County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in Canada, Romania and the United States. County towns have a similar function in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, in Jamaica. In most of the United States, counties are the political subdivisions of a state; the city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county. The county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records and correctional facility are located in the county seat though some functions may be located or conducted in other parts of the county if it is geographically large. A county seat is but not always, an incorporated municipality; the exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia. Ellicott City, the county seat of Howard County, is the largest unincorporated county seat in the United States, followed by Towson, the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland.
Some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, an incorporated municipality. In some of the colonial states, county seats include or included "Court House" as part of their name. In the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in Taiwan are the administrative centers of the counties. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which are in the forms of county-administered city, urban township or rural township. Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont have two or more county seats located on opposite sides of the county. An example is Harrison County, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats; the practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days.
There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Coffee County, Alabama St. Clair County, Alabama Arkansas County, Arkansas Carroll County, Arkansas Clay County, Arkansas Craighead County, Arkansas Franklin County, Arkansas Logan County, Arkansas Mississippi County, Arkansas Prairie County, Arkansas Sebastian County, Arkansas Yell County, Arkansas Columbia County, Georgia Lee County, Iowa Campbell County, Kentucky Kenton County, Kentucky Essex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County, Massachusetts Plymouth County, Massachusetts Bolivar County, Mississippi Carroll County, Mississippi Chickasaw County, Mississippi Harrison County, Mississippi Hinds County, Mississippi Jasper County, Mississippi Jones County, Mississippi Panola County, Mississippi Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Yalobusha County, Mississippi Jackson County, Missouri Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Seneca County, New York Bennington County, Vermont In New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government.
Counties in this region have served as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of thus no county seats. In Vermont and Maine the county seats are designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the respective shire town. Bennington County has two shire towns. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town or city governments; as such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, the state government now operates the registries of deeds and sheriff's offices in those counties. In Virginia, a county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center. Two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county, their county-level services are provided by Fall River Tripp County, respectively.
In Louisiana, divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as parish seats. Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the Unorganized Borough, which covers 49 % of Alaska's area, has equivalent. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. County seat war Administrative center County town, administrative centres in Ireland and the UK Chef-lieu, administrative centres in Algeria, Luxembourg, France and Tunisia Municipality, equivalent to county in many c
Richmond, Rhode Island
Richmond is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island. The population was 7,708 at the 2010 census, it contains the villages of Alton, Barberville, Hillsdale, Hope Valley, Shannock, Tug Hollow, Wood River Junction and Wyoming. Students in Richmond are part of the Chariho Regional School District; the town of Richmond was part of the territory of Westerly, Rhode Island, which remained in dispute for several years among the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1665, King Charles II dissolved the charters of those three colonies and renamed the disputed area "King’s County". In May 1669, the General Assembly of Rhode Island organized King’s County into the town of Westerly, the town of Westerly organized itself into four separate areas: Westerly, Charlestown and Hopkinton. On April 19, 1873, there was a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch, which today is known as Wood River Junction. A passenger train approached, unaware of the bridge washout, ran off the tracks and into the water.
Eleven people died. The Washington County Fair is the largest fair in the state and has been held in Richmond since 1970. Richmond is 35 miles south of the state's capital, Rhode Island, it is a forested, landlocked community According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 40.8 square miles, of which 40.6 square miles is land and 0.2 square miles is water. Richmond borders Charlestown to the south, Exeter to the north and northeast, Hopkinton to the west, South Kingstown to the southeast. Richmond is the only town in Washington County that does not border the ocean. A 2,359-acre tract in Richmond is owned by the state and managed for wildlife food and habitat as the Carolina Management Area; the Carolina Management Area is forest, but includes wetlands and agricultural land. As of the census of 2000, there were 7,222 people, 2,537 households, 2,034 families residing in the town; the population density was 178.1 people per square mile. There were 2,620 housing units at an average density of 64.6 per square mile.
The racial makeup of the town was 96.97% White, 0.40% African American, 0.91% Native American, 0.44% Asian, 0.19% from other races, 1.08% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.23% of the population. There were 2,537 households out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.3% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 19.8% were non-families. 14.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.14. In the town, the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 34.4% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, 7.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $59,840, the median income for a family was $64,688.
