The first post office in Jamestown was established in 1847. At the time, women were less than 1 percent of federal Postmasters, and the Postmaster’s salary was a percentage of the stamps sold. Mail was not delivered door-to-door; it was held by the Postmaster for pick up.

Camp Meade (sometimes spelled Mead) was the training camp for the Third Rhode Island Cavalry. It was established between June 26 and August 18, 1863, and probably named for General George Gordon Meade who had just taken command of the Army of the Potomac.

During the holiday season in the 21st century Christians of many faiths celebrate the birthday of Jesus with Christmas parties and presents. Jews gather for Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Americans of African heritage express their unity at Kwanzaa.

Golf became popular in the United States in the late 1880s and Jamestown’s summer residents were among the earliest enthusiasts.

Ellen Tucker, the eldest child of Pardon and Sarah Waite Tucker, was born three days after Christmas in 1847 at the Hutchinson farm on North Road.

In the summer of 1912, Elizabeth Carr Locke, a California-based descendant of Caleb Carr who was in Jamestown for the summer, had 200 posters printed and distributed around the island asking anybody interested in forming a historical society to meet at Town Hall on August 19.

On May 12, 1873, Captain Stephen C. Gardner guided the 79-foot, wood-fueled paddlewheel ferry Jamestown out of the new slip at East Ferry on her maiden voyage between Jamestown and Newport. The age of dependable steam ferry service on the lower Narragansett Bay had begun.

In the years following World War II, marching bands were much in demand. Drum and bugle corps competed against each other, and rivalry was keen. Jamestown had had a Men’s Drum & Bugle Corps in the 1930s, and it was revived early in 1947.