The following map and descriptions were used as a basis for walking
tours at the NecronomiCon. An Adobe Acrobat
version is also available.
- Roger Williams National Memorial Park
— Commemorating the site on which Roger Williams founded Providence
in 1636.
- Cathedral of St. John, Episcopal, 271
North Main Street (1810) — Founded in 1720 as King’s Church, both
Lovecraft and Poe haunted the graveyard of this church. It is on the
National Register of Historic Places, and is both a National Historic
Landmark and a National Historic Site. (SH, CDW)
- Sarah Helen Whitman House, 88 Benefit
Street (1783-92) — Home of the poetess courted by Poe.
- Sullivan Dorr House, 109 Benefit Street
(1809) — Designed by John Holden Greene, this house sits on land
that was once owned by Roger Williams, and where he was originally buried
in 1683.
- F.E. Seagrave House, 119 Benefit Street
— In 1933 Lovecraft nearly moved into this house instead of the
Samuel B. Mumford House.
- Stephen Harris House, 135 Benefit Street
(1763) — “The Shunned House” of Lovecraft’s story, which Lovecraft
referred to as the Babbitt House. This house was abandoned and in poor
condition during Lovecraft’s day. (SH)
- The Old Court Bed & Breakfast, 144
Benefit Street (1863) — Originally built as a rectory for St. John’s
Episcopal Church, this building is now a lovely B&B. In Lovecraft’s
Providence & Adjacent Parts, Henry L.P. Beckwith comments that this
building was Lovecraft’s basis for the home of Dr. Elihu Whipple in “The
Shunned House” although the Benjamin Cushing house (see number 9) is a
much more likely candidate. (SH)
- The Old State House, 150 Benefit Street
(1762, 1850-51, 1867, 1904-06) — From this building Rhode Island
declared its independence from Great Britain on May 4, 1776 — two
months before the other colonies did so. It is now a National Historic
Landmark. (CDW)
- Benjamin Cushing House, 40 North Court
Street (1737) — A more likely candidate for the Dr. Elihu Whipple
house, this “Georgian homestead with knocker and iron-railed steps” is the
oldest house on College Hill. (SH)
- Shakespeare’s Head, 21 Meeting Street
(1772) — John Carter, apprentice to Benjamin Franklin, published the
Providence Gazette and Country Journal in this building, which was
also a post office and bookstore. It is now home to the Providence
Preservation Society. (CDW)
- The Brick Schoolhouse, 24 Meeting
Street (1769) — Built to serve as a school and for town meetings,
this building became the temporary home for Brown University when it moved
from Warren to Providence in 1770. It is on the National Register of
Historic Places. (CDW)
- Site of the Golden Ball Inn (1783)
— Demolished since Lovecraft’s day, this inn had such illustrious
visitors as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette,
and Edgar Allan Poe. (SH, CDW)
- Home of Franklin C. and Lillian D. Clark,
161 Benefit Street — This was once the home of Lovecraft’s uncle and
aunt.
- The Marine Corps Arsenal, 176 Benefit
Street (1840) — This building is the armory of the Providence
Marine Corps of Artillery.
- The Colonial Apartments, 175-185 Benefit
Street (1929) — Lovecraft bemoaned the fact that this “wretched
ultra-modern apartment-house with all urban sophistications” replaced the
“bit of actual country remaining” on College Hill.
- Benefit-Dexter House, 187 Benefit Street
— Once the Knowles Funeral Home, where the funerals of Lovecraft and
his aunt, Lillian, were held.
