Newport County RI
Newport County is made up of 6 small
towns in Rhode Island, most of them
belonging to the original Plymouth Colony.
This 314 square mile of the state is broken
down into the following towns: Jamestown,
Little Compton, Middletown, Newport,
Portsmouth, and Tiverton.
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Jamestown sits on the second largest island
of Rhode Island, Narragansett Bay. This
hidden cove has only a little over 5,000
permanent residents that call it home year
round. Jamestown is one of the last areas in
the
state still clinging on to the “old way”
of life.
Most of the area is still rural
farmlands with only less than 30% of its
population leaving the island for outside
work. In 2005 a new bridge, the
Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge,
was constructed
to allow for better access to and from the
island.Little Compton is exactly what its
name implies, little! This residential community only consists of around
3500
people. |
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The
most historical area of this small town lies
to the east in one of the many 16th century
cemeteries. If you walk around through the
old cemeteries you will see that most people
buried here are from the original Mayflower
era of history.
Middletown is one of the largest towns in
the county with almost 20,000 residents.
This part of Rhode Island land actually
receives a fair amount of visitors yearly
due to the airport that is located within
the county. Newport State Airport takes up a
large part of Middletown’s land mass, but
also allows for a steady flow of visitors to
come through the area.
Newport probably has the most decorated past
of all the towns located within Newport
County. This is largely due to the role it
played back in the 1700’s in the slave trade
industry. It is estimated that over 70% of
slaves entered into the eastern states
through this area. You can still walk
through The Old Brick Market and stand on
the exact location where slaves were traded
over 300 years ago.
Portsmouth is best known for its important
historical role in the American fight for
independence. In American history, most of
the battles (including the famous Butt’s
Hill battle) were fought by the
African-American military units commanded by
Gen. John Sullivan. If you look at
statistics today, you will find that less
than 1% of African-Americans are still
living in the Newport County area.
Tiverton is the last town in Newport County.
The area used to thrive as a summer resort
and residential community up until 2002.
During routine land tests, the lands here
were found to contain large amounts of
harmful compounds. Arsenic, cyanide, and
lead were found in high quantity and the
digging in the area stopped immediately
causing all land values to plummet down to
almost nothing.
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