R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-2-1
The consent of the state of Rhode Island is given to the purchase by the government of the United States, or under the authority of the government of the United States, of any tract, piece, or parcel of land from any person within the limits of the state for the purpose of erecting thereon post offices, lighthouses, beacon lights, range lights, lifesaving stations, and light keepers' dwellings, and other needful public buildings or for the location, construction, or prosecution of forts, fortifications, coast defenses, and appurtenances thereto, or for the location and maintenance of any cable lines, landing places, terminal stations, and other needful buildings connected therewith for weather bureau purposes, or for the establishment of naval stations or coal depots, or the erection of buildings, piers, wharves, or other structures for naval uses, or for the establishment of fish or lobster cultural stations or hatcheries, or the erection or construction of other needful buildings connected therewith or for the erection or construction of piers, wharves, dams, or other structures for use in connection with the fish or lobster cultural stations or hatcheries; and all deeds, conveyances, or title papers for the purchases shall be recorded, as in other cases, upon the land records of the town in which the land so conveyed may lie; the consent herein given being in accordance with U.S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 17, and with the acts of Congress in such cases made and provided.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-2-1