Think you know RI? Mark Patinkin puts you to the test with some Ocean State trivia.
In a creative effort to take the measure of the dozen-plus candidates running here for Congress, The Providence Journal hit them with a test about the 1st Congressional District.
Among the questions:
Where can you buy a coffee cabinet? (Newport Creamery.)
What’s a chimi? (A Dominican sandwich/hamburger often sold from food trucks.)
What immigrant group has a tradition of constructing grape arbors? (Portuguese and Italians.)
Credit to Aaron Regunberg and Gabe Amo for scoring highest.
It got me thinking we could use a test for the whole state.
So for today’s column, a full Rhode Island quiz.
Answers at the bottom – no cheating.
Why, despite not being one, is Rhode Island called an island?
What kind of bug is “the bug?” – no need to mention size or color here; you know which one I mean.
Which two houses of worship in the state, both still vibrant, are the country’s oldest in each of their faiths?
What’s Rhode Island’s official appetizer?
Which president was married here? Bonus points for the name of the church.
And which other president summered here?
What Rhode Island team did Babe Ruth play on?
If you throw it away, where is it most likely to end up?
What tavern has been serving since 1673, longer than any other in the country?
Which two local villages might erroneously draw confused religious pilgrims looking for biblical sites?
What kind of iconic food item is it traditional to order “all the way?”
Was Rhode Island the first or last to renounce the crown?
First or last to ratify the Constitution?
How do you explain those two opposite answers?
Who described Providence as the “haven of the odd, the dissenting and the free”?
Where is that person buried – and for bonus points, what does his gravestone say?
What’s taller – the Independent Man or Michelangelo’s David?
What’s the second smallest state, and how much bigger than Rhode Island is it?
The state’s official shellfish is, of course, the quahog. What’s its scientific name?
Where did the Navy Seabees, which still have a museum at their former base in Quonset Point, get their name?
And what notable military building style was born there?
Where’s the country’s oldest indoor shopping center – built in 1828 – and what’s it called?
What’s the name of the state’s highest mountain, er, hill, and is it under or over 1,000 feet?
What geographic units are Patience, Hope, Despair and Hog?
What do polo, the U.S. Open golf championship and being put in jail for speeding in a car have in common?
What notable bird is commemorated on a monument in Little Compton’s Adamsville?
Trick question: Which of the state’s county governments is the biggest?
What other state, besides Massachusetts and Connecticut, does Rhode Island border?
Approximately how many Rhode Islands can fit inside Alaska – 100, 200, 400 or 600?
Finally - you’ll never guess what I could possibly be thinking of here - what’s the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in America?
Take the test: We gave the CD1 special election candidates a quiz on the district. Here's how they did.
Answers
The original Rhode Island was Aquidneck Island, though some also say the Dutch explorer Adrian Block dubbed it “Roodt Eylandt” – red island – after the clay on its shores.
Termite.
Newport’s Touro Synagogue and “The” First Baptist Church in Providence.
Calamari, of course.
John Kennedy, in Newport’s St. Mary’s Church.
Dwight Eisenhower, at what’s now the Eisenhower House at Fort Adams State Park.
The Providence Grays, in 1914.
The 154-acre Central Landfill in Johnson – 90% of the state’s solid waste ends up there.
The White Horse Tavern.
Jerusalem and Galilee.
New York System wieners.
First.
Last
We’re pretty ornery.
H. P. Lovecraft.
Swan Point Cemetery. “I am Providence.”
The Independent Man is 11 feet; David is 17 feet.
Delaware, and about double our size at 2,400 square miles.
Mercenaria mercenaria.
Seabees come from Construction Battalion.
The Quonset Hut.
Providence; The Arcade.
Jerimoth Hill – 812 feet.
Narragansett Bay islands.
All took place for the first time in Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Red, of course.
There are no county governments here.
New York – by way of a water border.
400.
Shocker – the Providence Journal.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI trivia tests knowledge on history, food, military, sports, geography
