Rhode Island Miscellaneous Topics

• State motto: Hope
• State bird: Rhode Island Red (A breed of chicken)
• State flower: Violet
• State tree: Red Maple
• State fish: Striped Bass
• State fruit: Rhode Island greening (Apple)
• State nicknames: The Ocean State, Little Rhody, The Littlest State, The Thirteenth State
• State rock: Cumberlandite
• State mineral: Bowenite (a variety of serpentine)
• State shellfish: Quahog
• State drink: Coffee milk
• State song: "Rhode Island, It's For Me"

The state capitol building is made of white Georgian marble. On top is the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome.[36] It houses the Rhode Island Charter of 1663 and other state treasures.

Providence is home to the First Baptist Church in America, the oldest Baptist church in the Americas, which was founded by Roger Williams in 1638. Providence is the home of the first fully automated post office in the country. The seaside city of Newport is home to many famous mansions, including The Breakers, Marble House and Belcourt Castle. It is also home to the Touro Synagogue, dedicated on 2 December 1763, the first synagogue within the United States, and still serving. The synagogue showcases the religious freedoms that were established by Roger Williams as well as impressive architecture in a mix of the classic colonial and Sephardic style. The Newport Casino is a National Historic Landmark building complex that presently houses the International Tennis Hall of Fame and features an active grass-court tennis club.

Rhode Island is home to the famous roadside attraction Nibbles Woodaway, the Big Blue Bug, the world's largest termite.

Fort Adams, on Narragansett Bay, was the setting for the finish of Eco-Challenge 1995.

"The Towers" in Narragansett, is a large stone arch that scenic route 1A (Ocean rd.) travels through. It was once the entrance to the famous Narragansett casino that burned down in 1900. The towers now serve as a tourist information center and also a banquet hall for events like weddings and birthday parties.

• The Showtime series Brotherhood is set in Providence, Rhode Island.
• The animated sitcom Family Guy (1999 – 2002; 2005 – present) is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island.
• Outside Providence (Movie, 1999), Directed by Michael Corrente, starring Alec Baldwin.
• There's Something About Mary (Movie 1998), Directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller, romantic comedy partially set in Providence, Cumberland and Barrington
• Providence (A TV Series originally seen on the NBC network)
• Providence, a 1991 American/Canadian movie with Keanu Reeves
• Dumb and Dumber (Movie)
• Me, Myself and Irene (Movie, 2000), Directed by the Farrelly brothers, starring Jim Carrey who plays a Rhode Island State Trooper with multiple personalities.
• Doctor Doctor (TV-Series set in Providence, 1989-1991)
• The Last Shot (Movie, 2004) , starring Alec Baldwin and Mathew Broderick
• Getting Out of Rhode Island (Movie, 2003)
• Federal Hill (Movie, 1994)
• The Witches of Eastwick (Movie, 1987) Directed by George Miller, starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer. Set in the fictional town of Eastwick, Rhode Island.
• On FOX's popular X-Files (1993 – 2001) TV series, character Fox Mulder's family lives in Chepachet, a small town in the Northern area of the state. His mother retires to Quonochontaug, an even smaller community in South County.
• The Justice League of America's first headquarters was depicted in the comic books as being in a cave in the fictional district of Happy Harbor, in Rhode Island.
• The massively multiplayer online game City of Heroes is set in the fictional city of Paragon City, Rhode Island, on the state's coast overlooking the atlantic.[37]
• The popular videogame Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Is focused around the happenings in a mansion in Rhode Island.
• Caitlín R. Kiernan's dark-fantasy novel Daughter of Hounds is set primarily in Providence, but also features such Rhode Island locales as Woonsocket and Kingston.
• Guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan has a song on his solo album named "Rhode Island Shred"

• Rhode Island enacted the first law prohibiting slavery in North America on May 18, 1652.
• Slater Mill was the first commercially successful cotton-spinning mill with a fully mechanized power system in America.
• The first Baptist Church in America was founded in Providence in 1638.[38]
• Ann Smith Franklin of the Newport Mercury was the first woman newspaper editor in America (August 22, 1762)
• Touro Synagogue, the first Synagogue in America, was founded in Newport, Rhode Island in 1763.
• The first armed act of rebellion in America against the British Crown was the boarding and burning of the Revenue Schooner Gaspee in Narragansett Bay on June 10, 1772.
• The idea of a Continental Congress was first proposed at a town meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on May 17, 1774. Rhode Island elected the first delegates (Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward) to the Continental Congress on June 15, 1774.
• The Rhode Island General Assembly created the first standing army in the colonies (1,500 men) on April 22, 1775.
• On June 15, 1775, the first naval engagement of the Revolution occurred between a Colonial Sloop commanded by Capt. Abraham Whipple and an armed tender of the British Frigate Rose. The tender was chased aground and captured. Later in June, the General Assembly created the first American Navy when it commissioned the Sloops Katy and Washington, armed with 24 guns and commanded by Abraham Whipple, who was promoted to Commodore.
• Rhode Island was the first Colony to declare independence from Britain on May 4, 1776.
• Pelham Street in Newport was the first in America to be illuminated by gaslight in 1806.
• The first strike in the United States in which women participated occurred in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1824.
• Watch Hill, Rhode Island has the nation’s oldest carousel that has been in continuous operation since 1850.
• The motion picture machine (a machine showing animated pictures) was patented in Providence on April 23, 1867.
• The first lunch wagon in America was introduced in Providence in 1872.
• The first nine hole golf course in America was completed in Newport in 1890.
• The first state health laboratory was established in Providence on September 1, 1894.
• The Rhode Island State House was the first building with an all-marble dome to be built in the United States (1895-1901).
• The first automobile race on a track was held in Cranston, Rhode Island on September 7, 1896.
• The first automobile parade was held in Newport, Rhode Island on September 7, 1899.

Rhode Island State House with Providence Place mall at left