later, another group of Puritan exiles established a settlement on an island in the Narragansett Bay known to the Narragansett tribe as Aquidneck. Settlers thought their new home resembled the Isle of Rhodes in the Aegean, so the region’s name became “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”—a title that eventually came to be used for the entire state.
Rhode Island’s most important coastal town, Newport, is the best reason for an extended visit here. Newport’s first era of prosperity was during the Colonial period, when its ships plied new mercantile routes to China. The city also was central to the reprehensible “Triangle Trade” of rum from New England, molasses from the West Indies, and enslaved peoples from Africa. Smuggling and evading taxes brought the ship owners into conflict with their British rulers and the occupying British army all but destroyed Newport during the American Revolution. About a hundred years later, after the U.S. Civil War, the town began its transformation to luxury resort. Millionaires arrived and built astonishingly extravagant mansions, dubbed their summer “cottages.” (Their lives spawned what authors Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner sneeringly described as the “Gilded Age” in their 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.) Those mansions remain intact, and many are open to visitors. Newport also became a yachting destination: Sailing’s most famous trophy, the America’s Cup, was moved to the city in 1930 and Newport continues to be a recreational sailing center with a packed summer cultural calendar. The result is a city with a little of everything: Visitors who want nothing more than to listen to the surf can happily coexist with history buffs.
Rhode Island
Finally, there is Block Island. Beloved by both year-round residents and vacationers, it’s a 1-hour ferry ride from the southern coast of the state. It’s a quieter and less chic summer destination than Martha’s Vineyard (p. 266), the Massachusetts island about 50 miles to its east. “The Block” has few mandatory sights, leaving visitors free simply to explore its lighthouses, hike its cliffside trails, and hit the beach.
Providence
50 miles S of Boston, MA; 57 miles NE of New London, CT
From a neglected, run-down industrial has-been in the 1970s, Providence has re-created itself into a thriving, lively arts and creative center, alive with an energy that sets it apart from other small and midsize New England cities. Rivers have been uncovered to form canals and waterside walkways (and host a popular summer event called WaterFire); distressed buildings from the 1800s have been reclaimed and made into residences and office spaces; and construction has wrought new hotels and large public/private partnerships such as Providence Place, a mega-mall opened in 1999 that brought national department stores here for the first time.
Prosperity is evident in the resurgent Downcity business center and emerging adjacent neighborhoods, the Arts & Entertainment District to its west and Jewelry District to its south. Also on the rise is the West Side, a former industrial enclave adjoining Federal Hill, the city’s traditional “Little Italy.” All this new energy has attracted creative young people and restaurants, shops, bars, and entertainments they crave. A current key initiative, City Walk, is part of an Urban Trail plan that will strengthen the connections between neighborhoods, celebrating their diversity and culture through public art, signage and attractive public spaces.
The key historic figure of the region is Roger Williams (1603–83), a theologian who established a colony in Providence in 1636 after being banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his views on religious freedom. Williams had good instincts for town building. He planted the seeds of his settlement on a steep rise overlooking a swift-flowing river at the point where it widened into a large protected harbor. That part of the city, called the East Side and dominated by the ridge now known as College Hill, is one of the most attractive city districts in New England, second only to Boston in the breadth of its cultural life and rich architectural heritage.
Essentials
Arriving
BY CAR I-95, which connects Boston and New York, runs right through the city. Going to or from Cape Cod, pick up I-195 West.
Providence
BY TRAIN Amtrak (www.amtrak.com;
BY PLANE T. F. Green/Providence Airport (www.pvdairport.com;
Between the Airport & the City Center
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, or RIPTA (www.ripta.com;
Visitor Information
The Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau runs an information center in the Rhode Island Convention Center, 1 Sabin St. (www.goprovidence.com;
City Layout
Downcity is the center for business, government, and entertainment, with City Hall, the convention center, the best large hotels, and venues for music, dance, and theatrical productions. Most points of general interest are found in the East Side and College Hill, which lie—as their names imply—east and uphill from downtown. To downtown’s north, across the Woonasquatucket River, is the imposing State House, as well as the Amtrak station. To its west, on the other side of I-95, is Federal Hill, a residential area bearing a primarily Italian ethnic identity, although increasingly permeated by more recent immigrant groups.
Getting Around
Traffic on local streets isn’t bad, even at rush hour. But hailing a taxi is not easy; few can be found outside even the largest hotels, and when called from restaurants they can take up to an hour. The RIPTA bus Green and Gold Lines, which look like old-time trolleys, have routes that reach most major hotels and tourist destinations. Each ride costs $1.75; you can buy tickets at RIPTA ticket vending machines, the Kennedy Plaza ticket window, or onboard.
Exploring Providence
City boosters are understandably proud of downtown Providence’s Waterplace Park & Riverwalk
