Providence

Providence Travel Guide

New England's second-largest city (with a population of 175,000, behind Boston) comes into the 21st century as a renaissance city. Once regarded, even by its own residents, as an awkward stepchild of greater Boston (50 mi to the north), Providence has metamorphosed from an area that empties out at the end of a workday to a clean, modern, cultural and gastronomical hub. In the past decade, stretches of river downtown that had been paved over in the mid-1900s were uncovered and rerouted, and parks were built along the banks. Railroad tracks moved underground, and money was spent on transportation improvements. Dilapidated neighborhoods began to perk up, and luxury apartments and artists' lofts started sprouting downtown.

The focal point of this new Providence is Waterplace Park, a series of footbridges, walkways, and green spaces running along both sides of the Providence River, which flows through the heart of downtown. Within walking distance of the park are a convention center and several hotels, a large outdoor ice skating rink, and a glittering, upscale shopping center called Providence Place.

Providence's renaissance isn't all looks. Besides the glitzy new apartment buildings, the shopping center, and hotels and parks, the city has cultivated a more worldly, sophisticated spirit. As a result, it has, in recent years, hosted the National Governors Conference, the annual meeting of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, and the NCAA hockey finals. Time spent courting Hollywood deal makers has resulted in a string of movies filmed in the city, including Federal Hill and Outside Providence, as well as NBC's show Providence. With dozens of outstanding restaurants, Providence—home to the Johnson & Wales University Culinary Institute—legitimately lays claim to being one of the nation's best places to eat.

Roger Williams founded Providence in 1636 as a refuge for freethinkers and religious dissenters escaping the dictates of the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The city still embraces independent thinking in business, the arts, and academia. Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Tony award–winning Trinity Repertory Company are major forces in New England's intellectual and cultural life. Playing to that strength, Providence is striving to populate its once-abandoned downtown (now called Downcity, to erase the connotations of the old downtown) with artists and their studios.

The narrow Providence River cuts through the city north to south. West of the river lies the compact business district. An Italian neighborhood, Federal Hill, pushes west from here along Atwells Avenue. To the north you'll see the white-marble capitol. South Main and Benefit streets run parallel to the river, on the East Side. College Hill constitutes the western half of the East Side. At the top of College Hill, the area's primary thoroughfare, Thayer Street, runs north to south. Don't confuse East Providence, a city unto itself, with Providence's East Side.

Photo: Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau