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Providence Hotels and Visitor Information
Region: New England
State: Rhode Island
Population: 160,728
Elevation: 24 ft
Area Code(s): 401
Information: Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, One W Exchange St, 02903; phone 401/274-1636 or toll-free 800/233-1636
Email: provcvb1@wsii.com Web: www.pwcvb.com
Area Description:
Providence residents are probably glad that Separatist minister Roger Williams was banished from Plymouth County, Mass., in 1636. His progressive, uncompromising views--that each person had a right to worship without interference or regulation by the state--almost caused his deportation. Fearing arrest, he fled the colony and spent the winter with Wampanoag Indians. Later that year, Narragansett Indians gave him land near a salty cove on which Providence was founded. Williams chose the name in gratitude "for God's merciful providence unto me in my distress."
The petite city is Rhode Island's capital, yet it has not strayed from its founding father's initial goals: Atop the State House stands the Independent Man, a bronze statue reminding citizens of the ideals upon which the city was established.
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