Christine Chitnis for The New York Times This rural town, with no franchises or traffic lights, is Little Compton, one of several coastal enclaves in the East Bay region of Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has its fair share of famous people ... and is a co-owner of several restaurants in the state. Raised in East Providence, Meredith Vieira is a staple on broadcast television.

A DJ in Rhode Island is spinning tunes in a café and her coworkers say she always knows the right music to play. Shayna Olerio gets up very early in the morning, sometimes as early as 5 a.m. to ...