1.
Roger Williams National Memorial
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The memorial commemorates the life of the co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and a champion of the ideal of religious freedom. This park is the 20th smallest national park in the nation, the Roger Williams National Memorial is a 4. 5-acre park located near the eastern bank of the Moshassuck River, east of the Rhode Island State House and north of downtown Providence. It stands at the base of College Hill, a National Historic Landmark District that is the citys oldest and most historically significant area. It is separated from the river by Canal Street, and bounded on the three sides by Smith Street, Park Row, and North Main Street. Major features in the section include the Bernon Grove and the site of the spring which prompted Williams to select the site. The parks visitor center features an exhibit and video about Roger Williams, the national memorial was authorized on October 22,1965. The memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15,1966, and it was the only unit of the National Park System in Rhode Island until 2014 when the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park was designated as a National Park Service unit. National Register of Historic Places listings in Providence, Rhode Island List of National Memorials of the United States The National Parks, washington, U. S. Department of the Interior. Official NPS website, Roger Williams National Memorial
2.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
3.
Historic districts in the United States
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Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size, some have hundreds of structures, the U. S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, state-level historic districts may follow similar criteria or may require adherence to certain historic rehabilitation standards. Local historic district designation offers, by far, the most legal protection for historic properties because most land use decisions are made at the local level, local districts are generally administered by the county or municipal government. The first U. S. historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931, Charleston city government designated an Old and Historic District by local ordinance and created a board of architectural review to oversee it. New Orleans followed in 1937, establishing the Vieux Carré Commission, other localities picked up on the concept, with the city of Philadelphia enacting its historic preservation ordinance in 1955. The Supreme Court case validated the protection of resources as an entirely permissible governmental goal. In 1966 the federal government created the National Register of Historic Places, conference of Mayors had stated Americans suffered from rootlessness. By the 1980s there were thousands of federally designated historic districts, Historic districts are generally two types of properties, contributing and non-contributing. In general, contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context, in addition to the two types of classification within historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are classified into five broad categories. They are, building, structure, site, district and object, all but the eponymous district category are also applied to historic districts listed on the National Register. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places is governmental acknowledgment of a historic district, however, the Register is an honorary status with some federal financial incentives. The National Register of Historic Places defines a historic district per U. S. federal law, a district may also comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. Districts established under U. S. federal guidelines generally begin the process of designation through a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, the National Register is the official recognition by the U. S. government of cultural resources worthy of preservation. While designation through the National Register does offer a district or property some protections, if the federal government is not involved, then the listing on the National Register provides the site, property or district no protections. If, however, company A was under federal contract the Smith House would be protected, a federal designation is little more than recognition by the government that the resource is worthy of preservation. Usually, the National Register does not list religious structures, moved structures, reconstructed structures, however, if a property falls into one of those categories and are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria then an exception allowing their listing will be made. Historic district listings, like all National Register nominations, can be rejected on the basis of owner disapproval, in the case of historic districts, a majority of owners must object in order to nullify a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
4.
Providence, Rhode Island
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Providence is the capital of and most populous city in the U. S. state of Rhode Island, founded in 1636, and one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is located in Providence County and is the third most populous city in New England, after Boston, Providence has a city population of 179,154, it is also part of the Providence metropolitan area which extends into southern Massachusetts. The Providence metropolitan area has an population of 1,604,291. This can be considered, in turn, to be part of the Greater Boston commuting area, Providence was founded by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of Gods merciful Providence, which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him, the city is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay. Providence was one of the first cities in the country to industrialize and became noted for its tool, jewelry. The city was nicknamed the Beehive of Industry, it began rebranding itself as the Creative Capital in 2009 to emphasize its educational resources. The area that is now Providence was first settled in June 1636 by Roger Williams and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies of the United States, Williams and his company felt compelled to withdraw from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Providence quickly became a refuge for persecuted religious dissenters, as Williams himself had been exiled from Massachusetts, Providence residents were among the first Patriots to spill blood in the leadup to the American Revolution during the Gaspée Affair of 1772. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4,1776. It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29,1790, following the war, Providence was the countrys ninth-largest city with 7,614 people. The economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, in particular machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry, by the start of the 20th century, Providence boasted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware. Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831 as the population passed 17,000. From its incorporation as a city in 1832 until 1878, the seat of city government was located in the Market House, located in Market Square, the city offices quickly outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to create a permanent municipal building in 1845. The city offices moved into the City Hall in 1878, during the Civil War, local politics split over slavery as many had ties to Southern cotton. Despite ambivalence concerning the war, the number of military volunteers routinely exceeded quota, by the early 1900s, Providence was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Immigrant labor powered one of the nations largest industrial manufacturing centers, Providence was a major manufacturer of industrial products from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles. From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national Community Development funds were invested throughout the city.4 million ft² Providence Place Mall, despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem as it does in most post-industrial New England cities
