INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
-
LLC MEMBER CATHY HURST PRESENTS PROVIDENCE ON FOOT: Featured Tour: The River at the Heart of the City (begins July 12)
-
THE SWEATER by Joanne Comeau
-
FROM PARTNERSHIP OF HISTORIC BOSTONS: On Tuesday, July 12, in our discussion Cruel or Courageous? we'll be exploring one of the bestselling, most influential books ever published in New England – Mary Rowlandson's Sovereignty and Goodness of God.
FROM OUR MEMBERS
Cathy Hurst presents
Providence on Foot
Featured Tour: The River at the Heart of the City
Begins July 12
Length: 1.5 miles
Time: 1 1/2-2 hours (depending on size of tour, pace of walkers, and amount of discussion!)
Degree of Difficulty: Generally flat (some ramps); surfaces include wood, grass, and pavement; several short flights of stairs.
Price: Regularly scheduled tours are FREE of charge, although tips are gratefully accepted and reservations are required. (Tickets can be obtained on the eventbrite site; see below). Private tours can be arranged; the fee is $25 per adult (ages 13+) with a minimum of $75.
Parking: There are 8-10 hour meters along South Water Street and on South Main Street (a block further away from the river). These meters are served from central machines so you’ll need to locate the machine closest to your car and leave your receipt on the dashboard.
Tour Website: https://providenceonfoot.com
What role do rivers play in a city; why do communities develop along rivers? For millennia, rivers around the world have been places for people to travel, congregate, engage, and establish communities.
The Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck Rivers, which merge to form the Providence River, formed the heart of the original settlements in Providence. For hundreds of years, Native Americans, including the Narragansett and Wampanoag tribespeople, gathered near the confluence of the rivers for regular trading and social occasions. Plentiful seafood and game, and easy navigation from communities in present-day Southern New England, made this an attractive meeting spot. When Roger Williams and the white settlers arrived in 1636 it was an appealing location for them to build their first settlement.
The river has always been at the heart of Providence but it lost its way ( literally and figuratively) in the twentieth century. Work over the past 40 years has restored the river to its rightful place.
The tour begins and ends near the east side of the beautiful 2019 Van Leesten Pedestrian Bridge near the corner of James and South Water Streets, across the street from Plant City. The route will take you along the riverfront on its eastern shore (the original seventeenth and eighteenth century settlement), across the river and through the market and customs area downtown, back along the west side of the river, and across the pedestrian bridge to the starting point.
So please join us as we walk in the footsteps of the original residents of the city, and learn about the role rivers have to play in the development and prosperity of a city. We’ll look at historic buildings and compare old photographs and paintings with the current appearance of the city. We’ll learn about the city’s inhabitants over the past 500 years. And we’ll explore how and why the river almost disappeared from view, and what’s been done to bring it back.
Here is the eventbrite link for tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/providence-walking-tour-the-river-at-the-heart-of-the-city-tickets-345633387767?fbclid=IwAR1GuwPFO-I_CGDg4-awF68sOiJ2kRyzjTa6bC8sRm5DNfjR1xpGUT6DSxY
"THE SWEATER"
by Joanne Comeau
The Sweater is about my beloved Dad who passed away from Alzheimer’s disease on February 11, 2008.
(Written 3/11/10)
It was that sweater.
That handmade, one-of-a-kind sweater.
You’d have to see it to believe
how bright and colorful it was.
No matter the season or the reason, there was always that sweater,
A well-made, sturdy one.
It was a gift…you might have guessed that already.
The sweater gave us lots of laughs.
And it was warm, too, as a sweater should be.
We grew to love it more each year.
Many washings faded the sweater over time--
All part of life’s reasons and seasons.
But it was still a sturdy sweater.
The muted colors seemed to give it a depth and richness
that a bright new sweater just can’t have.
But even the strongest of sweaters begins to wear.
A stitch breaks here, then there…
But there is always more yarn, and if you try hard enough and fast enough
maybe you can mend the tiny holes just enough…
Until the sweater begins to
u n r a v e l…
Faster than you knew it could.
Faster than you hoped it would.
The yarn is put away.
And in its place are the memories of how warm
and colorful, unique and loved that sweater was.
In every season. For every reason.
It was a well-worn sweater.
And it was worn well.
FROM PARTNERSHIP OF HISTORIC BOSTONS
On Tuesday, July 12, in our discussion Cruel or Courageous? A new reading of Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative, we'll be exploring one of the bestselling, most influential books ever published in New England – Mary Rowlandson's Sovereignty and Goodness of God.
It told the story of her captivity during King Philip's War – a tale of terror, hardship, misery and hunger at the hands of ruthless "savages."
What happens if we see the other side of this story? With the aid of two brilliant discussion leaders and Lisa Brooks' remarkable historical insights, we will read the story of Weetamoo, the Pocasset saunkskwa who did all that courage and humanity to do to save her people and prevent the outbreak of war. Mary Rowlandson saw her as a merciless "haughty dame." But was she cruel – or courageous?
To register to explore two sides to the story in our Zoom discussion, go to Historic Bostons. We'll be reading two short works:
- Mary Rowlandson's Sovereignty and Goodness of God, 1682
- a relevant chapter from Lisa Brooks' Our Beloved Kin
We'll send you the links to the readings after you sign up.
See you on the 12th! And happy reading,
Sarah Stewart, Partnership of Historic Bostons