50 States of Wonder
6 Huge Things in Tiny Rhode Island

The Big Blue Bug welcomes Rhode Islanders and perplexed visitors alike to the city from the roof of a pest control company he helped bring to prominence. The 58-foot-long fiberglass termite was built in 1980 as a marketing ploy for New England Pest Control (now Big Blue Bug Solutions)—the company it sits above. A contest was held to name the insect, with the winning idea being the clever “Nibbles Woodaway.” Nibbles was actually purple when he was first created, and only turned blue as the paint faded in the sun. Now, locals enjoy seeing the bug dressed up for various holidays. Look for it sporting reindeer antlers around Christmas. (Read more.)

This palatial summer cottage, which dates to the 1890s, includes 60 rooms sprawling across 50,000 square feet of living space. It was inspired by the hunting lodge at Versailles. Built from fine materials—brick and Westerly granite and stucco on the exterior walls, slate and copper on the roof, chestnut beams and sculpted plaster for the ceilings, oak and marble floors, painted mahogany and canvas walls, and interior finishes completed by 300 artisans—Belcourt was intended to be used for only six to eight weeks every year. (Read more.)

In 1860, almost two centuries after Rhode Island founder Roger Williams died, local community leader Zachariah Allen went looking for his remains. When Allen dug up the ground where they were believed to lie, he found a coffin filled with a vaguely anthropomorphic apple tree root—which had derived nourishment, it was assumed, from Williams's remains.

The story goes that as the root traveled through the length of Williams’s body, it took his shape, twisting where Williams twisted and splitting where Williams split until it looked roughly like a stick figure of a man. The root is now tacked to a coffin-shaped board on display at the John Brown House Museum, the historical home of one of Providence’s most prominent past citizens. (Read more.)

Based on carbon dating from the mortar, this site—likely an old windmill—probably dates to sometime in the 1600s. Despite the scientific evidence, though, some hold onto the belief that the tower is evidence of a pre-Columbian design.

Believers argue that the Newport Tower strongly resembles Scottish buildings from the 1100s, suggesting to them that a Templar crossed the ocean and settled the land. Others have claimed to have found a celestial alignment to the upper windows, implying that the stand was some sort of ancient observatory. Norse, Chinese, and Portuguese explorers and sailors have also been credited as creating the stone tower, but none of these hypotheses have been proven correct. The precise origin of this tower remains unknown. (Read more.)

This oversize bear slumps in a quad on the campus of Brown University. There’s nothing particularly cuddly about the creature—or the abnormally large lamp slicing into its head.

“Untitled (Lamp/Bear)” by the Swiss artist Urs Fischer is a unique addition to campus, and one of many nods to the school's mascot, a brown bear. Another of Fischer's bears is on view at the duty-free hall at Qatar's Hamad International Airport. (Read more.)

The "Superman Building," as it is commonly called by locals, is a distinct part of the Providence skyline. Officially known as the Industrial National Bank Building, it stands 428 feet tall, making it the tallest building in the state. The structure, completed in 1928, was built in an Art Deco style and bears striking similarity to the Daily Planet headquarters from Superman. The last tenant was Bank of America, which vacated in 2013. Since then, the building has remained empty. (Read more.)