The Massachusetts Bay colony was a very successful company which dealt with international trade. As one could imagine, Newport became a port city and eventually even a naval base. This tiny city of 11.5 square miles certainly has shown being small doesn’t equate to unimportant.
On this day May 8th, in 1639, Newport, Rhode Island is founded by William Coddington, a magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Many disagreed with Coddington’s method of rule; thus, in 1650 Nicholas Easton, who had joined Coddington in 1640, created his own faction.
In 1658, the Jews in Spain were being persecuted during one of the inquisitions, and for this reason many emigrated to the New World. The oldest synagogue that still stanges was then built in Newport in 1763. Newport is also famous for housing many presidents during the summer, from where the term Summer White Houses was coined. Presidents such as: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Obama all had (have) houses in Newport. Newport is about 30 miles south of Providence, one of the oldest cities in America.