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
Roger Williams
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Williams was the 1638 founder of the First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Church of Providence. He is best remembered as the originator of the principle of separation of church and his father James Williams was a merchant tailor in Smithfield, his mother was Alice Pemberton. At an early age, Williams had a conversion of which his father disapproved. As a teen, Williams was apprenticed under Sir Edward Coke, under Cokes patronage, Williams was educated at Charterhouse and also at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He seemed to have a gift for languages and early acquired familiarity with Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, years later, Williams tutored John Milton in Dutch in exchange for refresher lessons in Hebrew. Williams took holy orders in the Church of England in connection with his studies, after graduating from Cambridge, Williams became the chaplain to Puritan gentleman Sir William Masham. Williams married Mary Barnard on December 15,1629 at the Church of High Laver, Essex and they ultimately had six children, all born in America, Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. Williams knew that Puritan leaders planned to migrate to the New World and he did not join the first wave, but he decided before the year ended that he could not remain in England under Archbishop William Lauds rigorous administration. Williams regarded the Church of England as corrupt and false, by the time that he and his wife boarded the Lyon in early December, however, Williams declined the position on grounds that it was an unseparated church. In addition, Williams asserted that civil magistrates must not punish any sort of breach of the first table, and these three principles became central to Williams subsequent career, separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of state and church. As a separatist, Williams considered the Church of England irredeemably corrupt and his search for the true church eventually carried him out of Congregationalism, the Baptists, and any visible church. From 1639 forward, Williams waited for Christ to send a new apostle to reestablish the church, years later in 1802, Thomas Jefferson used the wall of separation phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, echoing Roger Williams. Meanwhile, the Salem church was more inclined to Separatism. When the leaders in Boston learned of this, they vigorously protested, as the summer of 1631 ended, Williams moved to Plymouth colony where he was welcomed, and informally assisted the minister there. He regularly preached and, according to Governor Bradford, his teachings were well approved, after a time, Williams decided that the Plymouth church was not sufficiently separated from the Church of England. Furthermore, his contact with Native Americans had caused him to doubt the validity of the colonial charters, Governor Bradford later wrote that Williams fell into some strange opinions which caused some controversy between the church and him. In December 1632, Williams wrote a tract that openly condemned the Kings charters. He even charged that King James had uttered a lie in claiming that he was the first Christian monarch to have discovered the land
7.
Rhode Island
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Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, the state also shares a short maritime border with New York. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, on May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Islands official nickname is The Ocean State, a reference to the fact that the state has several large bays, Rhode Island covers 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 square miles are land. Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States, the official name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four settlements. Rhode Island is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. This was adjoined by the settlement of Warwick, hence the plural Providence Plantations and it is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524, subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named, but the Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that it was Aquidneck. A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, historians have theorized that this reddish appearance resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name Rhode Island for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams, the name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words, Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island. The name Isle of Rodes is used in a document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island Red Island, Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded Providence Plantation as a proprietary colony. Providence referred to the concept of providence, and plantation was an English term for a colony. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the longest official name of any state in the Union, advocates for excising plantation asserted that the word specifically referred to the British colonial practice of establishing settlements which disenfranchised native people. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic English synonym for colony, the referendum election was held on November 2,2010, and the people voted overwhelmingly to retain the entire original name. It shares a maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island
8.
Canonicus
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Canonicus was a Native American chief of the Narragansett people. Although wary of the European newcomers, he bowed before superior armaments and he ultimately proved to be a firm friend of Roger Williams and other English settlers. Nothing is known of his early life, Canonicus was chief of the Narragansett tribe when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and one of the first with whom they had dealings. In the words of historian Benjamin Lossing, Canonicus regarded the advent of the men with a jealous fear and in 1622 he challenged the Plymouth colony. As a challenge to the head of Plymouth colony, William Bradford, in reply, Bradford filled the wrap with gunpowder and lead round shot and returned it to Canonicus. The peace that resulted extended between the Narragansett and the English colonists extended beyond Canonicuss death in 1647, in 1636, he gave Williams the large tract of land which became the first nucleus of the colony of Providence Plantation. In 1637, Canonicus was largely responsible for the Narragansetts decision to side with the English during the Pequot War, Canonicus was succeeded by his nephew Miantonomoh, he returned to power after Miantonomoh was killed in 1643. On April 19,1644, Canonicus made a treaty acknowledging the sovereignty of Britain. The influence of his counsels lasted for years after his death. Four United States Navy ships have been named USS Canonicus, camp Canonicus, an American Baptist camp in Exeter, Rhode Island. There is a named after Canonicus in Newport, Rhode Island. Portrayed by Michael Greyeyes in the National Geographic Channels miniseries Saints & Strangers List of early settlers of Rhode Island Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Canonicus
9.
