The village of EXETER (township pop. 1314), is the administrative center of the township.

Exeter, formerly a part of North Kingstown, and incorporated in 1743, was probably named for Exeter, England. A family named Wing was probably the first to settle here. Early settlers kept to the western part of the town; the eastern section was known as the Vacant Lands for most of the 18th century. Settlements were first made on scattered pockets of fertile soil, though the many forest areas elsewhere offered opportunity for lumbering. The township is very hilly, and marked by a great number of small ponds.

Industry came to Exeter in the second quarter of the 19th century. A textile factory for cheap 'Negro' cloth was built at Millville shortly before 1830, and another cotton mill at Lawtonville about the same time. Rakes were manufactured near Hallville from about 1859 to 1880.

The first school in town, situated near the east end of the Ten Rod Road, was erected in 1766 as tie result of a gift from the Boston philanthropist, Samuel Sewall. A Baptist church was established in 1750.

Exeter is still a predominantly agricultural township, and a large proportion of its population are native Yankees.

Near the village center is the Manion Free Library (L), a small one-and-a-half-story frame building, in which one of the first experiments was made with the now common open-shelf system.

Between 38.7 and 40.1 m. are, on both sides of the road, a number of prosperous dairies and poultry farms. At about 40.6 m. the countryside, which in Coventry, West Greenwich, and western Exeter was quite rolling, is very flat. At 41.4 m. is the Exeter-North Kingstown boundary line.

Source: A Guide to the Smallest State, Federal Writers' Project, 1937, Transcribed by C. Anthony.