History of Newport

Some interesting Facts about the Area:

Rhode Island is the smallest state with the longest name

Rhode Island's total area is only 1545 square miles and 500 of that is water.

In 1806, Pelham Street in Newport became the first gas-illuminated street in the country. (Boston had the first oil-illuminated street lamps, in 1719.)
 

Newport's Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1762, is the oldest synagogue in the United States. The synagogue houses a copy of the Torah that is 500 years old—the oldest in North America.
 

The costume jewelry industry was begun in Providence in 1794 when two brothers, Nehemiah and Seril Dodge, developed a method of plating base metal with gold. Rhode Island is now the Costume Jewelry Capital of the world with over 35,000 employed in jewelry manufacturing, distribution, and related services.

In 1793, Samuel Slater's mill in Pawtucket became the country's first successful water-powered cotton mill, kicking off the Industrial Revolution in America

On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island's initial refusal to sign was due to the debate over the addition of a bill of rights to guarantee individual liberties; but once such a bill was proposed by Congress, Rhode Island finally ratified the Constitution by a narrow margin (34 to 32). The fact that the new "more perfect union" would have treated Rhode Island as a foreign government if it had failed to ratify may also have had something to do with their change of heart. So you can thank Rhode Island for our wonderful Bill of Rights!
 

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island renounced allegiance to King George III of England, the first colony to make such a bold statement of independence. We issued our own Declaration of Independence and therefore was the only colony not to sign the version written by Thomas Jefferson.

Since 1785 Bristol has been home to the country's longest running, unbroken series of 4th of July celebrations.

In 1774 Rhode Island became the first colony to ban the importation of slaves, but Rhode Island merchants continued to sponsor slaving voyages into the beginning of the 19th century anyway.

The first man killed by British troops prior to the Revolution was a Rhode Islander, Henry Sparker. He was shot during the Newport Massacre on May 3, 1768

Before the Boston Tea Party (1773) and prior to "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" at Lexington (1775), Rhode Island patriots expressed their displeasure with British rule by burning the grounded British revenue schooner Gaspee at Namquit (now Gaspee) Point in 1772

The first Baptist Church was built in RI est. in 1638.

In 1638, Portsmouth became the first town in the New World to be founded by a woman, Anne Hutchinson

In 1856, the B.B. & R. Knight Corporation, operating out of Pontiac Mills in Warwick, began producing bolts of cloth under the "Fruit of the Loom" label. The Knight Family then donated money to open the Community College of Rhode Island-Knight Campus in Warwick. It is a big joke in RI that Rhode Islanders were educated "by the seat of their pants".

James Gordon Bennett, publisher of the New York Herald, introduced polo to the United States at Newport in 1876. Ten years later he challenged some English friends from the Hurlingham Polo Club to compete in the first international polo matches. The Americans were beaten in all three matches

A fellow by the name of Walter Scott is credited with originating the concept of the diner in 1872 with his Providence lunch cart, from which he sold sandwiches, pies, and coffee outside the Providence Journal offices

Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, established around 1880, is the oldest and most northern topiary garden in the United States

The first U.S. National Men's Tennis Championship took place at Newport Casino in 1881

The nine-hole course at Newport's Golf and Country Club was the venue for the first U.S. Open Championship, conducted on October 4, 1895, by the United States Golf Association

Between 1893 and 1934, the America's Cup sailing competition was dominated by eight yachts built at Herreshoff Manufacturing Company in Bristol.
 

In Newport on August 28, 1904, Judge Darius Baker imposed the first jail sentence for speeding in an automobile. The offender was caught traveling at the breakneck speed of 15 miles per hour

Rhode Island was the only state that rejected and did not ratify the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. Rhode Island rumrunners subsequently made a tidy profit ferrying liquor ashore from beyond the three-mile limit

On September 12, 1953, John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier in Saint Mary's Church in Newport

The first jazz festival in the United States was held in Newport in 1954

Between 1954 and 1984, Providence, as the headquarters of Raymond L.S. Patriarca, was the Mafia capital of New England

The longest baseball game ever played took place on April 19 and 20 and June 23, 1981, at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. The International League game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings began at 8:00pm and dragged on until 4:09 in the morning, when the game was suspended after 32 innings with a 2-2 score. When the game was resumed on June 23, it took Pawtucket only one inning to score, ending the game after 33 innings and eight-and-a-half hours of play.

An ethnic survey performed in the 1930s found that Woonsocket contained the third-largest French-speaking population among cities in North America. The top two cities were Quebec and Montreal

Rhode Island State Airport (later Theodore Francis Green Airport) in Warwick, dedicated on September 26, 1931, was the country's first state-owned airport

At 1147 feet, the Crawford Street Bridge over the Providence River in Providence was qualified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the widest bridge in the world. Having grown from several normal-sized bridges between 1843 and 1940, the decking was dismantled in the early 1990s as part of a downtown revitalization plan

Per square mile, Rhode Island has more shipwrecks than any other state

While Rhode Island is only 37 miles wide and 48 miles tall, its many bays, coves and offshore islands give it a tidal shoreline that measures 384 miles in length. Forty miles of that is coastal, placing Rhode Island in 19th place among the states.
 

The White Horse Tavern (1687) in Newport is one of the oldest tavern buildings in America

The first truly American breed of horse, the Narragansett Pacer, was developed in Rhode Island in the late 1600s. It's said that Paul Revere rode a Narragansett Pacer during his midnight ride.

The Redwood Library and Athenaeum, established in Newport in 1747, is the oldest lending library in the United States. It was also the first work by Peter Harrison, America's first architect, and the first neo-classical building in America.
 

History of Inn Bliss

Once upon a time...

there lived a carpenter by the name of Isaac Gleason. Isaac was born in the heart of Victorian times. After his betrothal to Lucretia Brigham, he announced to his parents, Merrill and Sally, that he was going to build a house for his new family. In 1888, Isaac and Lucretia moved into their new home at 10 Bliss Road. Nearly a year later, Nellie was born. Nellie later had a sister Daisy.  Isaac opened his own business, Peck ham & Gleason, and helped build many of the local historic cottages of Newport. Isaac died young at the age of 47 of pneumonia in November, 1897.  Lucretia during her lifetime had become a member of the Women's Auxiliary of the Y.M.C.A and chairperson on the social committee, which was very progressive at the time. Daisy Gleason grew up and moved to Wakefield, MA with her new family, the Whittemore's, but often visited her beloved sister. (The family still resides in Wakefield, today.) Nellie remained at home with Lucretia and became a kindergarten school teacher at the Potter School. She was very well known teacher in town. Nellie gave piano lessons for many years in the living room, which to this day has always had a piano in the same corner. On New Year's Eve in 1934, Lucretia died and left her home to Daisy and Nellie. In 1974, Nellie left the house to her only surviving family, Daisy's children, Willard and Stanley. Six months after the inheritance, Willard and Stanley sold the family estate to the Kings who made it part of their lives for 14 years before selling. In the interim, the house has seen even more love, laughter and tears...now as Inn Bliss, it has continued to become part of the memories of all the guests who should enter to make it their home away from home.

                                              - A New Beginning