|
.jpg) .jpg)
October
2007
Northeast Boating
Capital Investment
Once seldom visited by boaters, Providence, Rhode
Island, is transforming into a city worth discovering at
the head of Narragansett Bay.
By Dan Mathers
.jpg) It
was a quiet, gray morning as I paddled my kayak along
the Seekonk River, rounding the shore of India Point
Park in Providence about 30 feet to my right. I could
see the wide mouth of the Providence River just past the
park’s grassy shore, and I started to paddle over to a
boat ramp when — THUD! — I felt something smash against
the bottom of my kayak.
My heart jumped when two more quick thuds banged the
back of my kayak. The most rationale explanation to my
panicked mind was obvious: it was a sea monster –Rhode
Island’s Nessie – trying to capsize me. Funny how the
mind works at those moments. Instead, I turned to see a
wide-eyed cormorant shoot out of the water from the side
of the boat.
After a few deep breaths and foul words, I gathered my
wits and paddled over to the ramp. Despite my
incongruous run-in with nature, it had been an amazing
two-hour paddle up the Seekonk. I had fish jumping not a
foot away from my boat. I’d paddled past a half-dozen
Great Blue Herons, spooked scores of ducks, and been
amazed at how such a grassy, tree-lined river scene
could so completely hide the nearby downtown high-rises.
Not long ago, the only things I knew about Providence
involved certain crooked politicians and the city’s
large number of . . . well, I’ll politely refer to them
as gentlemen’s clubs. I just recently began to discover
Providence because of, oddly enough, my kids. It started
with my wife and I taking our 4-year-old daughter Emma
and 2-year-old son Owen to the city’s Roger Williams Zoo
— one of the Northeast’s best —where we all oohed and
aahed over the elephants, giraffes and monkeys. That led
to us venturing into other parts of the city — searching
for burritos in the neighborhoods around Brown
University and letting the kids play on the rope gym at
India Point Park. Now, as I pulled my kayak out of the
water, a thought hit me like a speeding cormorant: I had
been missing a lot in this city. So, I set about
exploring Providence. What I found was an emerging
waterfront, historic neighborhoods, a hip restaurant
scene, and an event called Waterfire that just might
make Providence the most romantic city in the Northeast.
Yeah, that’s right . . . Providence.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Frank Duggan steered the Sea Nile – a 27-foot Fortier
powerboat – past the massive steel and concrete Fox
Point Hurricane Barrier, underneath a yet unused highway
bridge, and out into the wide mouth of the Providence
River. It was a cool, late October day, and I was riding
along wearing a thick sweatshirt, with a wool hat just
in case it got real cold. But a bright, clear, blue sky
stretched overhead, and it was a great day to be out
cruising, stretching out the boating season one more
weekend before the bleak winter days set in.
Come October, Rhode Island is the last refuge of New
England’s boating season. While the leaves around my
house near Boston had mostly turned brown and dropped,
many of the trees lining the Providence River and
northern Narragansett Bay were still green, with
brushstrokes of yellows and reds mixed in. With the
Providence skyline behind us, seagulls flew overhead and
we set out to kick up our last wake of the year.
There may be people who know the Providence waterfront
better than Frank Duggan. But I doubt it. As a lifelong
resident of the area, he throws out facts and anecdotes
about Providence like he’s a history professor. He puts
that knowledge to good use as the dockmaster and tour
boat operator for Providence Piers. While right now it
might look like an empty lot with a long dock on the
western side of the Providence River, Providence Piers
could be the biggest thing to hit the city’s waterfront
since Roger Williams himself. It is currently home to
the 49-foot tour boat Duggan captains and the
Providence-to-Newport fast ferry. But developers Patrick
and Gail Conley aim to make it the city’s first major
waterfront development in recent memory — with plans
including an 88-slip marina, a hotel and condominiums.
As we cruised south, a large black submarine with a red
star on it sat docked to starboard. The former Soviet
cruise missile attack submarine opened as the Russian
Sub Museum at Collier Point in 2002, and it has since
become the most peculiar attraction along the Providence
waterfront. Unfortunately, a northeaster sank the sub
this past spring, and its future is currently unclear.
As we motored on, the differences between East
Providence and the working waterfront of the Providence
River’s western shore became clear. Across the river, in
East Providence, the shore was tree-lined and dotted
with condominiums. But to starboard were giant coal
piles, storage buildings and freight cars. We cruised
past the Save the Bay Center on the western shore. The
center was built on the site of the old Fields Point
dump, but it is now used to teach people about
Narragansett Bay’s environment. We then visited Pawtuxet
Cove, and Duggan pointed out an area where Revolutionary
War-era Rhode Islanders had their own run-in with the
British several months before the much more famous
Boston Tea Party. Rhode Islanders sunk a British revenue
ship in what was arguably the first act of defiance by
the colonialists. “They don’t teach that in
Massachusetts,” Duggan said with a laugh.
