LITTLE RHODY
COFFEE MILK
MEET
LITTLE RHODY
STATE SYMBOLS
STATE MOTTO: Hope
STATE BIRD: Rhode Island Red
STATE FISH: Striped Bass
STATE FLOWER: Violet
STATE TREE: Red Maple
STATE FRUIT: Rhode Island Greening Apple
STATE ROCK: Cumberlandite
STATE SHELL: Quahog
STATE DRINK:
COFFEE MILK
◆ As you may have guessed, Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island. The name originated with Dutch explorer Adriaen Block who called the area“ Roodt Eylandt”( translation: red island) because of the red clay that lined its shores.
◆ Rhode Island is the smallest state in the nation, hence the nickname“ Little Rhody.”
◆ Rhode Island previously laid claim to the longest state name( we nixed“ and Providence Plantations” in a 2020 statewide vote).
◆ Rhode Island’ s official state nickname is the Ocean State. The state is just thirty-seven miles wide and forty-eight miles long but boasts nearly 400 miles of shoreline.
◆ In addition to sharing land borders with Connecticut and Massachusetts, Rhode Island shares a water border with New York: Block Island Sound is adjacent to Long Island Sound.
FUN FACTS
Get to know some of the state’ s unique facts and quirks.
◆ The portrait of George Washington that appears on the U. S. dollar bill was painted by Saunderstown’ s very own Gilbert Stuart in 1796.
◆ Cumberlandite, Rhode Island’ s official state rock, was originally known as“ rhodose,” but when folks began to search for the rock elsewhere, they soon realized it was seldom found outside the town of Cumberland.
◆ Rhode Island never ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, aka the prohibition of liquor.
◆ We’ re home to some of the oldest religious institutions in the U. S., including Touro Synagogue in Newport and the First Baptist Church of Providence.
◆ As host to the country’ s oldest continuous Fourth of July celebration, one could argue that Bristol is the most patriotic town in the country. The Bristol Fourth of July Parade has marched on, rain or shine or pandemic, every year since 1785.
◆ The second- and fourtholdest libraries in the country are located here. The Redwood Library in Newport was founded in 1747, while the Providence Athenaeum was founded and incorporated in 1836.
◆ The first polo club in the U. S. was formed in Newport.
◆ The Big Blue Bug, an iconic Rhode Island landmark that overlooks Interstate 95, has a name: It’ s Nibbles Woodaway, and he’ s been sitting on top of Big Blue Bug Solutions’ Providence location since 1980.
◆ We’ re also home to one of the nation’ s oldest carousels, the Flying Horse Carousel in Westerly.
◆ The Narragansett Tribe’ s annual meeting is the oldest powwow in the country, going on for 350 years. The powwow acts as both a formal gathering
▲SMALL AND NOT TOO TALL and a party for the tribe members, where everything from a cleansing of the circle to traditional songs and dances are observed.
◆ The famous“ Obey” stickers, which sparked a national phenomenon and became a subculture gem, were created by former Rhode Island School of Design student Shepard Fairey in 1989.
◆ Baseball’ s longest game was played in Pawtucket, at Rhode Island’ s former McCoy Stadium, then home to the Pawtucket Red Sox.
◆ The away match jersey for the state’ s professional soccer club, Rhode Island FC, lists the thirty-nine municipalities of Rhode Island, contains thirteen stars on the collar as a nod to the original Colonies and illustrates five nautical knots representing the five counties.
Jerimoth Hill, located in the town of Foster, is the state’ s highest point at 812 feet above sea level.
6 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY’ S NEWCOMERS’ GUIDE l 2025