As the weather warms up in preparation for a New England summer, many people are heading back outdoors to adore Rhode Island’s nature, from flowers to mountains to trees.

While the Ocean State has plenty of fantastic trees to look at this time of year, many of the state’s trees are full of history as well as beauty. In fact, the oldest tree in Rhode Island dates back to around the time the country was formed. At over 200 years old, the Betsey Williams Sycamore in Providence’s Roger Williams Park is not only the state’s oldest tree, but also its most famous.

Here’s the story of Rhode Island’s oldest tree, as well as where you can see the landmark today.

History of the Betsey Williams Sycamore

The Betsey Williams Sycamore was first planted outside of a house now known as the Betsey Williams cottage, where the great-great-great-granddaughter of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams was born in 1790.

While the exact year of the sycamore tree’s origins are unclear, many scholars believe the tree was planted after the house was built in 1773, making it over 250 years old. In his podcast “This Old Tree,” consulting arborist Doug Still estimates the tree dates back to 1782, making it 243 years old.

The tree stayed in Rhode Island’s founding family for many years, providing shade and play space for Williams as she grew up with her sister Rhoda Williams. Unmarried, the sisters lived together in the cottage, where they wove cloth for income and frequently invited neighbors to dine and dance with them.

When Betsey Williams died in 1871, she left the cottage and 102 acres of surrounding farmland to the city of Providence, on one condition – the city create a park, with a statue inside, dedicated to her famous ancestor. Roger Williams Park Zoo officially opened later that year, and a statue of Roger Williams was erected nearby the cottage in 1877.

Today, the Betsey Williams Sycamore Tree still stands at 80 feet tall outside the newly renovated Betsey Williams Cottage, which frequently hosts open houses to explore the cottage’s history.

How to see the Betsey Williams Sycamore

The Betsey Williams Sycamore can be found next to the restored Betsey Williams Cottage, located at 1000 Elmwood Ave. inside Roger Williams Park. The park is always free and open to visitors from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

A new poll delivered red flags for Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, a Democrat, ahead of his reelection bid next year.

Why It Matters

The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, suggests that a majority of Rhode Islanders are unhappy with McKee’s leadership ahead of the 2026 midterms, when Republicans could be eyeing the race as a potential opportunity to flip, despite the state’s long-standing record of being solidly Democratic.

Although the poll did not ask about specific head-to-head matchups for the election, the results could be troubling for Democrats in the state.

The state has not elected a Republican governor since 2006, though it did support independent former Governor Lincoln Chafee in 2011.

Newsweek reached out to McKee’s campaign via email for comment.

What to Know

Only 19 percent of Rhode Islanders approve of McKee’s job performance, while 71 percent disapprove of him, according to the survey of 653 Rhode Island residents from May 22 to May 26, 2025. The poll had a margin of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

It found that 74 percent of all Rhode Island voters—including 60 percent of Democrats—do not believe McKee deserves to be reelected; only 11 percent said they think he deserves to be reelected.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said they want to see Democrat Helena Foulkes, a businesswoman who challenged McKee in 2022, to run again, while 23 percent said they want Republican Ashley Kalus to jump into the race. Only 19 percent said they want to see former Governor Gina Raimondo, who served as Commerce secretary under former President Joe Biden, run.

At the same time, the poll found that President Donald Trump is also unpopular in the state. Only 37 percent of respondents gave him positive marks, compared to 61 percent who disapproved of his performance during his first few months back in the Oval Office.

Joe Powers, chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, described the poll as a “glaring reflection of the Governor’s failed leadership and the growing dissatisfaction among Rhode Islanders” in a statement to Newsweek, pointing to the closure of the Washington Bridge, pay raises for the governor’s cabinet and the sanctuary state designation as key issues the state is facing.

“The upcoming 2026 gubernatorial race, while traditionally leaning Democratic, is poised to be highly competitive. The Republican Party of Rhode Island is committed to presenting a viable alternative—one that prioritizes transparency, fiscal responsibility, and the genuine needs of our citizens,” he said.

While McKee remains unpopular, according to the poll, a Republican victory in the state may not be an easy feat, given the state’s Democratic lean. It backed Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly 14 points in 2024 and voted for Biden by more than 20 points in 2020.

On the presidential level, Rhode Island has not voted for a Republican since 1984.

McKee, who assumed office after Raimondo resigned to join the Biden administration, won his first full term in office in 2022, defeating Kalus by nearly 20 points.

What People Are Saying

WPRI political analyst Joe Fleming told the Providence-based news station: “The governor has some serious work to do over the next six months or so to show voters that he’s doing a good job and deserves reelection. If he can’t do that, I think you’ll see Democrats lining up to run for the office.”

McKee told WJAR in March: “I think that we’ve made a great deal of progress, keeping people safe during the COVID certainly was important, opening the businesses at that time. Keeping people safe when I shut down the bridge, the Washington Bridge, and now we’re actually in the process of rebuilding that bridge and have the money in place.”

What Happens Next

It remains to be seen whether McKee will face a primary challenge from fellow Democrats or which Republicans may enter the race. The primary is still more than a year away on September 8, 2026. The Cook Political Report currently classifies the race as being Solid Democratic, though Sabato’s Crystal Ball classifies it as Likely Democratic.

Volume rising at RI Statehouse as budget demands mount

• Rhode Island advocates are pushing for a 3% tax on high earners to fund social programs and address budget shortfalls.
• Proposed funds would support RIPTA, Medicaid, education, and healthcare initiatives.
• Supporters argue the tax would address inequities in the tax system, while opponents fear it could lead to wealthy residents leaving the state.

PROVIDENCE – You can tell the behind-the-scenes budget negotiations are at a critical point when the noise level at the State House reaches a fever pitch.