We motored across the northern reaches of Narragansett
Bay and then back up toward Providence, circling Pomham
Rocks Lighthouse. Built in 1871, the light is owned by
Exxon Mobil and is maintained by the Friends of Pomham
Rocks Lighthouse. The Friends hope to eventually open
the light to the public. The tiny red-roofed house with
the light atop a 42-foot-high tower sits on a large pile
of rocks in the Providence River near the East
Providence shore, and has a beautiful lawn and trees. I
imagine the decommissioned light would be a wonderful
place to live, except, of course, during hurricanes and
northeasters. The area is particularly vulnerable to
powerful storms as the mouths of Narragansett Bay and
the Providence River open directly to the south —
practically beckoning mega-storms. The riverfront is
still dotted with the ruins left from the infamous 1938
hurricane.
As we cruised, Duggan filled me in on the rapid changes
going on in Providence. Not long ago, Providence was
seen by many folks as little more than a gas stop
between Boston and New York City. Industries had fled
the area, downtown businesses were empty. Nobody came to
Providence unless they absolutely had to. But now,
Providence is experiencing a mighty renaissance.
Businesses are coming back and people are returning. “I
still get shocked walking around,” says Duggan. “I was
downtown a few weeks ago and I was sitting in a café.
And there were more lightbulbs burning on that one
street corner than used to burn in the entire city all
night long.”
Roughly a decade ago, city officials came to the
startling realization that Providence actually had a
valuable waterfront. Much of it was a neglected,
underdeveloped waterfront of abandoned buildings and
empty lots being overgrown with weeds and grass. Those
officials concluded that with the right planning, they
could remake the city’s waterfront into a place people
and businesses would want to come to. They have since
launched a major construction effort, much like Boston’s
Big Dig. And where a highway once cut the city in half,
separating the waterfront from downtown, they are moving
the highway to reconnect the area with the rest of the
city. Everyplace you go along the Providence waterfront,
you can see evidence of that work — bulldozers, dirt
mounds, cranes, unconnected highway bridges. There’s a
lot left to do, but the people and businesses are
already coming.
For a waterfront city, Providence doesn’t have much for
visiting boaters. Downtown Marina, behind the hurricane
barrier, has a handful of transient slips. There are a
couple more slips up the Seekonk River at the Oyster
House Marina and East Providence Yacht Club. Other than
that, boaters have to grab slips or moorings a few miles
down the coast. That’s also where you need to look if
you want to gas up or have work done on your boat. But
that’s changing. Besides the marina Providence Piers
wants to put in, the city’s major planning document – a
text called Providence 2020 – states the city needs to
encourage more access for recreational boaters.
Officials seem to realize southern Narragansett Bay is
maxed out with marinas, and the northern bay and
Providence area is the logical place for growth.
Encouraging access for boaters helps business in
Providence, and there are plenty of places nearby for
boaters to enjoy.
Across the river from Providence Piers, cyclists pedal
along the scenic13-mile East Bay Bike Path running from
East Providence to Bristol. Within the next year, the
bike path will cross the Seekonk River to India Point
and on into the city. At India Point Park, people play
soccer on the athletic fields, kids play on the kind of
playground I wish they had when I was a kid, and a
scenic walkway lines the waterfront, ending at the
Community Boating Center, where people who may not own
their own boats can come sail.
Just beyond India Point Park is the neighborhood of Fox
Point, which has a laid-back, college-town feel about
it. Fliers cover telephone poles advertising lectures,
theater and music shows, activist meetings and
restaurants. The aromas from Indian and Thai restaurants
fill the air, and crowds sip cups of Joe on the porch at
the ultra-popular Coffee Exchange.
Keep following the waterfront west and you come to the
shore of the Providence River just behind the hurricane
barrier. The riprap near there is a popular shore
fishing spot in the spring, with people catching large
stripers early in the year. Nearby up on the shore,
brand new shops, clubs and restaurants represent the
city’s changing face. When I was there this past spring,
it was as if a completely different neighborhood had
sprung up from when I had been there the previous fall.
Oasis Café, with its panini sandwiches, had just opened
up. A few doors down, workers were busy sawing and
hammering inside Steam Alley, a bar that was scheduled
to open a few weeks later. Across the street, a
restaurant and lounge called Kurrents and just opened
next to Downtown Marina, where I’d set out from with
Frank Duggan last fall.
