Providence vs. Providence

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — This is a tale of two cities.

I grew up in Providence, Utah. And ever since I knew there was one, I thought it would be fun to visit that other Providence — Providence, R.I. That opportunity finally came when my sister Joy and I were doing a tour of Massachusetts, and we realized it wouldn't take much to pop on over to Rhode Island (distances being what they are in New England, Providence is only 50 miles from Boston).

Despite their differences in size — PRI has a population of around 170,000; PrU had about 2,000 when I was growing up there; the 2002 census shows about 4,300 — we found some interesting similarities.

For one thing, both were founded on religious principles.

Mormon pioneers settled PrU in 1859. They called it Spring Creek until church leaders suggested a name change because the setting was "so lovely and Providential."

Roger Williams founded Rhode Island as a haven for persecuted religious people. Williams, a minister, was banished from Massachusetts in 1636 because of his liberal philosophies. He was able to obtain land near a salty cove from the Narragansett Indians, where he established a colony where anyone could worship "without interference or regulation."

Williams chose the name "in gratitude for God's merciful providence unto me in my distress." Any congregation was free to build a church and worship as it pleased. Williams himself helped to establish the First Baptist Church — the name can be taken literally; it was the country's first. His church still stands on Main Street and is open to visitors as well as churchgoers.

The place where Joy and I chose to stay is called the Old Court Inn, a B&B on historic Benefit Street. It had once been a rectory and has a lot of old-fashioned charm. But we also appreciated the fact that the most historic building in PrU is the Old Rock Church, where we went to church when we were little. It is now a B&B as well.

Over the next couple of days in PRI, we discovered that both of our Providences have pretty much the same things — PRI is just on a grander scale. For example:

While PrU has Spring Creek, which flows through the back fields and was a good place to catch tadpoles way back when, PRI has the Providence River, which flows through the center of town. The river connects to Providence Harbor, and in the early days, PRI was a shipping and shipbuilding town. Much of its early prosperity came from ships that sailed the triangle from Africa to the West Indies to the Colonies, trading in slaves, molasses and rum.