Things to do in Rhode Island
-
A
Geoff’s Superlative Sandwiches
A longtime favorite with students and junior faculty, Geoff’s offers a massive menu of creative sandwiches, including meatless reuben (melted swiss, spinach, carrots, sauerkraut), pastrami, kosher meat and lots of things with celery salt. Find scant seating, checked linoleum floor, and a big barrel of pickles.
reviewed
-
Cliff Walk
A narrow footpath that snakes for 3.5 miles along the eastern edge of a peninsula, the Cliff Walk provides one of the finest excuses for exercise you'll encounter. From its northernmost point, beach traffic and noise will recede behind you as you make your way south. Just steps to your left, a cliff - your faithful companion for the duration of your walk - drops dramatically to a foaming, bubbling Atlantic, which swells against rocky outcroppings.
While a short stone wall occasionally protects you from an accidental plunge, often the only barrier is grass, flowers and squat bushes dotted with orange beach plums. For much of the first half mile, a tall hedge will impede yo…
reviewed
-
B
Rough Point
In 1889, Frederick W Vanderbilt built Rough Point in the tradition of English manorial estates on a rocky piece of land jutting out into the ocean. Later purchased by the tobacco baron, James B Duke, the mansion fell into the hands of Duke’s only daughter, Doris (aged 13 years). She left the estate to the Newport Restoration Society upon her death. While the splendor of the grounds alone is worth the price of admission, Rough Point also houses much of Doris Duke’s impressive art holdings, including medieval tapestries, furniture owned by French emperors, Ming Dynasty ceramics, and paintings by Renoir and Van Dyck. These and other extraordinary objects formed the backdrop …
reviewed
-
Industrial Trust Building
Come to Providence and you’ll find an urban assemblage of unsurpassable architectural merit – at least in the States. It’s the only American city to have its entire downtown listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The beaux-arts City Hall makes an imposing centerpiece to Kennedy Plaza, and the stately white dome of the Rhode Island State House remains visible from many corners of the city. The Arcade is modeled after Parisian antecedents. These impressive buildings, along with the art deco Industrial Trust building – note the third story friezes of industrial progress on the Westminster Street facade – are only a few of many showcase buildings. The more …
reviewed
-
C
City Hall
This elegant, cupola-topped marble hall, located in placid City Hall Park facing the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, has been home to New York City’s government since 1812. In keeping with the half-baked civic planning that has often plagued large-scale New York projects, officials neglected to finish the building’s northern side in marble, due to objections about cost. Finishing the northern facade in brownstone and reducing the size of the building overall made a compromise. The domed tower was rebuilt in 1917 after being damaged by two fires, and the original marble (and brownstone) facades were replaced with limestone over a granite base in 1954–56. Its beautiful res…
reviewed
-
D
Stephen Hopkins House
Immediately east of downtown Providence, you’ll find College Hill, where you can see the city’s colonial history reflected in the multihued 18th-century houses that line Benefit Street on the East Side. These are, for the most part, private homes, but many are open for tours one weekend in mid-June during the annual Festival of Historic Homes. Benefit St is a fitting symbol of the Providence renaissance, rescued by local preservationists in the 1960s from misguided urban-renewal efforts that would have destroyed it. Its treasures range from the 1708 Stephen Hopkins House, named for the ten-time governor and Declaration of Independence signer, to the clean Greek Reviva…
reviewed
-
WaterFire
Particularly during summer, much of downtown Providence transforms into a carnivalesque festival thanks to an exceedingly popular public art installation called WaterFire (401-401-272-3111; www.waterfire.com). At this event, 100 flaming braziers anchored into the city's rivers illuminate the water, viewed by thousands of pedestrians strolling on bridges and finely landscaped riverside parks.
