apart of New England, but the Boston and New England accents generally have considerable differences from the Brooklyn and New York accents. This also inaccurately refers to New Jerseyans. Most people in New Jersey don't say the word coffee like caw-fee. In fact, most of New Jersey just speaks General American, while the southern and more central part of the state speak with a more Mid-Atlantic tone. The only places in New Jersey where people say this is generally off the Hudson, which is not most of New Jersey. So I'll be changing these following quotes:

Many Rhode Islanders pronounce the aw sound (IPA:ɔ) as one might hear in New Jersey; e.g., the word coffee is pronounced kaw-fee.[

I'll put the word Northern in front of New Jersey to prevent confusion with New Jersey accents.

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").

Wata? That's New England, right? Yes, it's non-rhotic, but so is the southern dialect, which isn't too resembling of the New England or New York dialect either. I'm going to take this sentence out, because there's no explicit quote from any source that says this. I'll change it to this below:

Some Rhode Islanders speak ith a non-rhotic accent that has similarities with a Boston accent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.73.230.11 (talk) 03:15, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Slavery

The article states “On May 18, 1652 Rhode Island passed the first law in North America making slavery illegal”. If this is true it is misleading.

Britannica, Encarta and several other sources indicate that slavery was extensive in Rhode Island and continued into the 1800s. Also, that Newport, RI, was not only a major slave trading center but had its own slaving fleet. The slave trade in RI was restricted by legislation in 1774 and an act in 1807 began the phasing out of slavery itself.

KJB

That's a result of Roger Williams settling Providence, in which (by charter of the King of England) all men were allowed to pracice as they pleased, and no slaves could be held, since that was contrary to RW's views on letting people be. Once Providence, Aquidneck and Newport had all been bound together as a colony, those laws were removed. It is true that RI was a major hub for the slave trade, John Brown (not the famous abolitionist) could look from his house down on the Providence River and see his molasses and slave ships coming into port. However, by the time of the Missouri Compromise, RI had eliminated the holding of slaves within its boundaries, just like every other northern state. TheMadjester

This is easy to clear up. Owning slaves was outlawed in Rhode Island in the 17th century, but it was legal to participate in the slave trade long after that. I agree that the language could be cleared up. --Roger Williams 01:32, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I added the specific Browns involved on both sides of the slavery 'family arguement'. There should be reference to the King's County (South County) plantations, since there and Boston were the two largest concentrations of slaves in all New England. I'll see what best references I can find. LTC David J. Cormier (talk) 02:21, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

This is still confusing. I would suggest that the change proposed by UTC be used, or a formulation like: "although Rhode Island was first with making the use of slaves illegal, slave trade was still allowed until the start of emancipation in 1784" http://www.slavenorth.com/rhodeisland.htm I'm reluctant to change this myself as i have little personal knowledge of the subject. Verita77 (talk) 06:37, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

I strongly agree that this needs to be fixed up. The article states, "by 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any other New England colony." How could this be true if slavery was illegal in Rhode Island? Even if the slave trade was legal, what were all these slaves doing? Sitting on boats in the harbor? Obviously, either Rhode Island did not make slavery illegal in 1652 or the law was changed after that to legalize slavery.Tgpaul58 (talk) 13:27, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Lack of respect

You changed what I changed back, without any explanation, even though I provided a thorough explanation why. If you're going to change it back, at least show me that courtesy. Please don't be lazy or disrespectful. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.73.230.11 (talk) 20:35, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Actually, your edit includes no explaining edit summary. To be clear, on wikipedia, we don't look to the talk page by default with making changes; we look to the edit summary. You may find it useful to include an edit summary saying "see talk page".

