Best Community #22: The Enclave

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

GoLocalProv Best Communities Team

 

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Little Compton

It may be Rhode Island's most small-town small town, and its legacy of insularity makes residents practically family, and interlopers just that. Proud, small, distinctly Yankee and remote, populated by both old-money families and longstanding rural families with little more than their land, Little Compton defies the momentum-based lifestyle that has taken over most of the state's communities.

Second only to New Shoreham's year-round population, Little Compton is the next-smallest town in Rhode Island with only 3,492 residents, and also follows that town in Economic Condition, ranking #2 statewide. Notably, though, the tiny town placed in the state's top 10 Education rankings at #9, and in the top 15 for Safety (14th). But isolation comes at a price: despite one of the state's most glamorous inns having located there,

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Little Compton doesn't have much else going on, placing it 37th for Arts & Culture. Some might argue that might be a strength.

Little Compton by the numbers

Established: 1862
Population: 3,492
Median household income: $85,938
Median housing price: $462,000

2011 Best Communities rankings

Overall ranking: 22
Affordability ranking: 33
Education ranking: 9
Economic condition ranking: 2
Safety ranking: 14
Arts & Culture ranking: 37

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History in a nutshell:

Little Compton was incorporated as a community of Plymouth Colony in 1682 before it was transferred to Rhode Island under Royal Decree in 1746. Before Little Compton was settled, it was the home of the Sagonate Indians, a tribe that fought with the settlers against King Philip in the Metacom War. After the war ended with King Philip’s death, Little Compton enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity, before the American Revolution began. British foraging parties raided the small town several times but were always met with swift and strong resistance from the settlers. Fishing has been a major source of industry since the town was established and it remains so today. Little Compton is also a prime vacation destination with the nostalgic mood of New England.

Famous residents:

Awashonks, female sachem of the Sakonnet tribe
Sydney Richmond Burleigh, artist
Captain Benjamin Church, father of American ranging
Christopher R. Hill, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and current United States Ambassador to Iraq
Henry Demarest Lloyd, muckraking journalist
J. William Middendorf, diplomat, civil servant, and artist
Arden Myrin, cast member of MADtv
Elizabeth Pabodie, daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, recognized as the first white girl born in New England
Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce, a rancher and cattleman in Texas
John Simmons, clothing manufacturer and founder of Simmons College
Henry Tillinghast Sisson, Civil War hero, Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island, and inventor of the three-ring binder
Charles Edwin Wilbour, journalist and Egyptologist
Isaac Wilbour, Governor of Rhode Island, member of the United States House of Representatives, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Additional research by Nate Holterman

 

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