And that volume rose to its highest point yet on May 29 as megaphone-amplified voices chanted “tax the rich!” to raise a potential $190 million in new state dollars that would be used to, according to advocates:

Save RIPTA by closing the $32 million funding shortfall. Plug whatever cuts Congress makes to SNAP, Head Start and Medicaid. Pour many more millions into multilingual education for non-English speaking students. And fix the state’s health care crisis.

And it’s not just chanting, sign-carrying advocates rallying and making noise.

A day earlier, Attorney General Peter Neronha spelled out his proposal for fixing Rhode Island’s teetering health care system, including a multimillion dollar legislative increase in Medicaid reimbursements to primary care doctors.

A bill to do that was introduced at his behest the same day: H6373.

It would have the Executive Office of Health and Human Services allocate “sufficient state revenue to increase Medicaid payment rates for primary care services to … no less than 100% of Medicare rates … effective beginning July 1, 2025.”

“Let’s do a poll of Rhode Islanders and ask them, what should be at the center of our budget planning?” Neronha asked rhetorically during his press conference. “I guarantee you, health care will be in the top five, maybe in the top three. So that’s where we should start.”

What do RI’s ‘tax the rich’ advocates want?

The advocates leading Thursday’s rally had an even longer list of demands, starting with passage of legislation creating a 3% income tax surcharge on high earners to raise an estimated $190 million in new state revenue.

They included the RI AFL-CIO, Climate Action Rhode Island, the National Education Association of Rhode Island − headed by new Senate President Valarie Lawson – the Economic Progress Institute, the Revenue for Rhode Islanders Coalition, RI Working Families Party, SEIU-1199, Indivisible RI and Reclaim RI.

The focus of the event, according to the media advisory: “To demand leadership make the richest 1% pay their fair share in taxes to protect what’s on the chopping block – Medicaid, hospitals, food stamps, school funding, RIPTA and more.”

Their argument: That the richest 1% of Rhode Islanders pay just 8.6% of their income in taxes, while the lowest income Rhode Islanders pay over 13%.

“In Massachusetts, a similar tax that brought in $2.4 billion in the first year has helped fund free school meals for students and school repairs, free bus service and expanded public transit routes; seven thousand more child care seats, road and bridge improvements in every city and town and more,” the advisory said.

Will it actually pass?

Legislative leaders have made it known that “everything is on the table,” but a tax hike would not be their first choice.

“As we approach the final weeks of the session, there is no shortage of meritorious proposals that affect state resources,” House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi told The Journal.

“The magnitude of the uncertainty of the federal funding picture, and the numerous holes in the governor’s proposed budget, complicate both balancing this year’s budget and planning for the unknown,” he said.

The “holes” include: the McKee administration’s quiet withdrawal of a “cost-saving” proposal to close the minimum security prison that, on closer look, could cost $67 million to $92 million more; a $15 million under-estimate of the cost of his contract settlement with state troopers and prison guards and an unpopular McKee move to divert $26 million from the pension fund.

“I continue to keep many options on the table for this challenging task,” said Shekarchi, who tops the House budget negotiating team.

‘The top 1% are still going to be okay’

The rally was timed the same day the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Sen. Melissa Murray’s version [S329] of the “Tax-The-Rich” bill the House Finance Committee considered earlier this session.

And it’s a fair guess the senators will hear most of the same arguments their counterparts in the House heard early in May for and against the bill to create a new 3% surcharge on income above $625,000 – in practice, $750,000 in pre-tax total income

According to an estimate from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the top 1% of households in the country (starting at $743,000 a year) would get a $61,000 reduction in federal taxes a year if the federal tax cuts adopted during the first Trump Administration are extended. (The estimate comes from a January report from the Department of the Treasury.)

Under the proposed bill, a household making $1 million a year would pay an extra $10,500 in state taxes.

“The top 1% are still going to be okay,” said Rep. Teresa Tanzi.

But there are two buckets of people in the 5,700 estimated Rhode Island taxpayers who would have slightly higher taxes – the very wealthy and small business owners who are incorporated as limited liability companies or corporations.

Might they forgo a new hire or not buy a new piece of equipment? Might they flee the state?The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council has warned that the wealthiest Rhode Islanders will likely flee the state if the income tax is increased.

In written testimony, Jon Duffy, of the advertising and public relations firm Duffy & Shanley, wrote that one of the partners in his business “has already become a Florida resident” to avoid paying Rhode Island’s state taxes.

But the Economic Progress Institute in March put out a paper that said: “There is simply no evidence – not in Rhode Island and not anywhere in the United States – linking changes in top tax rates with large-scale net migration of higher-income residents or of interstate migration in general.”

At the May 29 rally, the EPI’s police director Nina Harrison said Rhode Island has enough for everyone, but it’s not being shared fairly.

“Right now, people earning less than $23,000 a year are paying a larger portion of their income in state and local taxes than millionaires do in this state,” she said.

“That’s not only backwards, it’s unjust and it’s unacceptable.” Her argument:

• “Rhode Island has crisis level shortage of child care. Nine out of 10 families cannot afford quality childcare. The time to act is now.”
• “Rhode Island has a crisis level shortage of primary care doctors. I’m losing mine next month with the closure of Anchor Medical. The time to act is now.”
• “Public schools are failing too many of our children and they deserve better. The time to act is now and if we don’t act now, not only are we failing our children, we’re going to feel that in our state economy later when we need workers to do the essential jobs in this state.”
• “People and businesses and essential workers will leave this state. If we don’t have good schools, affordable housing, good public transportation, or enough doctors. The time to act is now.”

“If we want to stop having budget deficits and meet the needs of Rhode Islanders, we need to fix our tax system and have everyone pay their fair share. The time to act is now,” she finished.