Benefit Street

Immediately east of Providence's downtown, you'll find College Hill, where you can see the city's Colonial history reflected in the 18th-century houses that line Benefit St on the East Side. These are mostly private homes, but many are open for tours one weekend in June during the annual Festival of Historic Houses. 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.