The smallest state delivers an outsized helping of New England charm, from gilded seaside mansions to a creative little capital and a windswept island retreat. Rhode Island proves that coastline, history, and character have nothing to do with square mileage.
Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the union, but it wears its diminutive size as a point of pride, packing more coastline per mile and more history per acre than places many times its size. Founded as a haven for the free-thinking and the dissenting, the Ocean State has always had an independent streak, and that spirit still animates its harbor towns, its creative capital, and the quiet island that floats off its southern shore.
Newport is the jewel, a storied sailing town where the fortunes of the Gilded Age built a string of astonishing seaside mansions along the cliffs. Walking the famous Cliff Walk, with the Atlantic crashing below and the summer palaces of the Vanderbilts rising above, offers a glimpse into an era of almost unimaginable wealth, while the harbor still bristles with the masts of yachts and the town hums with festivals and fresh seafood.
Just up the bay, Providence rewards visitors with the pleasures of a compact, walkable capital that has become something of a creative powerhouse. Home to a renowned school of design and an Ivy League university, the city serves up handsome historic streets, an inventive food scene, and the enchanting WaterFire ritual, when braziers are lit along the rivers on summer evenings.
For those seeking a slower rhythm, Block Island lies a short ferry ride offshore, a place of rolling moors, dramatic bluffs, and pristine beaches that feels worlds away from the mainland. Together these three destinations distill everything appealing about New England into a state you can cross in under an hour, proof that the best things sometimes come in the smallest of packages.
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Places in Rhode Island
united-states Block Island
A small Rhode Island island of rolling moors, dramatic clay bluffs and two lonely lighthouses. Stone walls run through green fields down to quiet beaches, and the ferry is the only way in. It feels less like New England than some windswept scrap of Ireland set adrift off the coast.
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united-states Newport
A Rhode Island seaside town where the Gilded Age built its summer palaces along the Atlantic cliffs. A public footpath threads between marble mansions and the pounding surf, and the harbor below still crowds with sails. It is opulence and salt air in equal measure, grandeur you can walk right up to.
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united-states Providence
Rhode Island's capital is small enough to hold in one evening and strange enough to stay with you for months. We watched braziers of fire float down the river at dusk, climbed a hill of colonial houses, and ate better than we had any right to in a city this size.
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