- Providence Art Club, 10 and 11 Thomas
Street (1786-89 and 1791) — Lovecraft and his aunts attended art
shows here. (CC)
- Fleur de Lys Studio, 7 Thomas Street
(1885) — This house was built by Providence artist Sydney Richmond
Burleigh, and was given as the home of artist Henry Anthony Wilcox in “The
Call of Cthulhu.” (CC)
- First Baptist Meetinghouse, 75 North Main
Street (1775) — The congregation was founded in 1638 by Roger
Williams, and this is the third church they built in Providence. It is
the oldest Baptist church, the mother church of the Baptists, and a
National Historic Landmark. (CDW)
- Market House, 4 South Main Street
(1773-74) — The lower floor of this building served as a market,
while the second was used variously as a banquet hall, barracks, and
office for the first mayor. It was the site of the “Providence Tea Party”
in 1775. Markers at the southwest corner of the building show the high
water marks during the gales of 1815 and 1938. (SH, CDW)
- Providence County Superior Courthouse,
250 Benefit Street (1924-33) — This immense building houses the State
Supreme Court, the Superior Courts, the Attorney General’s department, and
other offices.
- Joseph Brown House, 50 South Main
Street (1774) — From 1791 to 1929 this building was occupied by the
Providence Bank, the oldest banking institution in New England and second
oldest in the country. It is now an office building. (CDW)
- Stephen Hopkins House, 15 Hopkins Street
(1707, 1743) — Hopkins was the first Chancellor of Brown University,
Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Rhode Island, ten times governor,
and signer of the Declaration of Independence. A National Historic
Landmark. (CDW)
- Providence Athenæum, 251 Benefit Street
(1836-37) — A frequent haunt of Lovecraft’s, Poe courted Sarah Helen
Whitman here. The library owns a copy of the American Review in
which Poe signed below his anonymously published poem, “Ulalume.” (SH,
CDW)
- Pendleton House, 232 Benefit Street
(1904-08) — Lovecraft visited this museum which was the first in the
United States to have an American wing. It contains Charles L.
Pendleton’s collection of 18th Century American furniture, silver, china,
and paintings.
- List Art Building (1969-71) —
Lovecraft’s final home was moved from this location in 1959 (see number
30) to make way for the List Art Building. From the kitchen of the
Mumford house, Lovecraft claimed he could look into the stacks of the John
Hay Library.
- Van Wickle Gates (1901) and Brown
University (1770) — These gates are opened twice a year: once to
allow new students in, and once to allow graduates out. A photograph in
Selected Letters shows Lovecraft seated here and has the caption,
“Lovecraft in Brooklyn.”
- John Hay Library, 20 Prospect Street
(1910) — Named after the Brown graduate who was Assistant Private
Secretary to Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State under Presidents
McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. It holds the largest collection of
Lovecraft manuscripts. (CDW, HD)
- H.P. Lovecraft Memorial — Erected
in 1990 through the efforts of S.T. Joshi, Will Murray, Jon Cooke, and the
Friends of H.P. Lovecraft.
- Samuel B. Mumford House, 65 Prospect
Street (1825) — Lovecraft’s final home, moved to this location in
1959. Lovecraft describes it not only in his letters, but as the home of
Robert Blake in “The Haunter of the Dark.” (HD)
- First Church of Christ, Scientist
(1913) — This site, one of the highest points in Providence, was
used for a warning beacon against Indians in 1667 and against the British
in 1775. It was claimed that the beacon could be seen as far away as
Cambridge, Massachusetts. (CDW)
- Prospect Terrace, 75 Congdon Street
(1867) — This small park was one of Lovecraft’s favorite haunts.
The third resting place of Providence’s founder, Roger Williams, is
here. The statue in honour of Williams was erected in 1939. (CDW)
- Henry Sprague House, 100 Prospect Street
— The address of this house was used as the address of the Ward house
in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. (CDW)
- 10 Barnes Street — This was
Lovecraft’s home from April 1926 to May 1933. It was also the home of Dr.
Marinus Bicknell Willett in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. (CDW)
- “Little white farmhouse” — A
colonial home mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. (CDW)
- Halsey House, 140 Prospect Street (1801)
— Built by Colonel Thomas Lloyd Halsey, this home was reputed to be
haunted in Lovecraft’s time. It served as the Ward house in The Case
of Charles Dexter Ward. (CDW)
- Jenckes Street — One of the steepest
streets on College Hill; better walked down than up... (CDW)
CC – “The Call of Cthulhu” CDW – The Case of Charles
Dexter Ward HD – “The Haunter of the Dark” SH – “The Shunned
House”
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