Fullobeans reverted with the explanation "undo removal of wikilink, poss. vandalism". You've removed the wikilink. Further reversion was probably due to objections that RI accent was like the NJ accent.--Loodog (talk) 22:30, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Rhode Island's Information

State Nickname: The Ocean State 71.162.233.158 (talk) 22:22, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Repudiation of Revolutionary War Debt

The site correctly states that Rhode Island was among the first to declare independence from Britain, but there is nothing about its repudiation of its Revolutionary War Debt. In fact, the repudiation of that war debt is one of the most significant events in Rhode Island history, but that is absent from this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.159.183.90 (talk) 13:40, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Crappy map

honestly, is that the best map of rhode island we could find? its just a red splotch. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.14.169.22 (talk) 17:16, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Food again

In what way are grinders, spinach pies and johnny cakes unique to Rhode Island or in any sense revealing abut Rhode Island? This whole section seems like someone's brainstorming session. · rodii · 17:14, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

I'll add that Snail Salad is not typical or well known Rhode Island food. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.130.24.116 (talk) 21:57, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Added slogan to infobox

I added Hope to the slogans in the infobox "state symbols" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coolgyingman (talk • contribs) 15:58, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, forgot to sign it

Coolgyingman (talk) 15:33, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

How official is the name

I know the constitutions, both federal and state, say "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" but it seems almost everything has simply "Rhode Island" in it. Is there any state law that says it's legally acceptable to shorten the name of certain things like the title of offices, the name of state government offices, taxes, etc? I know what the official name is, but it's not always used and I'm curious how much it's enforced. Does the federal government still add the Providence Plantations part? To what extent are both forms used? --75.183.75.227 (talk) 21:03, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Wondering

Wondering how to edit this State Entry?

The WikiProject U.S. states standards might help.

Ratification

So why did RI delay ratification of the US constitution? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.232.219.71 (talk) 02:09, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

Rhode Island capitals (Law and government)

Rhode Island had two capitals from 1854 to 1900, Newport and Providence, owing to its history as two separate colonies: "Rhode Island" and "Providence Plantations". According to the Newport page, Rhode Island and Connecticut are the only states with a history of more than one capital at a time. Rhode Island could be said to have had several capitals before 1854. This is well explained here: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A05E3D61F3BE033A25755C1A9649C94649FD7CF

I think this should be added to the "Law and government" section of the page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.2.142.61 (talk) 22:13, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

"Origin of the Name" Research

The result of my research is at Talk:Aquidneck Island#Research into Name. I would say there isn't much substantiating the story of Adrian Block naming Aquidneck "Roode Eylandt" (or Red Island). There is evidence that the island was called "Roode Eylandt" by the Dutch 14 years after Aquidneck was officially named "Rhode Island", if not earlier, but I could find nothing to confirm that Rhode Island is a corruption of the Dutch name, and not the other way around. Is anyone aware of any earlier sources for this story? I'd like to revise the text in the "Origin of the Name" to reflect these facts:

The origins of the name "Rhode Island" are obscure
In 1524, Verrazzano made reference to the existence of an island in Narragansett Bay which he likened to the Greek Isle of Rhodes. The island to which he was referring is unclear.
In 1644, colonists decided to name Aquidneck Island "Rhode Island"
The Dutch name for Aquidneck Island was "Roode Eylandt" as early as 1659
The popular story of Adrian Block naming an island after deposits of red clay can be traced back no earlier than 1850.

Again, links to my research are at Talk:Aquidneck Island#Research into Name. --Rsl12 (talk) 22:26, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Wasn't New Hampshire the first state to declare independence?

This article says Rhode Island was the first colony to declare independence from England, but if I am not mistaken, RI declared independence in May 1776, while New Hampshire declared independence in January 1776 (see the Wikipedia article on NH). Am I wrong or does this article need editing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.26.243.77 (talk) 14:53, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

I suppose it depends on exactly what NH declared -- the article is not clear on the subject. See this book for information on exactly what RI did. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 15:30, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Different Opening Photo

Hey, not to be picky, but could we get a photo that represents RI as less tiny? The current photo makes the state look as small as it is, which...well, is a little disheartening. Maybe a more detailed municipal map? That is the information I'm looking for when I visit RI's wiki. Thanks! Karooney (talk) 18:57, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Infobox maps like that are primarily used for easy location of the subject, like if a reader doesn't really know where RI is that will tell them. I'm not sure, given Rhode Island's size compared with the rest of the US, what a better option would be. (A zoomed-in map of the state wouldn't work very well for locator map purposes - these types of maps are better left to the Geography section or something.) AlexiusHoratius 21:02, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Name change

If they change their name, do they have to be re-admitted into the Union? 72.100.216.221 (talk) 04:26, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Seal has a misspelling

Just what it says on the can. The image for the state seal has a spelling inaccuracy in the word "plantations". G-Flex (talk) 06:54, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Yup. Was fixed shortly after you mentioned it. DMacks (talk) 20:06, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Error in voting figures?

