On this date in 1636, the City of Providence, Rhode Island was formed. 10 things you might not know about this city:
It was founded by Roger Williams, who had been kicked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs. He gave the city its name, in honour of "God's merciful Providence", and it quickly became a place of refuge for people persecuted for their religion. The city was originally named Providence Plantations. In fact, the official state name of Rhode Island is “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”.
The city motto is "What Cheer?" which derives from the way the Native Americans greeted Roger Williams when he first arrived. They said, “What cheer, netop?” Netop is the Narragansett word for friend.
It is built, like Rome, on seven hills. The hills are: Constitution Hill, College Hill, Federal Hill, Tockwotten Hill, Smith Hill, Christian Hill, and Weybosset Hill, which was levelled in the early 1880s.
The State House in Providence has the fourth largest dome in the world and the second largest in America. Atop the building is a statue, which isn’t of anyone in particular but is named simply “The Independent Man.”
The city is home to the oldest Baptist church in America.
It has a haunted hotel. The Biltmore Hotel is said to be America’s most haunted hotel because there were six mob related murders there during the prohibition era. It is said to have been the inspiration for Robert Bloch’s Bates Motel and Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel.
Which brings us neatly to HP Lovecraft who lived most of his life in Providence and is buried there. His his tombstone reads “I Am Providence.”
One of the sights to see is a giant blue Termite, which at nine feet tall is the world’s largest statue of an insect. It is 928 times the size of an actual termite and has been given the nickname Nibbles Woodaway.
A 2010 study found that the Providence metropolitan area has more Doughnut shops per capita than any other region in the Untied States.
Providence has four sister cities. They are: Praia, Cape Verde; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Zhuhai, China; and Guatemala City, Guatemala.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
