One of the trips that my girlfriend and I wanted to take was to New England. I had been on a business trip to Maine, a wedding in Connecticut, and in Boston airport on the way to somewhere else. But I had never visited New England for its own sake, and neither had my German girlfriend. So, in early October, we packed our bags and headed for Providence, Rhode Island-which would serve as the base for much of our trip.
On our first full day in Providence, it is mostly gray and rainy. However, we don’t let that stop us from walking around and checking out the city. We see a lot of wall murals, which should be no surprise as there is an organization in the city that supports and encourages them. The “Avenue Concept” has been in business since 2013 by making art accessible to everyone…including walkers like us.
It’s hard to ignore the Industrial National Bank building. Built in 1928, it is the tallest building in the entire state of Rhode Island. It is commonly referred to as the “Superman Building”, because it resembles the home of the “Daily Planet” newspaper in the old Superman TV series. Truth, Justice, and the American Way!!!
Not far away is the City Hall Building of Providence. When the city was incorporated in 1832, there was no city hall. Instead, all of the city’s poobahs gathered together at the old Market House. They realized even then that this building didn’t have enough space; but they argued about it for 30 years before anything was done. Politicians. Anyway, in 1878, this Second Empire Baroque building was finished and has stood the test of time ever since. Both Theodore Roosevelt and John Kennedy campaigned and spoke here.
We both enjoy parks, even small ones, so we enter Burnside Park willingly and encounter a dramatic fountain with some stories behind it. During the Gilded Age, most marriages among the rich were to secure fortunes or positions. Love had nothing to do with it. But the marriage between Carrie Mathilde Brown (an heiress) and Italian Count Paul Bajnotti was a love affair. When she died of pneumonia in 1892, Bajnotti was distraught. So, he commissioned the Carrie Brown Bajnotti Memorial Fountain to mourn her. Originally, the panel to select an architect for the fountain only invited male architects (after all, they thought, only a male could handle the job!); but they wound up choosing a woman (Enid Yandell) who submitted a design “on her own initiative”. Good for her. The fountain design is certainly melancholy-with the statue figures struggling between life and death.
Providence is built around (wait for it)…the Providence River. That river flows for about eight miles, and there is nothing spectacular about it. But it is a tidal river, and that inevitably means marshy land someplace. What is now Waterplace Park was once a drained marsh where railroad tracks ran to logistically support the city’s industries. As industries waned, so did the city center. So, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, they “relocated” the water in the city and built up places for walking, recreation, and restaurants. They even added a “waterfire” sculpture to the downtown rivers to light up the evening. What will they think of next?!
As we cross a bridge over the Providence River, it starts to rain harder. We quickly pass by the Fleur-de-Lys Studios, a local landmark. Its half-timbered style almost has me thinking that we’re back in Germany.
Many of the first inhabitants of Providence were Puritan and Protestant; so it is not surprising that they would erect a church that reflected that. The First Baptist Church in the United States (even before they became the United States) was founded in 1638 by Roger Williams. This particular church building was completed in 1775-just before the Revolutionary War. It is pretty austere, both inside and out. Brown University uses it for its commencement services.
It’s getting more and more uncomfortable walking around in the rain. Think of how bad it must be if you are sitting on a bench under open skies as Edward Bannister is…well, at least a statue of him. Bannister was a 19th century African-American painter and abolitionist. Never very famous in his time, he is considered the only major Black artist who developed his talents without European exposure. Well done, sir…but you may want to get out of the rain.
Normally, a museum would be an apt choice for a rainy day; but when we try to enter the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Museum, we discover it is (for some reason) closed. The RISD, founded in 1877, has a collection of about 80,000 items and is the 20th-largest museum in the USA. We’ll never know, because we couldn’t get in.
Food is on our minds as we cross back over the river again looking for a place to eat. The Westminster Arcade looks promising. Let’s pop in. Erected in 1828, the Westminster Arcade was the first enclosed shopping mall in the whole country. But it has obviously see better days, as much of the place is shuttered and the food offerings are slim. It’s now, ostensibly, a mixed-use building. So, we go elsewhere to eat.