All the gazing and making out is accompanied by live (and canned) music, outdoor stages hosting theatrical performances, public ballroom dancing (you can join in) and a few ostentatious gondolas that drift by the pyres. Even cynical readers will have to admit the spectacle is both cha…
reviewed
-
E
Waterplace Park
- Providence, USA
- Sights › Park
The landscaped cobblestone paths of the Riverwalk lead along the Woonasquatucket River to Waterplace Park’s central pool and fountain, overlooked by a stepped amphitheater where outdoor artists perform in warm weather. Take a look at the historical maps and photos mounted on the walls of the walkway beneath Memorial Blvd. Waterplace Park also serves as a nucleus for WaterFire, a summer festival. Another park, a great spot from which to get an overview of the city, is Prospect Terrace Park, a small pocket of green space off Congdon St on the East Side. In warm weather, you’ll find students throwing Frisbees, office workers picnicking and, if you arrive at the transitiona…
reviewed
-
F
The Arcade
Designed in 1828, the Arcade, America’s first enclosed shopping center, uses a form developed in Paris and London. Greek Revival in design, the airy, tile-floored passage, its marble steps worn into bows by the passage of bygone feet, has shops and cafés on three floors. It looks like a temple from the outside, while inside it is much like a street – a straight corridor leads to a second entry on Washington St. Bounding the sides of this corridor are ornamented, parallel facades three stories tall, today containing the inexpensive eateries and clothing boutiques that attract a bustling lunchtime crowd from the surrounding business district. Roofed in glass, the interior i…
reviewed
-
G
Elms
Nearly identical to the Château d’Asnières built near Paris in 1750, the Elms offers a ‘behind-the-scenes’ tour which will have you snaking through the basement operations, servants’ quarters and up onto the roof. Along the way you’ll learn about the activities of the army of servants and the architectural devices that kept them hidden from the view of those drinking port in the formal rooms. Taking the regular tour in addition to the behind-the-scenes variant will give you the best idea about how a Newport mansion functioned, though a double tour is exhausting. The place was designed by Horace Trumbauer in 1901. Of all the mansions, The Elms easily possess the most l…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
H
Rhode Island State House
Designed by McKim, Mead and White in 1904, the Rhode Island State House rises above the Providence skyline, easily visible from the highways that pass through the city. Modeled in part on St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, this very white building not only has the world’s fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome, it also houses one of Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of George Washington, which you might want to compare to a dollar bill from your wallet. Inside the public halls are the battle flags of Rhode Island military units and a curious Civil War cannon, which sat here for a century loaded and ready to shoot until someone thought to check whether it was disarmed. The …
reviewed
-
I
Providence Athenaeum
Immediately east of downtown, you’ll find College Hill, where you can see the city’s colonial history reflected in the multihued 18th-century houses that line Benefit Street on the East Side. Benefit St is a fitting symbol of the Providence renaissance, rescued by local preservationists in the 1960s from misguided urban-renewal efforts that would have destroyed it. Its treasures range from the 1708 Stephen Hopkins House, named for the ten-time governor and Declaration of Independence signer, to the clean Greek Revival lines of William Strickland’s 1838 Providence Athenaeum. This is a library of the old school, with plaster busts and oil paintings filling in spaces n…
reviewed
-
J
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Perhaps the top art school in the United States, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) leaves an imprint on Providence that is easily felt. From public statuary to film performances to indecipherable screen-printed flyers stapled to College Hill telephone poles, creativity oozes palatably from it across the small cityscape.
Though some experience the pleasure of RISD by putting together portfolios that will eventually be rejected by the admissions committee, others earn style points simply by visiting the school's many galleries.
A few times a year (several weeks in May and shortly before Christmas), RISD hosts massive art shows where you can buy paintings, ceramics, househ…
reviewed
-
K
Wharves
Bannister's and Bowen's Wharves typify Newport's transformation from working city-by-the-sea to a tourist destination. While much of the experience of downtown and Thames St involves shopping and eating within a cobblestone context, it is at Bowen's Wharf that you'll feel commercialism most tangibly.
Fishing boats and pleasure vessels sit around the periphery of fudge shops, places selling sculpture made of shells, and lots of clothing stores (some local, some chain) all housed in an outdoor mall on a former wharf meant to blend into the old city by virtue of the liberal use of grey shingles. The shear number of people hanging out here lends it the air of excitement. Near…
reviewed
-
Newport Mansions
During the 19th century, the wealthiest New York bankers and business families chose Newport as their summer resort. This was pre-income-tax America, their fortunes were fabulous and their 'summer cottages' - actually mansions and palaces - were fabulous as well. Most Newport Mansions are on Bellevue Ave, and they frequently turn up as settings for films like The Great Gatsby and PBS series featuring actors with British accents. One of the best ways to see the mansions is by bicycle. Cruising along Bellevue Ave at a leisurely place allows you to enjoy the view of the grounds, explore side streets and paths, and ride right up to the mansion entrances without having to worr…
reviewed
-
L
The Breakers
Most magnificent of the Newport mansions is the Breakers, a 70-room Italian Renaissance megapalace inspired by 16th-century Genoese palazzos. Richard Morris Hunt did most of the design, though he imported craftsmen from around the world to perfect the sculptural and decorative programs. The building was completed in 1895 and sits next to Ochre Court at Ochre Point, on a supremely grand oceanside site. The furnishings, most made expressly for the Breakers, are all original. The content of the tour is well conceived and presented. Don’t miss the Children’s Cottage on the grounds.
