Information for Travelers
Rhode Island, a US state in New England, is known for its sandy shores and colonial seaside towns.
For such a small state, "Little Rhody" is packed with some of New England's most popular tourist attractions.
It is home to several major cities, including Newport, which is famous for sailing, and Golden Age mansions such as The Breakers.
The city, America's best-known playground for the super-rich in the happy days of the early 20th century, is the state's biggest attraction, with its legendary mansions built to rival the grand palaces of European royalty.
Providence, its capital, is home to Brown University, green Roger Williams Park, scenic Waterplace Park and the Riverwalk, with the famous WaterFire art installation.
Add miles of beautiful beaches - Rhode Island has a long coastline - a rich industrial history and an idyllic island, and you'll see why Rhode Island should be on any New England itinerary.
Despite its history as one of the oldest zoos in the country, the Roger Williams Park Zoo is an excellent example of modern zoo design and ethics.
Largely cage-free, the zoo is a place where animals live in environments as close as possible to their native habitat and where visitors can see them with minimal visible barriers.
At the 16-hectare zoo, they can observe snow leopards, zebras, crocodiles, wildebeests, giraffes, elephants, kangaroos, red pandas and dozens of other native and exotic creatures in an environment that encourages children and adults to learn more about them, its habits and their habitat.
Due to its child-friendly environment and variety of things to do here, Rogers Williams Park Zoo is one of Rhode Island's most popular places for families.
Culture
Newport's most celebrated - and most showy - Gilded Age mansion was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1895 and reflects the unimaginable wealth of the Vanderbilt family.
The Italian Renaissance "Summer House" has 70 rooms, including a large three-story dining room, and is built with imported French and Italian marble and alabaster.
The city of Providence is also replete with history from an earlier period, when its merchants grew rich from the slave trade and other lucrative businesses.
The Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum in Providence is notable not only for the impressive number of its collections, but also for the breadth of its scope.
The collection of historical and contemporary dresses and textiles totals more than 26,000 objects, from fragments of ancient Egyptian clothing and Elizabethan embroidery to 20th century American designers and Japanese Noh theater garments.
Read about Rhode Island in Wikipedia