I'm not American, so maybe there's a reason for this, but are those voting figures correct for 1984?

1984 51.80% 212,080 49.90% 197,106

101.7% of people voted? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hscbaj (talk • contribs) 19:02, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Well there is (or at least was) some corruption in the capital:) But seriously, I traced back one of the refs and found that the vote-counts were correct but the percentages not. Fixed. DMacks (talk) 20:16, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Regarding "bubblers"

In this article it states that Rhode Island is the only state that refers to water fountains as "bubblers." I know several people from Wisconsin (with no relation to or significant time spent in RI) that also refer to them as such. 74.95.100.145 (talk) 14:36, 27 January 2011 (UTC)Scott

Gross state product

This should probably be updated. The 2009 gross state product is $47.45 billion, according to Comparison between U.S. states and countries nominal GDP. Psalm 119:105 (talk) 00:08, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Area

Something is wrong with the "total area" figure. The cited reference (http://sos.ri.gov/library/history/facts/) states that "The total area of the state is 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 are land and 169 are water". Note that in acres we get 1,214 square miles (777,000 acres), and 169/1214 = 13.9% water. I will update the article, since I don't see how this would not be a reliable source. Frietjes (talk) 15:55, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Top Employers

Many articles on state, city, and county economies include lists of the top employers, e.g., http://www.riedc.com/files/Top_Employers_2007.pdf. Psalm 119:105 (talk) 09:00, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

First to declare independence from Britain?

Claim is contradicted by the article on South Carolina. RI claims first, date in SC article is earlier. SC claim was mentioned in the "on this day" front page on March 15. Any expert or source to resolve? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.4.221.34 (talk) 03:33, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Another problem with this section is that it is an incomplete sentence. "Rhode Island was the first of the 13 original colonies to declare independence from British rule, declaring itself independent on May 4, 1776, two months before any other state and the convention." And the convention....what? Something is missing here, someone needs to correct this but I'm not sure what it is supposed to be saying. --Khajidha (talk) 18:44, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Edits to food section

My explanation for my edits is too long to fit in the comment on the edit:

I removed the description of zeppole as "Rhode Island zeppole" (and additionally corrected the spelling/grammar) because no explanation was given as to what distinguishes "Rhode Island zeppole" from zeppole made by Italian-Americans in other states.

I removed the qualifier of "or broccoli instead of spinach" for spinach pies, because if it's filled with broccoli, it's a broccoli pie, not a spinach pie.

Pw33n (talk) 23:20, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Total area vs. bays and inlets

I found near duplication of material at the end of the lead and the end of the "Origin of the name" section. In the lead it is stated that "Rhode Island's official nickname is "The Ocean State", a reference to the state's geography, since Rhode Island has several large bays and inlets that amount to about 14% of its total area. Its land area is 1,045 square miles (2706 km2), but its total area is significantly larger." In the "Origin of the name" section we are then told that "Rhode Island's official state nickname is "The Ocean State", a reference to the state's geography (since Rhode Island has several large bays and inlets that amount to about 30% of its total area.)." I was going to remove the note from the name section as it does not actually bear upon the origin of the name, but wanted to make sure of the accuracy of the figures first. Since I don't have the areas of the bays and inlets I cannot make the comparison. --Khajidha (talk) 18:51, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Prominent Figures in the History of Rhode Island

The gallery of prominent figures only includes rich white men. Are there no women or people of color who have been important in RI history? It's also very arbitrary in terms of who it includes. If you're going to feature RWMs, then surely you need to include John Brown. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.9.182.74 (talk) 13:27, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