Males had a median income of $41,357 versus $29,115 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,351. About 1.9% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over. The town government is directed by a 5-member town council, headed by a council president at the Richmond Town Hall. For the purpose of school administration, Richmond is a member town of the Chariho Regional School District with the neighboring towns of Charlestown and Hopkinton. In May 2007 Richmond voters approved a referendum to create a Home Rule Charter Commission; the Charter Commission subsequently created a Richmond Home Rule Charter, the Town Council unanimously approved its placement on the November 2008 ballot. Richmond voters approved the Charter by a 70%-30% margin; the Rhode Island General Assembly gave their approval on May 20, 2009, the Charter took effect on May 28, 2009 when Governor Donald Carcieri allowed it to become law without his signature.
The Charter retains many features of the prior government: the 5-member town council headed by a council president. The major changes included 4-year terms for the town councilors instead of 2 years, effective in November 2010, the creation of a Town Administrator who reports directly to the town council. Billy Gilman, country artist and runner-up of Season 11 of The Voice. Gilman is from the village of Hope Valley and is mistaken as being from Hopkinton because most of the village is located in that town. Thomas A. Tefft, architect Frank J. Williams, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island Carolina Village Historic District John Hoxsie House Shannock Historic District Wyoming Village Historic District Richmond, Rhode Island travel guide from Wikivoyage Google. "Richmond, Rhode Island". Google Maps. Google
Alton, Rhode Island
Alton is a small village of about 250 residents within the town of Richmond, Rhode Island. It is located about one hour south of the state's capital; the village is residential, with no retail stores. Alton is 5 miles from the Pawcatuck River. A major employer in the town is a fabric dye factory located in the center of town. Charbert is a division of Narrow Fabrics of America. Residents of Alton have complained about Charbert polluting their air and water since 1978, when a rotten egg smell was first perceived; this is due to Charbert's five open-air, unlined lagoons used to treat its wastewater from factory production. As a result, toxins present in the wastewater have seeped into the groundwater, which all residents use for drinking water, into the air that local residents breathe. 19 homes in Alton had their water tested in 2004 by the Department of Health. Charbert paid for these tests, which considered the levels of 63 different VOCs and MTBE in the drinking water supply. Three homes were placed on a bottled water supply in response to the test results because their MTBE levels were above health advisory levels.
The drinking water supply in four homes on River street that directly face the Charbert factory is tested on a quarterly basis. Town of Richmond official website
Block Island
Block Island is located off the coast of Rhode Island 14 miles east of Montauk Point, Long Island, 13 miles south from mainland Rhode Island, from which it is separated by Block Island Sound. It was named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block; the United States Census Bureau defines Block Island as census tract 415 of Washington County, Rhode Island. As of the 2010 Census, the island's population is 1,051 living on a land area of 9.734 square miles. The island is part of a coastal archipelago; the Nature Conservancy added Block Island to its list of "The Last Great Places", which consists of 12 sites in the Western Hemisphere, about 40-percent of the island is set aside for conservation. Presidents Bill Clinton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant have visited Block Island. Other famous visitors include Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, who each visited the island in 1929. Block Island shares the same area as the town of Rhode Island; the island is a popular summer tourist destination and is known for its bicycling, sailing and beaches.
It hosts two historic lighthouses: Block Island North Light on the northern tip of the island, Block Island Southeast Light on the southeastern side. Much of the northwestern tip of the island is an undeveloped natural area and resting stop for birds along the Atlantic flyway. Popular events include the annual Fourth of July Parade and fireworks. During these times, the island's population can triple over the normal summer vacation crowd. Block Island was formed by the same receding glaciers that formed the Outer Lands of Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket during the end of the last ice age thousands of years ago; the Niantic people called the island "Manisses", or just "Little Island". Archaeological sites indicate that these people lived by hunting deer, catching fish and shellfish, growing corn and squash with the Three Sisters technique, they migrated from forest to coastal areas to take advantage of seasonal resources. One modern researcher has theorized that Indians may have established a settlement as early as 500 BC, although there is no consensus on that idea.
