Wednesday, September 8, 1993 - Providence, RI

Mom's apartment as a child in Providence.

Gertrude's house.

Lincoln School

Got up early and caught the bus to Providence. We were at the transit company office at 8:15, but it wasn't open, so we had to wait around until twenty to nine. Went in to apply for our ID cards, but we found out you have to have been a resident of Rhode Island for at least six months to be eligible, so that blew that.
Took a bus downtown and transferred to the bus that goes out Elmgrove Avenue. When we first moved to Providence in 1932, we lived in a nice apartment at 148 Elmgrove. The building's still there, but it's been painted an icky yellow and the screened-in porches have been made into enclosed rooms. The big backyard has been ruined; there's an ugly pink building there now, and what was left of the grass has been covered with asphalt for parking spaces. Across the street was Hall's Drugstore, where I bought candy and popsicles when I was a kid. The old Piggly Wiggly grocery store was gone and so was McDonald's Drugstore. The house my friend Gertrude lived in on the corner of Lloyd Avenue is still there, but it's been painted white instead of yellow and the sun-porch doesn't have as many windows as it used to. I phoned the library at Brown University to see if Gertrude still worked there. The woman I talked with remembered her but didn't know where she is now. I lost track of Gertrude several years ago.
We walked down Irving Avenue to Blackstone Boulevard and Butler Avenue, passing the apartment building where my friend Marilyn used to live. We walked around the grounds of Lincoln School, which I attended from first grade through twelfth. They have added several new buildings, which ruined the campus in my opinion. The big old beech tree we used to play under is still there, however. The tennis courts looked somewhat neglected. Roy took some pictures of me in front of the school, and then we walked to Wayland Square and up the hill to Governor Street.
In 1935, when I was nine, we moved to 64 Governor Street, a much cheaper place than the Elmgrove apartment. Fox Point was a slum area then, full of decaying houses, but the Historical Preservation Society had fixed up the old homes, most of which were built in the early 1800s, so the area looks fairly decent now. The house I used to live in has new siding, and the wooden fence has been replaced with a chain-link fence. Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same.
We walked down John Street to Hope. Tierney's drugstore has been replaced by a restaurant. The Vernons' old mansion has been repaired to a considerable extent. The public library where I borrowed so many books is now an Historical Society library.
We walked past many lovely old mansions and Brown University. The First Baptist Church was open, so we went in there. It really is the first Baptist church; it was founded by Roger Williams in 1638, just two years after he founded Providence Plantations. The church building was erected in 1775, and the Declaration of Independence was read to the population of Providence from the front steps of the church the following year. We were quite impressed by our visit.
When we got back to the boat, we ate lunch and took off. Didn't have time to go all the way to New Bedford, so we anchored in a sheltered cove between Dutch Island and Conanicut Island. We saw some interesting ruins on Dutch Island, so we paddled over there to explore. There is a large, roofless brick building with many arches and a long cement building with very thick walls, as well as an old warehouse and some tiny buildings that could have been guard shacks. We speculated that it had been either a high-security prison or a fort, with ammunition stored in the cement building, which was built into the side of a hill. We wanted to explore more, but it was getting dark and the sky was full of rain clouds, so we scurried back to the Jofian. Read in the Waterway Guide that the buildings on Dutch Island had been a fort. We'd like to find out more about it.