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47 Rhode Island Trivia Questions and Fun Facts

Reviewed by Stefanie Zaldarriaga, Author·Updated Oct 2026·6 min read

47 Rhode Island trivia questions with answers and a handful of checked fun facts, from Roger Williams and Touro Synagogue to Newport's mansions, coffee milk and a state bird that is a chicken.

Featured Image of Rhode Island Trivia Questions. Credit: Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the country and the one with the most opinions per square mile: first to declare independence, last to ratify the Constitution, and the only state whose official bird is a chicken. Before the 47 questions below, here are the facts worth knowing.

Roger Williams founded Providence in 1636 after being banished from Massachusetts Bay, and built the colony on a then-radical idea: freedom of conscience, with church and state kept apart. (Source: National Park Service, Roger Williams National Memorial.)

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first colony to renounce its allegiance to King George III. It was also the last of the original thirteen to ratify the US Constitution, holding out until May 29, 1790. (Source: Rhode Island Secretary of State, Rhode Island State Archives.)

Touro Synagogue in Newport, dedicated in 1763, is the oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States. In 1790 George Washington wrote to its congregation promising a government that gives "to bigotry no sanction." (Source: National Park Service, Touro Synagogue National Historic Site.)

Slater Mill in Pawtucket, built in 1793, was the first successful water-powered cotton-spinning mill in the country and is now part of Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park. (Source: National Park Service, Blackstone River Valley NHP.)

The state's official list includes coffee milk as the state drink, calamari as the state appetizer, the quahog as the state shell and the Rhode Island Red, a breed of chicken developed in Little Compton, as the state bird. (Source: Rhode Island General Laws, Title 42, Chapter 4, State Emblems.)

Until voters shortened it in November 2020, the state's full official name was the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the longest of any state. (Source: Rhode Island Board of Elections, 2020 general election results.)

The questions start easy and get harder as you go, and every one has multiple-choice options. Read each question aloud, give the table a moment, then reveal the answer.

  1. 1What is the capital of Rhode Island?

  2. 2Which is the smallest US state by area?

  3. 3What is Rhode Island's best-known nickname?

  4. 4Who founded Providence in 1636?

  5. 5Rhode Island's state bird is a breed of chicken. What is it called?

  6. 6Which drink is Rhode Island's official state beverage?

  7. 7What is Rhode Island's one-word state motto?

  8. 8Which object appears on the Rhode Island state flag?

  9. 9Which Newport mansion was built as a summer home for Cornelius Vanderbilt II?

  10. 10In the animated sitcom Family Guy, the Griffins live in which fictional Rhode Island town?

  11. 11Which large bay cuts deep into Rhode Island?

  12. 12Which Ivy League university is in Providence?

  13. 13Which Rhode Island island, off the state's southern coast, is a popular summer escape?

  14. 14Rhode Island shares land borders with Massachusetts and which other state?

  15. 15Rhode Island's state fruit, the Rhode Island Greening, is a variety of what?

  16. 16Rhode Island was which state, in order, to ratify the US Constitution?

  17. 17In what year did Rhode Island finally ratify the US Constitution?

  18. 18Rhode Island Independence Day, marking its 1776 break with King George III, falls on which date?

  19. 19Until 2020, what was Rhode Island's full official name?

  20. 20In what year did Rhode Island voters approve dropping "and Providence Plantations" from the state's name?

  21. 21The Rhode Island Red chicken was developed in which coastal town?

  22. 22Which Newport landmark, dedicated in 1763, is the oldest surviving synagogue building in the United States?

  23. 23Samuel Slater's 1793 mill, often called the start of American industry, stands in which Rhode Island city?

  24. 24What did Rhode Island colonists burn in the 1772 Gaspee Affair?

  25. 25The first US National Championships in tennis, now the US Open, were played in 1881 at which venue?

  26. 26The International Tennis Hall of Fame is in which Rhode Island city?

  27. 27From 1930 to 1983 Newport hosted the America's Cup, a contest in which sport?

  28. 28At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, which singer shocked purists by playing an electric set?

  29. 29Rhode Island is the only state that still holds a legal holiday, Victory Day, marking the end of which war?

  30. 30What is Rhode Island's state tree?

  31. 31What is Rhode Island's state flower?

  32. 32Which dish did Rhode Island name its official state appetizer in 2014?

  33. 33What is Rhode Island's state fish?

  34. 34How many counties does Rhode Island have?

  35. 35Which painter of the George Washington portrait used on the one-dollar bill was born in Rhode Island in 1755?

  36. 36Which Rhode Island-born naval commander reported "We have met the enemy and they are ours" after the Battle of Lake Erie?

  37. 37Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane studied at which Providence school?

  38. 38Unlike almost every other state, Rhode Island's counties have no what?

  39. 39What is the highest point in Rhode Island?

  40. 40In what year was Brown University founded?

  41. 41Anne Hutchinson and her followers founded which Rhode Island settlement in 1638?

  42. 42The prefabricated Quonset hut takes its name from which Rhode Island naval site?

  43. 43What is Rhode Island's state insect?

  44. 44What is Rhode Island's state rock?

  45. 45What is Rhode Island's state mineral?

  46. 46In what year was the Newport Jazz Festival first held?

  47. 47Samuel Slater's Pawtucket mill was built to spin which fiber?

Answer Key

  1. 1. Providence
  2. 2. Rhode Island
  3. 3. The Ocean State
  4. 4. Roger Williams
  5. 5. The Rhode Island Red
  6. 6. Coffee milk
  7. 7. Hope
  8. 8. An anchor
  9. 9. The Breakers
  10. 10. Quahog
  11. 11. Narragansett Bay
  12. 12. Brown University
  13. 13. Block Island
  14. 14. Connecticut
  15. 15. Apple
  16. 16. The 13th
  17. 17. 1790
  18. 18. May 4
  19. 19. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
  20. 20. 2020
  21. 21. Little Compton
  22. 22. Touro Synagogue
  23. 23. Pawtucket
  24. 24. A British customs schooner
  25. 25. The Newport Casino
  26. 26. Newport
  27. 27. Yacht racing
  28. 28. Bob Dylan
  29. 29. World War II
  30. 30. The red maple
  31. 31. The violet
  32. 32. Calamari
  33. 33. The striped bass
  34. 34. Five
  35. 35. Gilbert Stuart
  36. 36. Oliver Hazard Perry
  37. 37. Rhode Island School of Design
  38. 38. County governments
  39. 39. Jerimoth Hill
  40. 40. 1764
  41. 41. Portsmouth
  42. 42. Quonset Point
  43. 43. The American burying beetle
  44. 44. Cumberlandite
  45. 45. Bowenite
  46. 46. 1954
  47. 47. Cotton

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