For much of the history of the US, women and people of color did not make large numbers of contributions because they weren't allowed to by society. That is sad, but true. It makes no sense to complain about a lack of coverage of something that wasn't there in the first place. --Khajidha (talk) 18:19, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Capitalization

Something went haywire with the editing system for me: I opened the article, and it began "the state of...", rather than the correct "the State of...". Looking at the article's history, I compared the revisions by Rreagan007 and RjwilmsiBot, which revealed that Rreagan007 had removed the capitalization. Up on undoing his revision, the capitalization was still not there, and the history now showed that the capitalization had been added back in my Rreagan007 that was removed previously, the opposite of how it was before. Upon reverting my own edit, the capitalization appeared correct.

I didn't know that could happen. --184.5.162.130 (talk) 15:45, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Rhode Island Dialects

Several areas (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore) have separate articles regarding the local parlance. Research into Pittsburgh English and Philadelphia English are treated in a scholarly fashion, by Barbara Johnstone of Carnegie Mellon University and William Labov of the University of Pennsylvania. Is there similar treatment of the "Craaaanstanah" accent? As unusual as the accent is, it deserves its own article. If scholarly research has been done, it would not only make the article more straightforward to write, it would not run the risk of being original research--a problem with the Baltimore English article.Weyandt (talk) 14:55, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Time wasting theory for me.Kelly0987 (talk) 03:45, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

origin of Rhode Island name

Rhode Island's namnesake origin is not unknown as stated in this article. I believe the "Rhode" in the Rhode Island name was originated from a prominent land owner's sur name of 'Rhode". What is now Aquidneck island,was once known as Rhode Island and when statehood was formed it reflected the joining of Providence plantations.i'll provide more accurate facts soon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jazzderry (talk • contribs) 18:52, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty well up on my RI history and have heard various theories explaining the origin of the state's name ... but never this one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.9.50.240 (talk) 03:00, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

The common surname is "Rhodes" to be exact, but I've never seen a source that cited this as the origin of the name. LTC (Ret.) David J. Cormier (talk) 21:01, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Rhode Island name was originated from a prominent land owner's sur name of 'Rhode" Kelly0987 (talk) 03:46, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone have any sources to back up this surname claim? I've also never heard of that theory. Guy1890 (talk) 06:52, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Mislabeled pic

the pic titled "old mill outside of Newpor"t is wrong. That's the old stable at Brenton Point park at Newport. The mansion that burned down become the hill of the park. There are several websites that can confirm these facts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zenpoetsix (talk • contribs) 01:49, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

I asked the editor who supplied that image to help figure out what is going on here. Someone made a similar claim about its location on the commons image-page. DMacks (talk) 05:35, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Hello! I am the editor who provided the photo labeled "Old Mill outside of Newport". My father has hundreds of photos in his collection, and we labeled this photo "old mill" because that is what it looked like to us in 1968. I will be more than happy to correct the description of the photo for Wikipedia, as I am an avid history buff and a stickler for accuracy. Can someone provide a link to one of the websites with photos of what the building looks like now, so I can confirm it? Thanks so much! Here is a link to the photo: https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/File:Abandoned_Mill_outside_Newport,_RI,_1968.jpg LAMovieBuff 19:24, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

Here is a link to the photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abandoned_Mill_outside_Newport,_RI,_1968.jpg - I have changed the description to "Former Stable at Brenton Point State Park, Newport, Rhode Island". Would someone please have an Administrator change the name of the file to the same? I don't know how to do that. Here is my talk page, if you would like to message me: https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/User_talk:JGKlein - Thanks so much! LAMovieBuff 23:37, 3 November 2013 (UTC)

renaming and moving contents of Prominent figures in the history of Rhode Island

As it stands right now it's a problematic list. No other State, as far as I know, has such a list -- the names are worked into the "History" section as they should be. Also, this list contains Roger Williams (theologian) yes, but also Olivia Culpo?? What on earth is the inclusion criteria for this section? I have migrated the contents of the list to List of people from Rhode Island (except Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau who, as far as I can tell, just stopped here for a while with his troops) and am converting this one to the more standard "Notable residents" which contains only a {{main}} template linking to the List. --— Rhododendrites ^talk | 17:32, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Yawgoog, Rhode Island

