Town of Rehoboth
Incorporated June 4, 1645

The original Rehoboth was made up of three purchases. The first included Seekonk, Attleboro, North Attleborough, Pawtucket, East Providence, and a part of Swansea that was later to become Barrington, RI. The second (1645) was that of Wannamoisett, property of John Brown of Rehoboth, later part of Swansea but which reverted to Rehoboth in 1747. the third was the "North Purchase" (1661) which was incorporated as a separate town in 1694 and became Attleboro at that time.

As early as 1661 there were grist mills, wheelwright, shoemaker, and blacksmith shops established. By 1750 iron forging had begun. Later, a variety of items were produced including cotton cloth and thread.

The final scene of King Philip's War took place at a camp in Squannakonk Swamp at the rock now called Annawan Rock where Annawan was beheaded. This broke the Indians' resistance.

During the Revolutionary War Rehoboth sent more than 1400 men to war and during the Civil War the town sent its full quota of men and financial support.

The Rehoboth Antiquarian Society was formed in 1884. After the group raised $4,000 toward a building by selling $10 shares, Darius Goff of Pawtucket matched the amount and gave an acre of land on which to build. Residents immediately gave items of priceless historical value to the museum.

Rehoboth was called "the Birthplace of Public Education" as it opened the first public school in 1643.

An early Rehoboth woman and her family gained a degree of notoriety when she reputedly counterfeited paper money for several years (1716-1723) by a transfer process using starched muslin and a pressing iron followed by artistic enhancement of the transfer.

Rehoboth has resisted development and has virtually no industry. Making it a quiet, "bedroom" community noted for its gold courses.


Historical Sites

34 homes and 1 district made up of 49 properties are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Goff Memorial Hall, Rehoboth Village.
Hornbine School- historic 1-room schoolhouse.
Site of the Palmer River Pound on Wood Street, known in 1750 as the Pot Ash Neighborhood.
Bad Luck Reservoir, site of a burst dam in 1859.