All Episodes
BONUS: Conversation with Dr. Erik Chaput | The Dorr Rebellion
In this conversation with Dr. Erik Chaput we discussed the life of Thomas Wilson Dorr and the 1842 political upheaval he eventually led. To learn more about Thomas W...
BONUS: The Rise of Providence | The Making of an Industrial Powerhouse
When founded in 1636, Providence was little more than a tiny settlement of religious outcasts fighting for survival. But by the late 19th century, it had managed to be...
BONUS: Conversation with Dr. Patrick Conley | History of Democracy in Rhode Island
In this conversation with Dr. Patrick Conley we discussed when The Colony of Rhode Island had perhaps the most radical democracy in the world, how that declined in the...
BONUS: Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island | The Newport and Wickford Railroad
In this first episode of the Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island series, we'll take a look at the Newport and Wickford Railroad, a line that served everyone from Ameri...
BONUS: Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island | The Hartford, Providence & Fishkill Railroad
Follow the forgotten Hartford, Providence, and Fishkill Railroad from Providence to western Coventry, and discover how this 19th-century line shaped Rhode Island’s mil...
BONUS: Forgotten Railroads of Rhode Island | The Narragansett Pier Railroad
Before it became the South County Bike Path, this quiet trail was the Narragansett Pier Railroad, a vital 19th-century line that fueled Rhode Island’s mills, carried s...
BONUS: Forgotten Railroad of Rhode Island | The Wood River Branch Railroad P1
On April 19, 1873, a train traveling through rural Rhode Island plunged into a washed-out bridge in the darkness before dawn. What followed was one of the deadliest ra...
BONUS: Forgotten Railroad of Rhode Island | The Wood River Branch Railroad P2
The Wood River Branch Railroad should not have survived. Built in the aftermath of a deadly train wreck and during the Panic of 1873, the line spent decades fighting f...
BONUS: The Independence Day That Wasn't
On May 4th, 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence, Rhode Island renounced its allegiance to King George III. No other colony had done it. So why isn'...
BONUS: Why the Founding Fathers Feared Rhode Island
The Founding Fathers preached government by the people. Rhode Island practiced it. And it terrified them. In the 1780s, a period known as the Critical Period, James Ma...
BONUS: Rhode Island's Fight Against the Constitution
In 1790, the United States threatened to invade one of its own states. Congress debated cutting it off as a foreign nation. Some advocates of the new Constitution even...
BONUS: The Gaspee Affair
Before Lexington and Concord... before the Boston Tea Party... Rhode Islanders launched one of the boldest attacks of the Revolutionary era. In 1772, a group of Rhode ...