Bristol, Rhode Island, was founded in 1680, by four wealthy Boston merchants: John Walley, Stephen Burton, Nathaniel Byfield and Nathaniel Oliver. Together they bought the Mount Hope Lands from the Plymouth Colony. These lands extended from Mount Hope on the east to Narragansett Bay on the west, and six miles to the north. This peninsula of 21 square miles cost them eleven hundred pounds. Bristol was a town of Massachusetts until the Crown transferred it to the Rhode Island Colony in 1747.
At that time New England was a colony of England. It was Charles II of England who granted permission for the purchase of the Mount Hope Lands. The document was signed at Windsor Castle on June 12, 1677. The four owners of Bristol immediately set about to develop an urban plan. They traced perpendicular streets and avenues and divided the land into lots for houses, farms, schools, churches, parks, cemeteries and government buildings. Apart from the four founders lots were also purchased by Benjamin Church, the Indian fighter of the Plymouth Colony.
It is located in Bristol county and is the county seat, and it is named after Bristol, England.
An architectural monograph on the Bristol renaissance by Joy Wheeler Dow (Internet Archive)
Bristol County, Rhode Island (Wikipedia)
Bristol Historical & Preservation Society
Bristol, Rhode Island (Wikipedia)
Bristol, RI - A Quaint, Historic Rhode Island Bay Town (Visiting New England)
Bristol, RI (Discover Rhode Island)
Celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Bristol, Rhode Island by William Jones Miller, 1881 (Internet Archive)
Celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town of Bristol, Rhode Island by William Jones Miller, 1881 (U.S. Local History Collection)
Historic and Architectural Resources of Bristol, Rhode Island by Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1990
History in towns: Bristol Rhode Island (The Magazine Aniques)
Independence Day in Bristol, Rhode Island (US Department of State - Internet Archive)
Tales of an old sea port; a general sketch of the history of Bristol, Rhode Island by Wilfred Harold Munro, 1917 (Internet Archive)
Tales of an old sea port; a general sketch of the history of Bristol, Rhode Island by Wilfred Harold Munro, 1917 (U.S. Local History Collection)
The History of Bristol, R.I. by Wilfred Harold Munro, 1881 (Google Books)
The History of Bristol, R.I. by Wilfred Harold Munro, 1881 (U.S. Local History Collection)
This Is The Friendliest Small Town in Rhode Island (World Atlas)
Welcome To Bristol, Rhode Island (US Drifter - Internet Archive)