Town of the Week

Providence, Rhode Island
November 20, 1999

Founded on seven hills by religious exile Roger Williams in 1636, some say it has maintained its ornery character ever since. Located at the northernmost part of Narraganset Bay, historic neighborhoods from Providence's past are some of the best preserved in New England. In the late 1700s, half-brothers Nehemiah and Seril Dodge of Providence virtually invented costume jewelry. Today, Providence has 20 thousand people working in jewelry manufacturing.

Any visit here should include Brown University, which is located atop one of the hills east of downtown. Other pursuits of higher education are at Providence College, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Johnson and Wales University's outstanding culinary school. Its Museum contains the largest collection of cookbooks and food-related products in the world.

The country's first indoor shopping mall, the Arcade, is located here. While built in the Greek Revival tradition, the manner is more informal today with yogurt cones and t-shirt shops. Outside the Arcade you can look up and see the Rhode Island State House, with an enormous unsupported dome second in size only to St. Peter's in Rome.

Other sites iclude the Slater Mill Historic Site, an early water powered textile mill which is credited with being the Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution; and Blithewood Gardens and Arboretum, former home of Augustus Van Wickle, the late Pennsylvania coal magnate. This is just a glimpse of our Town of the Week, Providence, Rhode Island.

Take a trip to Providence, Rhode Island; just listen in.

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