Reenactors detail historical significance of Gaspee Days for Rhode Islanders | ABC6

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — Reenactors gathered in Pawtuxet Park this weekend for the annual Gaspee Days celebration in Warwick.

“It’s great to see that people take pride in our history,” Paul Brunelle, a member of the Kingston Reds, said. “Especially in the times where a lot of people are trying to lose our history.”

The celebration is a long callback to 1772, when the HMS Gaspee, a British ship, chased a colonist boat off the coast of Warwick.

“[They] tricked him onto a sandbar,” Tyler Milone of the Kingston Reds said. “And a few hours later, some men from Providence rode down and just happened to blow it up.”

Centuries later, Rhode Islanders still express pride in what was a historic moment for the Ocean State, a key moment between the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

“It goes so under the radar,” reenactor Kiley Knott said. “The fact that a bunch of Rhode Islanders just rowed out and blew up a ship, I feel like that’s very us.”

The pinnacle of the festival is, fittingly, the burning of a ship — a tradition 250 years in the making.

“It’s not every day that you get to celebrate 250 years of an organization,” Ken Gilbert, a member of the Pawtuxet Rangers, said. “Just to have been part of the history of the United States, the regiment was there from the beginning.”

For some participants, Gaspee Days holds a uniquely special meaning.

“I’m a military vet too, so I’m a very patriotic person,” Brunelle said. “For me to do this and portray a solider that brought us our freedom is just great.”