At Kurrents, I sat outside on their large wooden deck,
enjoying a sandwich and a beer and looking out over the
river, gawking at some beautiful powerboats pulling into
the marina. The bartender, Lee Gemelli, told me the
neighborhood was a popular spot on Friday and Saturday
nights, with people packing Kurrents and the neighboring
Hot Club and Fish Company Bar and Grille. A highway
bridge walls-off the neighborhood from downtown. But
Gemelli said the bridge should be gone within a year.
That would open up a beautiful, unobstructed view of the
river and the downtown. He said the city also plans to
extend Waterfire down the Providence River to their
neighborhood. Talk to anybody involved with a business
near the mouth of the river, and they talk of Waterfire
with a kid-before-Christmas gleam in their eyes,
yearning for the day Waterfire extends its Midas touch
to their business. When talking about Providence, the
conversation always comes back to Waterfire.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
When you talk to people about what has spawned the
city’s renaissance, some may mention the extensive
construction, some may mention all the new restaurants,
but almost everyone will point to one thing: Waterfire.
Several times each summer in downtown Providence,
Waterfire organizers light fires in roughly 100 braziers
running in a single-file down the middle of the
Providence River. Artist Barnaby Evans started it more
than 10 years ago as a way to attract people to
Providence River Park, which has more than a mile of
scenic walkways and seven acres of parkland along the
river. “I only intended to do it once,” says Evans. “It
was so popular, people wanted us to keep doing it.”
Today, thousands of people flock to Waterfire each time
it is held. Evans shies away from claims that Waterfire
is responsible for the city’s renaissance; he says it
has to do with a number of things. But, he says, if
people come to the city for Waterfire and then discover
all that Providence has to offer, that’s a good thing.
Not long ago, much of the Providence River was buried
beneath the city, out of sight. But in recent years it
has been uncovered and is now celebrated, part of the
city’s facelift that was largely spearheaded by
now-infamous Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci. The
once-popular mayor recently did jailtime after being
prosecuted on corruption charges. But love him or hate
him, his influence on the city’s renaissance is
undeniable. Walk throughout the city and almost every
plaque telling visitors about a new park or city feature
has Cianci’s name on it. That may be the reason many
residents might shrug their shoulders apologetically
when Cianci’s name comes up, and then sing his praises.
As one woman, who didn’t want to give her name, said,
“For all his problems, Buddy did a lot of good for this
city.”
An hour before the Waterfires are lit, a crowd of
everyone from young families with kids in strollers to
elderly couples walking hand-in-hand meander along the
river, enjoying booths selling ice cream, crepes, and
Indian food. On the river, passing under a brick bridge,
a man in a black-and-white-striped shirt uses a pole to
push along a gondola while a man and a woman in the boat
enjoy glasses of wine. A sound system plays a mix of New
Age, classical and world music. Nearby, the sunset casts
a reddish-pink light on the tall buildings downtown.
During the day, when no fires are burning, small boats
can access this part of the Providence River. Meandering
up the waterway is a great way to see the city, and some
businesses have docks that boaters can sometimes get
permission to tie up to. But keep on eye on water
levels, as the river can get shallow in spots. When the
fires are burning, though, the river is off-limits to
the general boating public.
As dusk settles in, black motorboats filled with people
dressed entirely in black slowly cruise up the river and
begin lighting the fires. They begin as small flames,
but they soon become spectacular bonfires with dancing,
quivering flames reaching six or seven feet above the
water. Crackling sounds and the smell of burning wood
fills the air, and orange light reflects off surrounding
stone walls and the faces of the crowd. People pose for
photos. A wide-eyed kid chomps a caramel apple as she
stares at the flames. And a middle-aged couple sitting
along the river snuggle, kiss, and watch the fires.
A boat passes by with a guy standing in the bow dressed
in a ghostly white outfit, a black mask over his eyes
and a pirate hat. He tosses roses to the crowds
alongside the river and on the bridges over his head. At
the city’s World War I monument nearby, people pose for
pictures with ornately-dressed human statues. One is
dressed as a pharaoh, another a Greek god, and two
others as gargoyles.
Down the road, Steeple Street is closed off from traffic
and a jazz stage is set up. Crowds of people sitting in
white chairs and at white tables applaud as a young guy
plays his guitar while a keyboardist taps some
background notes. Back at the river, the burning fires
along the water look like something out of medieval
Europe. Adding to that feeling are candlelit chandeliers
hung along the walkways beneath the Exchange Street and
Waterplace Bridges. In fact, I have to think that if
Waterfire were in a major world city, it would be as
much of a must-do as climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris
or walking the Charles Bridge in Prague. Of course,
Providence doesn’t have the cachet of Paris or Prague .
. . at least, not yet.
|