Having eaten, we pass by the old Providence Journal building on Westminster Street. The Journal, established in 1829 and the largest paper in Rhode Island, claims to be the oldest daily newspaper in “continuous” publication-as the Hartford Courant didn’t become a daily until 1837, and the New York Post suspended publication during a few labor strikes. Picky. In any event, the paper moved to a more spacious (and boring) building in 1934.
It’s fitting that we see more wall murals, like the “Three Waves for Coastway”, on our way back to the hotel. After all, the day began with them.
It is a new day and unambiguously sunny. A good day to pursue our primary mission of seeing Fall foliage. That means a bus trip to Roger Williams Park, a 400-acre green land on the outskirts of Providence, near Cranston.
The first place we head to is the family cemetery. There are plenty of Williamses buried here; but Roger Williams is not one of them. He has a big statue and tomb at Prospect Terrace overlooking Providence. It was dedicated in 1939. There is, however, a monument to him in the family cemetery.
We walk by the casino-hotel to a little garden with a torii gate. Taking a seat in a small pavilion, we admire the graffiti-one of which says “Will you marry me?” in small paper bits pasted over a window.
There are several mostly man-made lakes which lie in Roger Williams Park. We walk around Roosevelt Lake and approach the Temple to Music from the rear.
Debuting in 1924, the Temple to Music, a simple marble structure resembling a Greek temple, has been hosting concerts and weddings (and today, a model shoot) ever since. It sits just a short distance away from the park’s largest body of water-Cunliff Lake.
We stroll around Lake Cunliff vaguely (we hope) in the direction of the botanical garden. Along the way, we admire various waterfowl and trails. Although Roger Williams Park is rather eclectic in its activities, there are no boats or people out on the water. Maybe there is a legend of doom associated with the lakes here.
Before reaching the botanical garden, we pass by some lovely step falls and the “World Peace Statue”. The statue actually depicts Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual leader. Odd choice.
You don’t have to pay to gain entry to Roger Williams Park; but you do need to pay to enter the botanical garden. That is not unusual. The botanical garden is much like other botanical gardens that I have seen around the world: greenhouses, exotic plants that would not grow here without them, koi ponds, statues.
One unusual sight is a tall palm tree bursting through the glass ceiling of its greenhouse. Life will find a way…until it gets too cold.
After the greenhouses, visitors are treated to the Rose Garden…if it’s in season. All the roses are dead now, waiting for next Spring. Except for one sole survivor. It must be lonely being the last one alive.
Once upon a time, there was horse racing at Roger Williams Park. For much of the first half of the 20th century, Roger Williams Speedway featured harness racing every day. Those days are long gone; but there are still horses here. At the park’s Pony Barn, used by the Mounted Command officers to stable their rides, we can see a few horses serenely taking a bite or two.
You could ride a carousel here almost as long as there’s been a park. The first carousel was operating in 1897 and had carved wooden horses with real horse hair. The existing carousel is the third in its line. This is definitely the kiddie section of the park. In fact, I think this place is called “Carousel Village”. A small choo-choo train is available to take toddlers (and their parents) for a short ride. I bet that, in the old days, this is where the dads parked their kids while they bet on the ponies.
Adjacent to Carousel Village is the Japanese Garden. It was built in the height of the Depression (1936) by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It’s another popular spot for wedding pictures. Not bad; but I’ve seen better. Even the choo-choo train doesn’t head this way.
Before leaving the park, we stop to peer at the outside of Betsey Williams Cottage. It (and the nearby giant sycamore tree) are by far the oldest things in the place. Roger Williams was Betsey’s great-great-great-great grandfather, and she wound up living in this cottage with her sister. Betsey was the last of the local Williams, and she was the one who donated the land for a public park-provided, of course, that it was named after Roger Williams. She is buried in the family cemetery that we visited at the outset of our trip here.
Our hotel is right across from the Rhode Island Convention Center and the Amica Mutual Pavilion, where the Providence College Friars play their games. We return to our room for some dinner planning; but we’re not through with Rhode Island yet. Tomorrow, we have a day trip scheduled for, arguably, the state’s most famous city: Newport.
Musical Interlude: Upbeat Music-Providence by Drone