Gaspee Days

You may have heard about the Boston Tea Party or other rebellions that led to the American Revolution, but the action really started right in Warwick’s waters. The “first blow for freedom” came in June of 1772, when brave colonists from Rhode Island burned the British revenue schooner, the HMS Gaspee. This act has become recognized as the first bloodshed of the American Revolution.

Since 1965, the hardworking Gaspee Days Committee, a civic-minded, nonprofit organization, has been operating many community events designed to commemorate the burning of the Gaspee in and around Pawtuxet Village, including the famous Gaspee Days Parade, each May and June.