History of Newport RI

Much of the commercial activity was centered on the area called Washington Square, which was once the center of both the commercial and civic life of the colonial city.

In the early 17th century, a large number of Quakers also settled in Newport. The evidence of this population can be seen today in the fact that many streets in the oldest part of town known as "The Point", are named after trees. The Quaker meetinghouse in Newport (1699) is the oldest house of worship in Rhode Island. In 1727, James Franklin (brother of Benjamin) was printing in Newport; in 1732, he published the first newspaper, the Rhode Island Gazette. In 1758, his son James founded the Mercury, a weekly paper. Throughout the 18th century the famous Goddard and Townsend furniture was made in Newport. Nowadays Newport is partially famous for the "Newport Mansions" which were 18th century mansions. They are also famous for its history of the tall ships and the tall ships racing which is a race from teams from all over the country which competed to see who was the best teams in the world. These races used to bring lots of tourists to Newport and had great publicity.

Throughout the 18th century, Newport suffered from an imbalance of trade with the largest colonial ports. As a result, Newport merchants were forced to develop alternatives to conventional exports.

Newport was also a major center of pirate activity during the late 17th and early 18th century. So many pirates used Newport as their base of operations that the London Board of Trade made an official complaint to the English government. The most famous pirate who made Newport his base was Thomas Tew. Tew was very popular with the locals; after one of his pirating voyages, it was reported that almost the whole town came out to greet him.

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