Kingston is a village and a census-designated place within the town of South Kingstown in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. The population was 6,974 at the 2010 census. Much of the village center is listed upon the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic District. It was originally known as Little Rest.

Kingston was first approved in the late seventeenth century. Originally known as Little Rest, the say was untouched to Kingston in 1826. It was the county seat for Washington County (formerly Kings County) from 1752 until 1894, when a extra courthouse was built in easy to realize to West Kingston. West Kingston is furthermore the site of the historic Kingston Railroad Station which opened in June, 1875. The station is served by Amtrak upon its Northeast Corridor.

For a time, starting in the late 1770s, the preacher Jemima Wilkinson, known as the Public Universal Friend resided and gave sermons in the town. As late as the 1900s inhabitants of Kingston called a species of solidago “Jemima weed”, because its song in the town coincided behind the preacher’s first visit to the area.

South Kingstown received the Kingston Historic District in 1959, and much of Kingston village became a National Register historic district in 1974 as Kingston Village Historic District. The historic district is located just uncovered the campus of the University of Rhode Island and contains many Good examples of 18th and 19th century architecture. The historic district includes 38 buildings.