Rhode Island

Last weekend we took a brief two day trip to Rhode Island.  I spent about 2 hours in Providence, then the rest of the time in Newport.

 Providence.  The capital, and very much the largest city of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US.  Brown University is here.  My own focus was on the historic district where H.P. Lovecraft, the horror writer from the 1920s and 30s, lived most of his life.  I took a brief walking tour, mainly along Benefit Street; re-reading “The Shunned House” alone gave me several references to streets and the neighborhood I so briefly canvassed.  The houses are old, but by now so many are “historic landmarks” and restored, that you don’t get the rundown effect that Lovecraft himself apparently suffered.  A more leisurely adventure would probably take about 3 hours.  His grave is at Swan Point Cemetery, which is northeast of the Benefit Street district.  Fortunately this area is right off 95 and fairly easily accessible.

Newport.  After Providence, we visited Newport, which is about 45 minutes southeast of Providence and close to Massachusetts. 

 Its main attraction is a set of mansions, 11 of which are open to the public as museums.  They were built around the turn of the 19^th-20^th century by various obscenely rich people (e.g. Vanderbilts) determined to build extravagant monuments to their ability to spend grotesque amounts of money.  The tours inside take about 1-2 hours, provided you follow along the automated tour guide recording apparatus, tastefully not narrated by Robin Leach (“I don’t know WHYYY”).  “Palace” is a word better suited to describe these – the richest accommodations private persons might expect to inhabit short of Versailles.  They have to be seen to be believed, but I strongly recommend them.  It would take 2-3 days to visit them all with any degree of diligence, short of literally running through them as fast as possible.  What would be the point of that?

 Another feature of Newport is Fort Adams, a mid-19^th century fort, the largest of them in the US (easily larger than the next three combined).  The fort is in bad shape, but is being constantly renovated.  A cool part of the tour is going through the dark tunnels, which were designed to allow the defenders to listen for and counteract any enemy mining operations.  As it was, Fort Adams never came under attack, either by land or sea.  The tour guide did a knockout job of describing the place – and the tactics – and was very patient with my incessant questioning and smart-ass remarks. 

 Finally, the town has some trendy shopping districts and a great creamery (diner) which reminded me of those sit-down deals they used to have in G.C. Murphy and People’s Drugs.