Yawgoog, Rhode Island doesn't has enough notability. Skr15081997 (talk) 04:51, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Woodville, Rhode Island

A separate article named Villages in Rhode Island should be created and the previous merger proposals by me should be done on that page. Skr15081997 (talk) 04:58, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Arcadia, Rhode Island

Arcadia, Rhode Island doesn't seem to have enough notability of it's own. Skr15081997 (talk) 04:48, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

@Skr15081997:, agreed with the proposal. OccultZone (Talk) 19:10, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Regarding all three of the villages' merge proposals above

As far as I know none of these three are legally/officially recognized places and as such have no inherent claim to notability (as Skr15081997 points out). With no sources whatsoever, I agree they should be merged. But I think it makes more sense to merge them into the next level up in the hierarchy of legally recognized places (e.g. Woodville merged into Richmond and/or Hopkinton) rather than the state page. --— Rhododendrites ^talk | 06:36, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

I support "Rhododendrites" modified merge proposal above. There's no need to merge info on several obscure places into the article about the state that they are all apparently in. Guy1890 (talk) 06:42, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Support Per Guy1890. OccultZone (Talk) 19:43, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Creator's Response

As far as notability goes, these villages are real places but are not dominant enough as villages to have their own post offices. I can see a merger with the page "Villages in Rhode Island", but merging them with Rhode Island seems a bit strange. The page for Rhode Island talks only about the state; it wouldn't make sense for details about one or two small villages to be thrown in. — Preceding unsigned comment added by P. Pearl-Lee C. Spears-Harris (talk • contribs) 13:25, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the contributions -- regardless of where the information goes it's material that's worth having. You may already know all this, but for the benefit of anyone who might not: Exceptions for when notability has to be established via significant coverage in reliable sources are pretty limited -- including legally recognized populated places, but not, as far as I know, villages (although they may certainly exist and may have historical significance, they don't get an automatic pass without a bunch of references). I'm not aware of any precedent for having a standalone article about villages in a particular state (there's Category:Villages in Rhode Island but no standalone article for RI or any other state--as far as I know). I think what makes the most sense (as above) is to merge them into the most appropriate one or two town/city/county pages. What do you think? --— Rhododendrites ^talk | 15:44, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

User: P. Pearl-Lee C. Spears-Harris :I would definitely agree. In fact, I have a list of villages that should be merged. In the Hopkinton page, there is a small section called "Villages" where they are listed but I do not believe one exists on the Richmond page.

Should be merged with Hopkinton, Rhode Island only:
Bethel, Rhode Island
Burdickville, Rhode Island
Canonchet, Rhode Island
Centerville-Moscow, Rhode Island
Kierieian, Rhode Island
Locustville, Rhode Island
South Hopkinton, Rhode Island
Yawgoog, Rhode Island --I know the latter is being discussed for deletion but should the problem be resolved it too should be merged.

I think the pages for Ashaway, Rhode Island, Bradford, Rhode Island, Hope Valley, Rhode Island and Rockville, Rhode Island have enough notability to keep their own pages. Hopkinton City Historic District should also be left alone.

I think the villages in Richmond have enough notability to remain their own separate pages (after all, people in Richmond are more familiar with the villages than the town itself.) Woodville, Rhode Island is a village of Hopkinton and Richmond and should have a merger with both, but if it was the only merger with Richmond that would be a bit strange; I think if we are to merge Woodville it should only be merged with Hopkinton.

Addressing the comment above on notability for places: It is my understanding that any of the following qualify as proof of notability for places. Legal recognition is not needed. Those things would be: Entry in GNIS; the existence at any point in time of census data specifically for that place name; being at any point in time on an official map; or the existence at any point in time of a post office for that place. I am not able to extensively search historic map records, but Yawgoog failed all the others. That is why I nominated it for deletion. There is material on the scout camp with the same name; lots of it in fact. But nothing for a village or settlement by that name. John from Idegon (talk) 01:02, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Yawgoog...I do believe it is a village but perhaps have been mistaken. I have heard numerous times of the Scout Camp being located in "Yawgoog". What official map sources did you check that contained the others?

