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Tim Cranston, whose Rhode Island roots extend back to 1635 when his ancestor John Cranston, as a boy of 12, walked down the gangway of a sailing vessel and on to the streets of Portsmouth and Newport, is the local historian and self-proclaimed arbiter of all things "Swamp Yankee" in North Kingstown RI.
His popular local history newspaper column which has run in the NorthEast Independent for nearly eleven years has won two RI Press Association "Spirit of RI" Awards and his work as a historian and preservation advocate through his non-profit corporation "Swamptown Enterprises" has garnered two PreserveRI education and advocacy awards.
The South County Tourism Council recently awarded Tim its South County Starlight Award for his entertaining and educational walking tours and guided bus tours of the region.
Tim has worked closely over the years with groups like Historic Wickford, the Newport Historical Society, the RI Black Heritage Society, and the North Kingstown Free Library on projects that honor the contributions that our predecessors have made to the history of this great place - Roger William's Lively Experiment, the State of Rhode Island. He is as pleased as can be to be involved in a project focused on honoring an extraordinary North Kingstown lass - Christiana Bannister.