Narragansett people
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The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island. For a long time, the tribe was nearly landless, but it worked to regain federal recognition and it is officially the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island and re-established sovereignty. It is made up of descendants of members who were identified in an 1880 treaty with the state. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Narragansett request that the Department of the Interior take land into trust which they had acquired in 1991. The Narragansett tribe was recognized by the government in 1983 and controls the Narragansett Indian Reservation,1,800 acres of trust lands in Charlestown. A small portion of the tribe resides on or near the reservation, additionally, they own several hundred acres in Westerly. In 1991, the Narragansetts purchased 31 acres in Charlestown for development of elderly housing, in 1998, they requested that the Department of the Interior take the property into trust on behalf of the tribe, to remove it from state and local control. The case went to the United States Supreme Court, as the state challenged the removal of new lands from state oversight by a recognized by the US after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Rhode Island was joined in its appeal by 21 other states and their determination was based on four words in the act, referring to its definition of Indian as all persons of Indian descent who are members of any recognized tribe now under federal jurisdiction. The tribe is led by a tribal council, a chief sachem, a medicine man. The entire tribal population must approve major decisions, the current administration is as follows, Chief Sachem, Matthew Thomas Medicine Man, John Brown First Councilman, Cassius Spears, Jr. Traditionally, the tribe spoke the Narragansett language, a member of the Algonquian languages family, the point referred to may be on the Salt Pond in Washington County, identified as RI Site 110. The language became almost entirely extinct during the Narragansetts centuries of living within the larger English-majority society, the tribe has begun language revival efforts, based on early 20th century books and manuscripts, and new teaching programs. The Narragansetts spoke a Y-dialect, similar enough to the N-dialects of the Massachusett, other Y-dialects include the Shinnecock and Pequot languages spoken historically by tribes on Long Island and in Connecticut, respectively. In the 17th century, Providence founder Roger Williams learned the tribes language and he documented it in his 1643 work A Key Into the Language of America. Williams gave the name as Nanhigganeuck. American English has absorbed a number of words from Narragansett and other closely related languages, such as Wampanoag. Such words include quahog, moose, papoose, powwow, squash, the Narragansett culture has existed in the region for centuries
10.
Allan Fung
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Elected mayor in 2008, Fung became the first mayor of Chinese ancestry in Rhode Island. Fung previously served as a prosecutor and attorney on legislative. He lost the race in Rhode Island during 2014 to Gina Raimondo. Allan W. Fung, born on February 25,1970 at Providence Lying-In Hospital, Fung is the eldest of Kwong Wen and he earned a B. A. from Rhode Island College in 1992. He received a Juris Doctor law degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1995 and he received the Classical High School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. Prior to his municipal leadership career, from 1999 to 2001, Fung served as a prosecutor, acting as Special Assistant, Fung served from 2001 to 2009 as the government relations counsel for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife. In 2003, he was elected to the Cranston, RI City Council, in 2004, Fung was honored as a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow. He is also a Providence Business News 40 Under Forty honoree, Fung was chairman of the Rhode Island Governor’s Insurance Council from 2005 to 2008. A Republican, he was elected Mayor in November 2008, beating Democrat Cynthia M. Fogarty by 63% to 37% and he is the first Chinese American elected as mayor in the state. He succeeded Michael Napolitano, who defeated him for the position in the 2006 election by 79 votes, Fung was re-elected in 2010 against Richard R. Tomlins by 76% to 24% and in 2012 against only write-in opponents by 97% to 3%. Fung is a member for the Republican National Committees Asian Pacific American Advisory Council. In November 2013, Fung announced his candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 election, on September 9,2014, Fung defeated Ken Block in the Republican primary, with a 55% majority. Soon thereafter, the Republican Governors Association President also endorsed him, Democrat Gina Raimondo would go on to win the election in a three-way split of votes. Fung won re-election to a term as Cranston mayor in November 2016. City of Cranstons website Allan Fung Mayoral campaign website Allan Fung gubernatorial campaign website
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