Providence · USA

Overview

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New England's second-largest city (with a population of 173,000, 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.

The focal point of the city these days is Waterplace Park, a series of footbridges, walkways, and green spaces that run 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, an outdoor ice rink, and Providence Place, a glittering, upscale shopping center.

With more restaurants per capita than any other major city in America, Providence 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 have its once-abandoned downtown (now called Downcity, to erase the connotations of the old downtown) populated by artists and art 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.