Benefit Street
If you’re an architecture and history enthusiast then you should add Benefit Street to the list of places you’ll visit the next time you’re in Providence. The street is located on the east side of the city and it stretches for 1.2 miles. Walking along the street is like going into an outdoor museum. It is lined with both grand and simple structures with interesting stories. But the most interesting fact about the street is that no one planned for it to become the tourist attraction that it is today. It was all just an accident, but a happy one at least.
There were plans to completely demolish and redevelop the historic part of Benefit street back in the 1950s. But the city government didn’t have funds to push through with the project. The city was very poor at that time. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 
Now Benefit street is an important part of Providence. It’s a favorite destination among locals and tourists and it helps in generating revenue. Also, an important part of history was saved and preserved. It’s really fortunate that the urban renewal project didn’t push through. Now people can still go to Benefit Street and relive an important chapter in the history of Providence.
Benefit Street became a fashionable place back in the 1780s. That’s when rich merchants started to build fancy homes along the street. The largest house on the street is the house of John Brown. Brown was a very wealthy merchant who pioneered trading with the Chinese. But he is also a slave trafficker. But not everyone in the Brown family was pro-slavery. John’s brother Moses was an active member of the abolitionist movement.
John was also a part of the American independence movement and was involved in the burning of a British ship. He later became a congressman ad founded the College of Rhode Island, which was later renamed Brown University. The house is now a museum that is managed by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Another prominent house along Benefit Street is the Nightingale-Brown House. It is a 19,000 square feet house and thought to be the biggest wood-frame house from the 1700s in North America that is still standing. You can imagine that the owner of the house was trying to keep up with his neighbors.
However, the structure that you can see now is a totally renovated version of the original house. It was rebuilt during the 1980s. What’s interesting is that the money used for the renovation came from the sale of a desk that was sold for 11 million dollars. Now the Nightingale-Brown Hous serves as the home of the Brown University’s Center for the Study of American Civilization.
Mansions are not the only structures that you can see in Benefit Street. The street is also filled with smaller houses that are built in the Federal style. These houses may be simple but they are very elegant. When you take a stroll past the homes, it’s hard not to imagine the kind of life people lived back then. The poet Edgar Allan Poe is a resident of Providence and is said to be fond of taking walks along Benefit Street. Indeed, walking along Benefit Street is like going back to the past. It’s also a good way to learn more about American history. and how people lived back then.
Another building in Benefit Street that is worth mentioning is the Athenaeum. It is a subscription library that was frequented by prominent writers such as Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The latter even wrote a story about one of the houses in Benefit Street. Across the Atheneum is the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum. It used to be one of the most prestigious art schools in the US. It was established in 1978 to teach fine arts and design to women. The museum is definitely worth a visit.
You can book a 90-minute walking tour of Benefit Street. Tours are held at 11:00 am from Tuesday through Saturday. Of course, you can also do a DIY tour if you want. Many of the more interesting attractions of the street are located in the middle third of the street.