Rhode island — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.224.29.193 (talk) 04:34, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

--206.53.74.104 (talk) 18:36, 5 April 2014 (UTC)I love Rhode Island

Errors on the Page

–– CURRENT –– The page currently has text that says RI both established and prohibited slavery in 1652. Reference 126, used for the second statement, was not available using the provided link. First, in 1.1; "(Rhode Island's 1652 legalization of slavery predating all southern colonies by 12 years; ... ." Then, in 13.6; "As a colony, the state enacted the first law prohibiting slavery in North America on May 18, 1652." This would appear to be an error. 24.249.105.158 (talk) 19:03, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

@24.249.105.158: Good point. "Legalized" may have just been a mistake. It was abolished in 1652, but not enforced. That section needs work still, but I rewrote it/clarified with better sources (see here). — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 21:25, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

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Three nation's tallest bridges

"Rhode Island also has three of the nation's tallest bridges" is a dubious claim. If you believe it should be kept in the article, I suggest you to have a look at the List of bridges in the United States by height and think of how the claim could be modified to reflect the reality.

Unless a better idea is suggested, the statement should be removed from the article. Document hippo (talk) 10:44, 24 August 2017 (UTC)

Rhoticity

There has lately been some dispute concerning RI's non-rhotic accent. The claim has been put forward that non-rhoticity didn't appear until such-and-such a time period—but no one has supported the claim with any citations. Conversely, the article as it currently stands does offer a citation to support its claim. I have not verified whether or not that citation is valid; but I'm also not the person who's challenging the statement. So those who wish to debate or refute this statement are certainly welcome to do so, but they need to do so with citations. —Dilidor (talk) 15:29, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

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Good to see

It is good to see that this article has a section on the origin of the name when Rhode Island is not an island. Vorbee (talk) 07:56, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

Where to put the full name

Before it was reverted, this edit changed the first sentence to start with the long name, with the short version following it. It's back to starting with Rhode Island again, for the moment. But we should attempt to establish a consensus about this.

Where should the full name, The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, appear? Should it be:

at the beginning of the first sentence, with "generally known as Rhode Island" following it
in the WP:LEADPARAGRAPH, but not in the first sentence
in a footnote; either the current one, i.e., "Rhode Island<ref name="constitution">Officially, '''The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations''' {{cite web |url=...}} [IPA] is a state in..."; or in a separate footnote
elsewhere (please specify).

Mathglot (talk) 08:10, 8 February 2019 (UTC)

Poll

In the footnote – This is the common name, as the article title attests, and should be the lead-off name in the first sentence. If the long name were a common alternative, I'd wish to see it bolded in the first sentence following the common name. However, it's a very rare alternative, and if one encounters it at all, it's probably in a trivial pursuit game. This official name should be present, but relegating it to a footnote seems good enough; the clarity and cadence of the first sentence shouldn't be bogged down by this jawbreaker of an official name in the middle of it. Mathglot (talk) 08:10, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
In the lead, but not first use—And absolutely not relegated to a footnote. I live in Rhode Island, and I can assure you that the full name is not a "rare alternative" which one encounters "in a trivial pursuit game". Nevertheless, the article title is "Rhode Island," so the first use should be "Rhode Island". Opening with the full name would require that the article title be changed to match, and that would not be a sensible alternative. I think it's best just as it is now, with the full name stated parenthetically as the official name of the state. —Dilidor (talk) 13:10, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
Thanks, I can totally believe it. It may be the only place in the country, though, where it's not rare. Rhode Island is less than one half a percent of the population of the U.S., and for me, it's a trivia question (that I would get wrong), and I suspect (but can't prove) that that is also the case for most residents of the other 49 States. Still, we should hear from others about the topic. Beautiful state, by the way. Mathglot (talk) 00:42, 12 February 2019 (UTC)
I would certainly agree that most people are unaware of the state's full name—blissfully so, even. But it has important historical significance, and the majority of RI residents are fully aware of both the name and its history. That was demonstrated during the referendum which attempted to change the name, as you'll see in the article. But all that aside, we agree on the substance, which is that the full name should definitely not lead off the intro. —Dilidor (talk) 14:56, 12 February 2019 (UTC)
@Dilidor: One might also add, that it should definitely be mentioned at least somewhere in the body; having unique information only in the lead contradicts its purpose as a summary of the article. Once in the body, I think the full name could easily be added to the second paragraph, in connection with colonial history, or to the third, which deals with alternate names. A reader who encounters "Rhode Island" as an unfamiliar term to them and goes quickly to Wikipedia (or google) to find out what it means and never gets past the first paragraph, simply doesn't need to know the official name. Mathglot (talk) 11:58, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Accent?

