Blackstone River Valley

Experience the living landscape of the “Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution” in the Blackstone River Valley. The Blackstone River helped fuel America’s drive towards industrialization by running the nation’s first water-powered cotton mill. As a result, mill villages soon sprang up from the headwaters in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Narragansett Bay in Providence, Rhode Island. The 46-mile waterway, once called "the hardest-working river in America," continues to connect the communities in this celebrated national heritage corridor.