Providence is just great! Downtown (the city center) is compact: you can walk to almost everything there is to see and do.
Dining is another strong point. Then there's Waterfire!
Waterfire, Providence RI
Wood fires blazing along the Providence River for Waterfire.
Founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a spiritual dissenter from Massachusetts, Providence welcomed people of all religions and backgrounds. It suffered economic and civic decline from the 1950s through the 1980s, but its renaissance in the 1990s has produced a delightful place to visit or to live.
Only 51 miles (82 km) southwest of Boston and 181 miles (291 km) northeast of New York City (map), Providence attracts visitors with its manageable size, its architecture, its fine museums, universities, parks (especially its restored Providence River Waterplace Park), and the unusual civic pageant called Waterfire.
Orientation
The center of Providence is Kennedy Plaza, marked by the city hall and The Graduate Hotel (map). Kennedy Plaza is also the site of Kennedy Plaza Intermodal Transportation Center, with city, intercity and regional bus stops, including for Peter Pan Bus Lines, Flixbus, and Greyhound Lines.
The Rhode Island State House (capitol), a pleasant and harmonious building of white Georgia marble and the predominant landmark in the city center, crowns a hilltop just ten minutes' walk northwest from Kennedy Plaza. It's well worth a visit.
Rhode Island State House, Providence, Rhode Island The Rhode Island State House in Providence...
Between Kennedy Plaza and the State House is Providence Station for Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail trains.
On the opposite (east) bank of the Providence River, which runs through the city center, rises College Hill, where you'll find Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and a collection of exceptionally beautiful and interesting houses from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
A Bit of History
Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams( 1603-83) whose freethinking spiritual ideas got him banished from the colony of Massachusetts Bay.
Williams had been minister of the chapel at Salem MA, but he believed that the Massachusetts Bay charter was not legal; that the Puritans should face the fact that they had really separated from the Chapel of England; and that in matters of conscience, no civil authority had any power over the individual.
No wonder the powers-that-be thought him a dangerous man!
Because of his own belief in freethinking, he dedicated his new settlement of Providence to the proposition that all people should have freedom of conscience, and of worship.
A good number of people came from Massachusetts, and others came directly from England, to the new colony.
Williams had bought the land for the town from the Narragansett Indians, and he remained on very good terms with them, even writing a book on their language which was published and sold in England.
Providence became the first colony to declare independence from England, in May 1776.
It took over from Newport the position as the state's most important seaport.
It's still an important port, and its industries of textiles, machine tools, rubber, jewelry, and boatbuilding also contribute to its prosperity.
What to See & Do
Walking Tour
The best way to get to know and enjoy Providence, its architectural, artistic and cultural richness, is two-hour downtown Walking Tour (map).
Fleur-de-Lys House, Providence, Rhode Island Thomas Street - "Artists' Row."
This 2-hour walk (not including stops) begins at Burnside Park, adjoining Kennedy Plaza in the center of Providence, and ends on College Hill at Prospect Terrace Park, with a fine view of the city (map).
The walk is best done on weekends when there is less traffic. Avoid walking during the morning and evening rush hours. While walking, look up frequently—Providence has a lot of interesting architecture.
Downtown Providence
1. Burnside Park & Kennedy Plaza In the center of Providence, Burnside Park's shady trees and benches make the plaza an oasis in the middle of the city next to bustling Kennedy Plaza. An equestrian statue of General Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) watches over the eastern end of the plaza. Three times governor of Rhode Island and a successful inventor and industrialist, he is remembered today mostly for his long, bushy side whiskers, which gave us the term "sideburns."
The plaza is also a place for unemployed people to hang out, and has its share of panhandlers (beggars).
At the western end of Kennedy Plaza is:
2. Providence City Hall At the southwestern end of Kennedy Plaza (25 Dorrance Street), Providence's municipal headquarters is an agreeable Second Empire building completed in 1878 (go inside to see a wall display of other entries in the competition for the city hall design). More...
3. The Graduate Providence Hotel
This easily-visible Providence landmark across the street from City Hall and overlooking Kennedy Plaza, this grand old hotel boasts the city's prime lodging location. Built in 1922 as the Providence Biltmore, its marvelous Art Deco lobby and other features have been well preserved, its guest rooms renovated with today's comforts and conveniences. More...
4. The Round Top Chapel Officially known as the Beneficent Congregational Meetinghouse (UCC), this classic structure got its popular name from its dome, a departure from the usual New England Christopher Wren-style Chapel spire. Finished in 1810, the Round Top Chapel was influenced by the classical revival then going on in Europe.
Enter the Chapel by the door on the side, around to the right. The interior is as pleasant as the exterior: besides the gracious New England meetinghouse furnishings, the Round Top Chapel has a crystal chandelier consisting of almost 6,000 pieces.
5. The Arcade At 130 Westminster Street (map), looks like an imaginative bit of urban renewal, but is in fact the creation of Russell Warren and James Bucklin, who designed the building in 1827. Taking their cue from the covered passages of Paris, they built a walk-through marketplace of shops topped by a glass roof.
The classical façades (look at both facades, on Westminster Street and on Weybosset Street, each done by one of the architects), the decorative cast-iron stairways and balustrades, the three three levels of shop) made such passages the first "shopping malls." Shoppers could visit several shops in one trip without long walks in between, and be protected from the weather. The passage between two busy city-center streets increased foot traffic, and thus the value of the location for shopkeepers.
Today The Arcade still has a number of shops and a café on the ground floor, but the upper floors have been converted to condominium residences.
