Roger Williams Sites

Approved in 1965, the 5-acre national memorial is Rhode Island’s only national park and pays tribute to Williams’ strong beliefs about religious freedom with a short video and displays inside the visitor center. The park is where Williams and his followers gathered and the site of their freshwater spring. 

Williams and his wife arrived in Massachusetts in 1631, among the Puritan movement making a break with the Church of England. But the minister immediately began clashing by refusing an invitation to lead a Boston church because he believed parishioners had not severed all ties to England’s church. Williams and his wife had to move to Salem to escape the political fallout, the first of several such trips within Massachusetts.

Massachusetts eventually banished Williams for his vocal contradicting views and he had to seek permission to even travel through the state for the rest of his life. And though Williams obtained the important parliamentary patent from England in March 1644 that established Providence and three other Rhode Island towns, he was also unpopular there. A month after he published, “The Bloudy Tenent,” in Aug. 1644, Parliament ordered the 425-page work burned.

The Roger Williams National Memorial is open daily 9 am – 4:30 pm

The church was left in the hands of Elders and Chad Brown became the first ordained pastor in 1642. The Baptist congregation believed buildings were excessive and had no meetinghouse until 1700, when Pastor Pardon Tillinghast built one on his own property. A larger structure replaced it in 1726. 

Built in 1775, the current meetinghouse was designed by Joseph Brown, Chad Brown’s great-great grandson. It features an auditorium for 1,400 people, balconies lining three walls and a large crystal chandelier believed to be from Waterford, Ireland. The 185-foot steeple holds a 2,500-pound bell.

The church was built under the direction of James Manning, president of Brown University (called Rhode Island College until 1804) for Baptist church services and the college’s graduation ceremonies. This Ivy League school tradition continues today.

The statue was dedicated in the 1930s after a long effort to honor Williams began in 1850. A Williams’ descendant donated the land in the 1860s, but no other gains were made until a committee was formed to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of Williams’ arrival in 1936. An interesting note is that same year, Massachusetts finally made amends with Williams posthumously, when legislators passed a bill revoking his 301-year-old banishment.

After originally being buried on North Main Street, then moved to the Old North Burial Ground, Williams’ remains were moved for a third and final time to the park to watch over the city for perpetuity.

This French Chateau style building dates back to 1884 and features a modern planetarium and displays about wildlife, rocks, minerals and Narragansett Bay.

Open daily 10 am – 5 pm