Overview:
Tourism has been an important sector in Rhode Island’s economy for years. But state marketing focuses more on beaches than historic places of interest that mark the state's prominent role in American history. Is it time for that to change?
“You just stepped onto 400-year-old wood boards, some of them as wide as a foot wide,” Bob Burke said while stepping into the mini-museum he created on Weybosset Street, around the corner from his French restaurant, Pot au Feu. “This is white oak and this would have been growing at the time that Roger Williams, the founder of our state, was actually still here and alive.”
Burke is a local historian. He created what he calls a keyhole museum to offer an overview on Rhode Island history, done up with the feel of a colonial tavern.
“The reason why we created this as our visitors’ center theme is because it was the brave colonists in 1772 who met in a Providence tavern and debated whether or not they should attack the Gaspee,” Burke said.
The attack on the Gaspee is well known locally and it set the stage for the American Revolution. But while crowds turned out in Boston last week to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, few outside of Rhode Island know the story of that British vessel.
Do tourists want beaches or historical experiences?
Proponents of heritage tourism say the state could do a much better job of promoting its past. Heritage tourism has become much more trendy in recent years. But when it comes to promoting tourism, beaches and Newport mansions get more attention than Roger Williams’ role in creating the concept of religious freedom, Rhode Island’s central place in the Industrial Revolution and how the Ocean State was enmeshed in the Atlantic slave trade.
By not placing a greater focus on Rhode Island’s place in American history, Burke and other history enthusiasts contend, the state is falling short of its potential in drawing tourists.
“We’re one of the only places that has the true historical assets, because our preservation movements have been so strong that we have assets that other places simply do not have,” Burke said. “They, like a historical theme park, are making up fakes. We have the real historical theme park here. The only thing Rhode Island hasn’t done is put up turnstiles and actually organized it.”
Emerging on Weybosset Street, Burke points to the largest bell cast by Paul Revere’s foundry, visible at what is now the First Unitarian Church on the East Side.
He described how Providence was first settled thousands of years ago, and explains that Weybosset’s winding course is due to how it was a busy Native American trading route.
Burke believes Providence deserves a UN World Heritage designation because of such details. That may be a long shot, but he’s not alone in seeing significant room for improvement in highlighting Rhode Island’s history.
“I think this is really important,” said Ruth Taylor, the former director of the Newport Historical Society, and current chairwoman of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission.
Taylor agrees with Burke that emphasizing local history will bring more tourists. And she said boosting appreciation for history is important for the state’s self-identity.
“If we live in a place where important things have consistently happened, where innovation has happened, where struggles against good and evil have happened, that ennobles us in a way and helps us to think about bigger things,” she said.
State spending on tourism is not the problem
State spending on tourism promotion did increase significantly during the Raimondo administration, to more than $6 million a year. That’s up from a meager $700,000 about 10 years ago. And the boost appears to be paying off.
State officials say visits to Rhode Island grew by more than 5 percent in 2022, to a record of almost 28 million people. Spending by visitors topped $5 billion, an increase of 17 percent over the previous year.
McKee points to improvements at the Statehouse as a sign of how his administration values history. And he cites the spike in visitors in expressing satisfaction.
“The percentage of people coming to Rhode Island is up considerably,” McKee said. “I am very pleased with where we are right now.”
Rhode Island tourism director Mark Brodeur said competing with bigger cities like Boston and New York is tough, but insists that Rhode Island is at the table.
“And tourism isn’t one thing,” he said. “We can’t go out there and say, ‘We’re colonial America.’ Where there are markets that are interested in that, we talk to them. In the general gist of it, when we’re throwing out the fishing net, we have to talk about the entire authentic destination.”
But Secretary of State Gregg Amore, who taught history for 27 years at East Providence High School, is among those who think the state could do a much better job of promoting its past.
When he travels around the U.S., Amore said the historic sites he visits are filled with tourists from near and far.
By contrast, in Rhode Island, he said, “I think we’ve focused on our beauty and our culinary expertise and we’ve focused on the idea that this is kind of summer vacationland, but we really haven’t focused on our deep and rich history.”
For example, Amore said, Rhode Island is the only state to use leased space to house materials like the 1663 charter that set the stage for the principles of religious liberty and separation of church and state in the U.S. Amore and Gov. Dan McKee are backing a plan to create a new state archive and museum to host a trove of historic documents.
“If you want to see the Declaration of Independence, our original copy with John Hancock’s signature on the back, you have to make an appointment at the archives,” he said. “We bring it out for you. You look at it for a couple of minutes and then you move on. We need to display these in a way that then prompts further interest to go visit the First Baptist Church, Touro Synagogue, et cetera, et cetera,” Amore said.
Could the semiquincentennial be a tourism opportunity?
Proponents of Rhode Island history also note that the state lacks the visitor centers that have helped destinations like Charleston, South Carolina, boost tourism. And they say as Rhode Island prepares to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary in two years, it needs to deliver better marketing than its recent rollout of giant stuffie replicas at out of town airports.
This is not the first time the state has faced criticism for its approach to luring visitors. Rhode Island has faced ridicule for a series of efforts to boost the state, ranging from the “Biggest Little State in the Union” campaign in the early 1980s to the “Cooler and Warmer” tagline in 2016, which was scrapped after widespread criticism.
Bob Burke said that if Disney announced it was going into historic theme parks, the company would spend billions of dollars to create the kind of features that already exist in Providence. So, he says, why not turn Providence into a historic theme park that attracts visitors on a scale with places like Williamsburg, Charleston, and Savannah?
“Why aren’t we that heritage place that people are visiting?” Burke asked. “The only reason is that we do nothing to let them know we’re here.”
Political reporter Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@thepublicsradio.org
