This year is a good one to visit Rhode Island
Eighty-six cauldrons of fire light up the city of Providence during the WaterFire art installation, which is on view each year from May through November. Some float on the surface of the Woonasquatucket, Moshassuck and Providence rivers.
Photo by WFProvidence
Providence, Rhode Island’s capital city, aims to live up to its moniker as “The Creative Capital,” with an exceptional March — and year — planned for its visitors.
The city’s Providence Culinary Collective, a four-day food and wine festival, returns March 26 to 29, celebrating the chefs, restaurants and makers shaping the city’s dining scene.
Providence is positioning itself as an easy, food-forward base for soccer fans who’ll be coming from all over the globe for this summer’s anticipated FIFA World Cup matches in nearby Foxboro, Massachusetts, 20 miles away.
As a critical Revolutionary War state that helped lead the push for independence, Rhode Island is also staging special events for America’s 250th anniversary.
Providence’s annual historical event, Gaspee Days, in June, takes on new meaning in this semi-quincentennial year. The story behind the event began in 1772, when local patriots burned the British revenue schooner HMS Gaspee in an act of defiance.
Today these remembrance days begin with an arts and crafts festival from May 23 to 25, and include a parade, a colonial encampment and the blessing of the fleet — all symbolizing the state’s enduring independent spirit that contributed to the birth of a nation.
Art and architecture
More history is on view at the state’s impressive capitol. The 1904 building is not only a National Historic Landmark but has the world’s fourth-largest self-supported marble dome, behind St. Peter’s Basilica, the Minnesota State Capitol and the Taj Mahal. Visitors can take self-guided tours with brochures or audio devices. An online 3-D tour is available for anyone who can’t visit in-person.
About a 20-minute walk from the capitol, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), established in 1877, is a museum as well as a college. Visitors can experience more than 2,135 of the 100,000 works of art and design in its collection, in addition to faculty and graduate students’ works on display.
RISD’s gift shop across the street from the museum is a good place to pick up unique gifts, such as scarves and jewelry, some of which are made by the college community.
When I visited last fall, I took a tour of Johnson and Wales University’s Culinary Art Museum, offered by appointment only. With notable alumni such as Emeril Lagasse, the college’s museum is a specialized repository for culinary history, with a collection of more than 250,000 artifacts ranging from historic cookbooks to tools and kitchen equipment.
The museum also plans events, special exhibitions and expert-led demonstrations. For a visit from the Society of American Travel Writers last November, Chef Peter Reinhart demonstrated how to make the perfect Alfredo sauce — which we naturally sampled.
We then sought out more of the city’s artisans beyond RISD, including a live painting session at the Providence Art Club, before we headed to dinner at Track 15, the city’s food hall, located in a former train station.
Afterward, adjacent to the Providence River, we ambled along the path for the much-touted WaterFire presentation, in which floating cauldrons of fire light up the river. The spectacular Saturday night shows will start up again in late May.
Some of us capped off the night with drinks at the James Beard Award-winning Gift Horse raw bar and restaurant before heading the next morning to South County, Rhode Island.
Southern Rhode Island
The Margin Street Inn in the town of Westerly is a destination in itself. Built in 1849 on the banks of the Pawcatuck River, the inn offers luxury rooms in two beautifully renovated Colonial and Classical Revival-style guest houses.
The inn’s six acres include two docks for visitors who wish to come and go by water or just explore the river. We enjoyed afternoon refreshments in the river-view sunroom and a European-fare breakfast of frittatas, homemade granola and fresh fruit served in the beautiful dining room with a fireplace.
My favorite South County attraction is almost an afterthought: The giant, eco-conscious and whimsical Thomas Dambo Trolls — large sculptures the Danish artist made from reclaimed wood — promote nature, art and recycling. The trolls, on which visitors climb and drape themselves, provide a perfect photo-op.
For more information, see goprovidence.com, southcountyri.com and visitrhodeisland.com.
