Many years ago, well before the pandemic, visitors to Providence couldn't help but notice the brightly painted green line throughout downtown, dotted with colorful emblems. Dubbed the Independence Trail, this 2.5-mile path was designed by Robert Burke, owner of Pot Au Feu restaurant on Custom House Street and founder of the nonprofit Independence Trail Education Foundation.
Managed, promoted, and maintained by Burke's foundation, the self-paced tour showcased 4 centuries of Providence history, architecture and culture, highlighting 133 notable sites altogether. It told the story of Rhode Island from its founding by Roger Williams through the first shot in the Revolution, and pointed to places where Lincoln spoke and Washington slept.
The trail started at the State House, continued across the river to Benefit Street and South Main, crossed the Crawford Street Bridge and zigzaged throughout the Financial District.
Of course, since the tour was self-guided, you could start and end your walk at any points, and take as much time as you wish. Within the Downtown Improvement District (DID) boundaries, you'd find a variety of highlights from the Arcade to the Spanish American War Memorial. You'd learn about the city's hurricane marks, the Turks Head building, Haven Bros. diner, Burnside Park, and so much more.
Each destination was labeled with an emblem showing a unique location number and general phone number: (401) 441-6401 (disconnected for a while now). When you called and listen to the welcome message.
Unfortunately, that project has been in disrepair for years and many of the emblems are now gone or ripped off. Too bad that a project with such a potential did not have any follow through. read more