Newport, Rhode Island, USA

Defining Main Street: The Clothing Store. September arrives. The school year begins, Where do you go the get back-to-school duds? Main Street of course. That is, until shopping centers offer a wider variety of styles and options, And, until the bonds of geography are cut by automobility. Here's a clothing store that has made the transition to a new market. [2008]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Welcome to Geography Awareness Week: It's time to appreciate maps on the landscape! "Think Globally, Drink Locally": a perfect slogan to illustrate with a world map (though the proprietor might think of adding a dot for Providence). The take-away: maps sell! [2021]

Newport, Rhode Island, USA

 

It's time to repent! Churches, especially those with steeples, are among the buildings most frequently adorned with clocks. Trinity Episcopal Church may have begun life with a bell tower to mark the time, but the rector later added a clock: a bell for all to hear and a clock for all to see. Don't be late for worship. [2008]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

You can watch as Garfield's cousin gets a spit shine on the streets of Providence. Sometimes, pounding the pavement is as good as going to the theater: performance art everywhere! [2021]

Middletown, Rhode Island, USA

♫ School days, school days, dear old Golden Rule days. Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic, taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick. You were my queen in calico, I was your bashful, barefoot beau. And you wrote on my slate, ‘I Love You, Joe,’ when we were a couple o' kids. ♫ [2008]

Jamestown, Rhode Island, USA

Before the young republic had even a constitution, it had the Jamestown windmill. It is located on a ridge of high land that forms the backbone of its island home where it can catch the steady winds that blow in from the Narragansett Bay. Can you see how the blades can be turned to meet the direction of the wind? [2019]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

You may not have the talent to knit, but you can certainly wrap a tree in yarn and, thereby, add some color to the landscape. The art form is called yarn bombing: no explosion involved. Nevertheless, it seems as if some poor souls lost their lives when this tree was bombed. See the ghosts in the branches? [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Can you find the power box? It amplifies the power of place by calling attention to the "Superman building," Providence's iconic (though sadly unoccupied) landmark. You know it is important by the two yellow stanchions that protect it from traffic-flow kryptonite. Are you aware of its primary function? [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

The river and the city share a name: Providence. Roger Williams planted the name on the landscape when he detached himself from Massachusetts and set up a colony of his own. What led him to this very spot? God's Divine Providence. [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

What happens to a working class neighborhood when a job-creating employer pulls out? Decline and, then, revitalization, often accompanied by a revolution in the arts. Here, an old US Rubber building is used by its new occupant, the Waterfire Arts Center, to personify a new generation of Rhode Islanders. Yes, he lives in the neighborhood. [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

February is all about the number two, and 2/22 is a palindrome too! The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law in 1990, was one of the 20th-century's greatest pieces of legislation. Both sides of the political spectrum came together and solved some problems for millions of Americans. Times sure have changed. Be sure to to see yesterday's post. [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Here is a secular credo that seems to hit all the right notes. Yet, some would take exception to each of these statements. Why? What is your personal credo? Credo is Latin for "I believe." Do you ever make exceptions that violate your own beliefs? [2021]

Newport, Rhode Island, USA

What does a standard-issue street sign look like? Take a gander at Thames Street. Nothing more, nothing less than what we need for wayfinding. And, while not particularly aesthetic, it does no harm to the streetscape. Even its location in our visual field, at slightly above arms reach, is where we expect to get the information we need. [2008]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Donations of food arrive on Saturday and are distributed on Sunday morning to feed the needy in downtown Providence. This trunkful came in from East Greenwich. It was gratefully received by the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church, and even more gratefully received by the homeless and hungry. [2021]

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Odds and Evens, Ones and Twos, Singles and Doubles, Which one be You? Here's a walker and a walkee taking advantage of some autumn sunshine. The setting: A ribbon of green that follows the Pleasant Valley Stream through a residential neighborhood in Elmhurst. [2021]

Narragansett, Rhode Island, USA

These folks' sojourn on Block Island has come to an end. They have returned to Galilee, a fishing port and ferry terminus on the mainland. Ferries are the primary lifelines for the interlobate moraine that is Block Island, a token of the Ice Age now called home by about a thousand people, but visited annually by tens of thousands more. [2019]

Warwick, Rhode Island, USA

Even a tawdry sheet-metal plant can look sharp if it has Old Glory on top. And, that smiling tin man standing sentry seems as proud as can be of his flag and his country. O Are you flying your favorite flag on this Independence Day? [2013]

Foster, Rhode Island, USA

Alleluia! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!! Alleluia!!!! Four years of lies, hate, perfidy, and treason are at an end. Now, it is time to create a new future, with compassion for all, respect for science, protection of individual liberties, and a return to the "pursuit of happiness." Four years ago, the uneasiness was palpable; now we know why. [2019]

Narragansett, Rhode Island, USA

By virtue of its nickname, the Ocean State, Rhode Island has an enviable caboodle of lighthouses. Some, like Point Judith Light, are on extremities of the mainland; others are on islands; and still others are on the rivers that drain into the Narragansett Bay. Let's all give thanks for America's lighthouses. [2019]

Jamestown, Rhode Island, USA

 

The Beavertail Lighthouse and the Absecon Lighthouse were first illuminated within months of each other, but one conformed to the common cylindrical shape and the other was built as a rectangular prism. Which one represents the better design? To answer that question, compare air flow (as in storm-force winds) around each shape. [2019]