The Creative Capital — WaterFire, RISD, Brown University, and the Most Underrated Italian-American Food City in New England
Providence is Rhode Island's capital and one of the oldest cities in the United States — Roger Williams founded it in 1636 as a refuge for religious dissenters — and it punches far above its size as a creative, food, and academic city. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD, pronounced 'Riz-dee') is ranked among the top five art and design schools in the world; its museum is one of the best teaching collections in the country, and a disproportionate share of working American designers and illustrators are RISD alumni. Brown University, Ivy League, occupies the hill above the city. Federal Hi…
Providence was founded by Roger Williams in 1636 after he was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his arguments that civil authorities had no right to enforce religious laws — a principle that became the First Amendment. Rhode Island was the first colony to renounce allegiance to the British Crown (May 1776) and the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the US Constitution (1790), having held out for the Bill of Rights. Providence became wealthy through the Triangle Trade — the African slave trade — and its merchant families' fortunes funded the College of Rhode Island, wh…