The Rhode Island System refers to a system of mills, complete with small villages and farms, ponds, dams, and spillways first developed by Samuel Slater and his brother John Slater (brother Samuel Slater, who had earlier built the first fully functional water-powered textile mill in America at Pawtucket, RI, in 1790. The Blackstone River Valley of Massachusetts and Rhode Island consists of a series of historic mill villages that followed the Rhode Island system, and which gave birth to the American Industrial Revolution. Today the 45 mile stretch of river valley and the system of mills and villages is a national heritage corridor, The Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, that encompasses sections of two states. The Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was the s