reviewed
-
Brown University Admissions Office
Dominating the crest of the College Hill neighborhood on the East Side, the campus of Brown University exudes Ivy League charm. University Hall, a 1770 brick edifice used as a barracks during the Revolutionary War, sits at its center. To explore the campus, start at the wrought-iron gates opening from the top of College St and make your way across the green toward Thayer St. Free tours of the campus leave five times daily on weekdays, and on Saturday morning from mid-September to mid-November, beginning from the Brown University Admissions Office.
reviewed
-
Friends Market
Immediately south of College Hill is Fox Point, the waterfront neighborhood where the city’s substantial Portuguese population resides. Though gentrification has taken place with influxes of Brown University professors and students and artists from RISD, you can still find an old-world style grocery like the Friends Market tucked in among the trendy coffeehouses, salons and galleries. Most activity in Fox Point centers on Wickenden St with its restaurants, art supply store, incredible eyeglass shop (Gregory’s Optical) and several home-furnishing boutiques.
reviewed
-
M
Tony’s Colonial Food
Among the most colorful of Providence’s neighborhoods is fervently Italian Federal Hill (when Tony Soprano’s crew needed a special job done, they came here to enlist the aid of a geriatric, blind hit man). It’s a great place to wander, taking in the aromas of sausages, peppers and garlic from neighborhood groceries such as Tony’s Colonial Food. Many of Providence’s best restaurants are on Atwells Ave, a street you can easily identify by looking for a large, floodlit pineapple suspended from a concrete arch spanning the traffic below.
reviewed
-
N
Isaac Bell House
Built in 1883, Isaac Bell House is one of the earliest Bellevue mansions. This subtly grand wooden home not only exemplifies 'shingle style' architecture (the thing is covered in graying cedar scales) but, if you compare it to the stone behemoths that would soon arrive in Newport, helps you to understand the changing forms of the city's grandest buildings.
While places like the Breakers overpower you with palatial spaces and over-the-top materials, this McKim, Mead and White structure feels more livable, graceful and American (most other mansions imitate European palaces).
reviewed
Advertisement
-
O
Ochre Court
Designed by Richard Morris Hunt and built in 1892, Ochre Court offers a grand view of the sea from its soaring three-story grand hallway. Elsewhere find a rainbow of stained glass, pointed arches, gargoyles and other emblems of an architecture inspired by a medieval (and mythical) French Gothic. Ochre Court is now the administration building of Salve Regina University, and as such provides an interesting example of the repurposing of a Newport mansion. You can visit much of the main floor anytime during opening hours. In summer there are guided tours.
reviewed
-
George’s of Galilee
Rhode Island's port for car ferries to Block Island is at Galilee State Pier, at the southern end of RI 108 in the village of Galilee, near Point Judith. George’s of Galilee has a takeout window at the port where hordes of sandy people line up for clam cakes that are crisp on the outside, doughy on the inside and studded with bits of clam. On some summer evenings, a bad two-piece band plays cheesy covers (actually, to answer your question, we do not like piña coladas) out of amps that should be turned down.
reviewed
-
P
National Museum of American Illustration
Well worth the pain it takes to arrange a visit (one needs advance reservations for time-specific tours), this acclaimed museum features an impressive collection of Maxfield Parrish’s impossibly luminous works in color, NC Wyeth prints, Norman Rockwell’s nostalgia and the illustrations of other American graphic heavy weights. The goods are displayed within the palatial Vernon Court (yet another mansion, this one from 1898) set within Olmstead-designed grounds. No kids under 12.
reviewed
-
Q
Al Forno
Our most recent visit featured scallops with blackened bacon so perfect that they were celestial – without doubt a constellation out there bears a resemblance. Also enjoy boar loin with cranberry potatoes and green beans, fare from local farms, and incredible desserts (limoncello cake with candied citrus peel). Budget-minded folks can order wood-fired pizzas ($20) big enough for two to split. While people tend to dress up a bit, the room and garden terrace are somewhat casual. Make a reservation.
reviewed
-
R
Benefit Street
Immediately east of downtown, you'll find College Hill, where you can see the city's colonial history reflected in the 18th-century houses that line Benefit Street on the East Side. These are, for the most part, private homes, but many are open for tours one weekend in mid-June during the annual Festival of Historic Homes. Benefit St is a fitting symbol of the Providence renaissance, rescued by local preservationists in the 1960s from misguided urban-renewal efforts that would have destroyed it.
reviewed