Giovanni da Verrazzano sighted the island in 1524 and named it "Claudia" in honor of Claude, Duchess of Brittany, queen consort of France and the wife of Francis I. However, several contemporaneous maps identified the same island as "Luisa," after Louise of Savoy, the Queen Mother of France and the mother of Francis I. Verrazano's ship log stated that the island was "full of hilles, covered with trees, well-peopled for we saw fires all along the coaste." 100 years Dutch explorer Adriaen Block charted the island in 1614. The growing tensions among the tribes of the region in this time caused the Niantics to split into two divisions: the Western Niantics, who allied with the Pequots and Mohegans, the Eastern Niantics, who allied with the Narragansetts. In 1632, Indians killed colonial traders John Stone and Walter Norton, the Pequots of eastern Connecticut were blamed. A Pequot delegation presented magistrates in Boston with two bushels of wampum and a bundle of sticks representing the number of beavers and otters with which they would compensate the colonists for the deaths.
They sought peace with the colonies and requested help establishing concord with the Narragansetts, who bordered them to the east. The colonial authorities, in turn, demanded the Indians responsible for killing Stone and Norton, a promise not to interfere with colonial settlement in Connecticut, 400 fathoms of wampum and the pelts of 40 beavers and 30 otters. In 1636, John Gallup came across the boat of a noted troublemaker. Oldham had flirted with impropriety since the day. Not long after arriving in Plymouth in 1623, he "grew perverse and showed a spirit of great malignancy," according to Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford, he was accused of religious subversion and responded with impertinence, hurling invective at his accusers and drawing a knife on Captain Myles Standish. He was banished from Plymouth and fled to Massachusetts Bay, settling first in Nantasket Cape Ann, Watertown, where he continued to indulge his penchant for mayhem. Despite his unsavory reputation, Massachusetts Bay sought his extensive knowledge of the New England coast when they asked him to retrieve a hefty ransom on the colony's behalf.
It was on this mission that Oldham was dismembered. Massachusetts sent ninety men to Block Island in August under John Endicott on a punitive expedition for Oldham's murder with instructions to kill every Niantic warrior and capture the women and children, who would be valuable as slaves; the expedition was ordered by Massachusetts Governor Henry Vane to "massacre all of the Native men on the island". The English burned the corn fields, they shot every dog, but the Niantics fled into the woods, the soldiers only managed to kill fourteen of them. Deciding that this punishment was insufficient and his men sailed over to Fort Saybrook before going after the Pequot village at the mouth of the Thames River to demand one thousand fathoms of wampum to pay for the murder, they took some Pequot children as hostages to insure peace, these incidents are seen as the initial events that led to the Pequot War. Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the island by conquest. In 1658, the colony sold the island to a group of men headed up by Endecott.
In 1661, the Endecott group sold the isla
Hopkinton, Rhode Island
Hopkinton is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 8,188 at the 2010 census. Hopkinton is named after Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when the town was partitioned from Westerly and incorporated in 1757. Hopkinton once featured a number of industrial villages, such as Locustville, Moscow and Wood River Iron Works, each being named after the mill which they surrounded. Today only Hope Valley, Rockville and Bradford are recognized with a post office. A section of the town has its own post office known as "Hopkinton." The town hall is located in the village of Hopkinton City, once a major stagecoach hub.. Hopkinton borders Richmond and Charlestown, it is on the Pawcatuck River on the Connecticut border. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 44.1 square miles, of which 43.0 square miles is land and 1.1 square miles is water. Hopkinton is the southernmost town along Rhode Island's portion of Interstate 95 and is the first Rhode Island town that northbound travelers encounter.
Hope Valley in the north and Ashaway in the south are the two primary villages in Hopkinton. Two of the four elementary schools in the Chariho Regional School District are located in Hopkinton, one in Hope Valley and one in Ashaway. Other villages that are located in Hopkinton include Barberville, Bradford, Canonchet, Hopkinton City, Moscow, South Hopkinton and Yawgoog. All were formed from mills on rivers. Hope Valley and Ashaway have extended their borders as census-designated places into other less-known villages; as of the census of 2000, there were 7,836 people, 2,965 households, 2,182 families residing in the town. There were 3,112 housing units at an average density of 72.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96.82% White, 0.61% African American, 0.89% American Indian, 0.43% Asian, 0.27% from other races, 0.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.06% of the population. There were 2,965 households, out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 26.4% were non-families.
