National Rhode Island Day | October 5
Thu Oct 5th

National Rhode Island Day

National Rhode Island Day on October 5th honors the last colony to join the Union, wrapping up the original 13 colonies. Wrapping up the original 13 colonies. The Ocean State joined the Union on May 4, 1776.

Roger Williams founded the Rhode Island colony in Providence in 1636, seeking religious and political independence in Providence, Massachusetts, persecuted for his Massachusetts convictions.

Rhode Island was the only state to vote against British rule in Philadelphia in 1787, although the colony was the first to renounce British rule, Rhode Island was the only state to have been barred from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Rhode Island delayed signing the Constitution in favour of the addition of a bill of rights. Rhode Island was not until the Constitution was ratified by nine previous states and the threat of taxation on her exports that she exported that Rhode Island finally ratified the charter and became the 13th state.

id-1800s, the textile industry boomet after Samuel Slater founded the first textile mill in Pawtucket, 1790. Rhode Island converted cloth making it into a lucrative national and export market.

Lawn tennis has long been a favorite pastime among Rhode Islanders and is clearly embedded in the fabric of their history. Jimmy Van Alen, a former tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, was established in 1954 by Jimmy Van Alen at the Newport Casino. In 1881, the site in Newport, Rhode Island, hosted the first national championship for tennis in the United States.

Despite being the state's smallest state, the Ocean State jams over 400 miles of coastline in its 1212 square miles. Several public and private beaches, Rhode Island ocean views, and adventure abound.