Newport Harbor, located toward the southwestern shore of Rhode Island's Aquidneck Island and English Harbour, on the southern side of the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. Both are two lively and charming ports of call, found on two similar but distinct islands.
Separated by approximately 1500 nautical miles - Aquidneck in the north Atlantic, Antigua in the heart of the Eastern Caribbean share a common history, people and culture. Rich in seafaring traditions, both islands are inhabited respectively by a people fiercely proud of this heritage. Their colorful histories are wrought with the struggle for freedom & independence.
The development, population and present economy of Aquidneck Island and the Leeward Island of Antigua, has been greatly influenced and determined by their respective and prime locations on the Eastern Seaboard and the heart of the Caribbean Sea. While Aquidneck Island includes the municipalities of Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth, it is Newport -- the City by the Sea -- for which it is most widely known.
For centuries, deep-water harbors, offering safe haven from storms and ease of access from the open oceans, have developed cultures, economies, populations and trade opportunities, which indelibly influenced their maritime histories and enduring vitality. Newport and Antigua are no exception in this regard. The two island serve as perfect examples of that mutually nurturing connection between water and land. Aquidneck and Antigua both attracted early settlers seeking religious freedom.
Today on both islands, you will find churches and places of worship representing a wide variety of denominations. Newport is home to the Touro Synagogue the oldest synagogue in the United States. Antigua has many Anglican and Moravian churches, as well as the Baha'i Faith and a sizable population of those who adhere to the Rastafarian religion. Originating in Africa, Rastafarianism is not just a religion but a way of life -- guided by the bible, and in its purest form embraces a peaceful, natural lifestyle, which speaks out against poverty, oppression and inequality.
Rhode Island's fervor for religious tolerance and freedom is believed to have ignited with Ann Marbury Hutchinson, who was banished from Massachusetts for her religious beliefs in 1637. Ann moved to Rhode Island, along with William Coddington, John Clarke and others, forming a settlement on Aquidneck Island in 1638. Clarke & Coddington went on to found Newport in 1639, setting the stage for a vibrant new community encircling the harbor.
Interestingly Antigua, in 1684, received a visit from a gentleman with the similar name of Codrington, who came to investigate the potential for the sugar trade thus instigating one of the major economic and cultural influences in the history of that island. Inspired no doubt, by their founders bold efforts to establish religious freedom, Rhode Island became the first of 13 original colonies to declare political independence from Britain in 1776. Antigua however, remained a British Colony for almost another two hundred years - until 1967, when along with her dependencies Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda, she became an Associated State of the Commonwealth, and in 1981 achieved full independence.