The article states

Some Rhode Islanders speak with the distinctive, non-rhotic, traditional Rhode Island accent that many compare to a cross between the New York City and Boston accents (e.g., "water" sounds like "watuh"). Many Rhode Islanders distinguish a strong aw sound [ɔə] (i.e., do not exhibit the cot–caught merger) as one might hear in New Jersey or New York City; for example, the word coffee is pronounced [ˈkʰɔəfi] KAW-fee.[132] This type of accent was brought to the region by early settlers from eastern England in the Puritan migration to New England in the mid-17th century.

What I have always read (see Rhoticity in English, for example) is that though non-rhoticity was emerging in England in the 15th century it wasn't until the 18th century that it became prevalent. Even Shakespeare, who lived in the 17th century, used a rhotic accent. And in America it was only toward the tail end of the 18th century that the Northeastern Seaboard began to adopt non-rhoticity. The very reason that the interior of America remained almost entirely rhotic while the Eastern Seaboard became heavily non-rhotic is because the Eastern Seaboard had more direct contact with England and so adopted England's newer trends. So while some of what is being stated may be true, my understanding is that much of what we consider the New England accent is not so much an older accent as a newer accent that was adopted more recently.

-- MC — Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.131.2.3 (talk) 18:15, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

Suggest changing order of rows in table "Voter registration and party enrollment"

I suggest that the ordering of the rows in the table "Voter registration and party enrollment" be changed so that the rows are in order by "Percentage". Among other benefits, this would be consistent with what is done for most other states that have this table.

Thank you for considering my suggestion. -Tom — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.114.175.115 (talk) 23:43, 12 July 2019 (UTC)

Hispanic/Latino population growth

RI has many Latin Americans and Hispanics, esp. the Federal Hill section of Providence, long known for Italians and African-Americans, as well Brazilians and Cape Verdeans from Sub-Saharan Africa. Except for the Portuguese, Dominicans are the largest ethnic group in Providence. And it is comparable to Connecticut in having the most Latinos in the Northeast corridor, if you don't count New York City's 5 boroughs. 2605:E000:100D:E482:5403:A4BE:7DE5:74CE (talk) 17:56, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

Middletown has a lot of Native Americans (3%) as well Latinos (3% too)...more likely to be Latino immigrants from Central and South America. The only Native American tribe is the Narragansett people with their headquarters not in Middletown, but in another area of the state. And knowing about Middletown, it is surrounded by affluent Newport and Portsmouth. 2605:E000:100D:C571:F986:1ADE:3614:9524 (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Mention of demographics of specific cities, towns, or neighborhoods should probably go in the article about those places. This article should focus on the population of the entire state. We could add statements that are supported by reliable sources such as R.I. was the nation’s 12th most Hispanic state in 2013[6] or between 2000 - 2010 there was a 43.9% growth in Hispanic or Latino population.[7] Another: "The smallest state, Rhode Island, has experienced a dramatic increase in its Latino population, which has gone from 8.7 percent in 2000 to 15.5 percent in 2017."[8]
Is there something specific that you think needs to be added to the article? --mikeu ^talk 19:27, 19 November 2019 (UTC)