21.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.07. In the town, the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $52,181, the median income for a family was $59,143. Males had a median income of $39,804 versus $29,189 for females; the per capita income for the town was $23,835. About 3.3% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over. In the state legislature Hopkinton is located in the 34th Senate District, represented by Republican Francis T. Maher, Jr. and in the 38th District in the Rhode Island House of Representatives by Democrat Brian Patrick Kennedy.
At the Federal level, Hopkinton is located in Rhode Island's 2nd Congressional District, represented by James Langevin. In the United States Senate, Hopkinton is represented by U. S. Senator John F. Reed and U. S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse; the Aldrich and the Rockefeller families each built a small mansion in the Hope Valley region of Hopkinton before the families merged. The Rockefeller house now serves as the rectory for St. Joseph's Parish. Prudence Crandall taught the first desegregated classroom in the United States.
Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island
Narragansett Pier is an unincorporated village and a census-designated place in the town of Narragansett in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 3,671 at the 2000 census. Narragansett Pier is located at 41°25′48″N 71°27′59″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 10.2 km². 9.4 km² of it is land and 0.8 km² of it is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 3,671 people, 1,745 households, 886 families residing in the CDP; the population density was 391.5/km². There were 2,129 housing units at an average density of 227.1/km². The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.03% White, 0.87% African American, 1.69% Native American, 1.04% Asian, 0.79% from other races, 1.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.88% of the population. There were 1,745 households out of which 15.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.3% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 49.2% were non-families.
37.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.1% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.70. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 13.3% under the age of 18, 13.3% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 27.2% from 45 to 64, 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.5 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $39,918, the median income for a family was $65,864. Males had a median income of $34,726 versus $29,792 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $26,811. About 8.8% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over. Roberta Dunbar Varina Davis, former First Lady of the Confederacy, vacationed here as a widow in the 1890s. Varina Anne Davis, her youngest daughter, known as the "Daughter of the Confederacy", vacationed here with her mother.
Died here on September 18, 1898, at the age of 34
Exeter, Rhode Island
Exeter is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. Exeter extends east from the Connecticut border to the town of North Kingstown, it is bordered to the north by West Greenwich and East Greenwich, to the south by Hopkinton and South Kingstown. Exeter's postal code is 02822, although small parts of the town have the mailing address West Kingston or Saunderstown; the population was 6,425 at the 2010 census. Exeter was named for the Earl of Exeter; the town of Exeter was formed in 1742 from the western part of North Kingstown. The name Exeter derives from the county town and cathedral city of Exeter in England. Numerous other places have been given the name Exeter. Exeter is noted by folklorists as the site of one of the best documented examples of vampire exhumation: the Mercy Brown Vampire Incident of 1892. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 58.4 square miles, of which, 57.7 square miles of it is land and 0.7 square miles of it is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,045 people, 2,085 households, 1,592 families residing in the town.
The population density was 104.7 people per square mile. There were 2,196 housing units at an average density of 38.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 96.36% White, 0.66% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, 1.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.27% of the population. There were 2,085 households out of which 38.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 23.6% were non-families. 16.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.6% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.15. In the town, the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.7 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $64,452, the median income for a family was $74,157. Males had a median income of $47,083 versus $36,928 for females; the per capita income for the town was $25,530. About 4.5% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.5% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over. The town government is directed by a 5-member town council, headed by a council president. For the purpose of school administration, Exeter is a member town of the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School District along with the neighboring town of West Greenwich. Yawgoo Valley is the only ski resort in Rhode Island. Austin Farm Road Agricultural Area Baptist Church in Exeter Exeter Chapel Fisherville Historic and Archeological District Hallville Historic and Archeological District Lawton's Mill Simon Lillibridge Farm Parris Brook Historic and Archeological District Queen's Fort Sodom Mill Historic and Archeological District Tomaquag Museum, only Native American museum in Rhode Island George Wait Babcock Job Kenyon EDC Profile of Exeter RI.
GOV - Town of Exeter Town of Exeter, Rhode Island website Exeter Town Library Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School District Exeter Town Hall Welcome to South County Rhode Island R. I. Veterans Memorial Cemetery United States Constitution Referendum Ratification: Exeter from the Rhode Island State Archives
