The Great Lovecraftian Pilgramage of 2007 - "Providence quaint and lordly"

"You came not as one curious, but as one seeking his due, nor have you failed ever in reverence toward the mild gods of earth. Yet have these gods kept you from the marvellous sunset city of your dreams, and wholly through their own small covetousness; for verily, they craved the weird loveliness of that which your fancy had fashioned, and vowed that henceforward no other spot should be their abode."
- The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

The Stars, as they say, were finally right.

Last night, nottheterritory (hereafter known by the mundane sobriquet of "Alex") and I returned from something of a whirlwind tour of Rhode Island in general, and Providence specifically. This trip was something I first conceived dimly in high school reading H.P. Lovecraft for the first time. The shape of the pilgrimage solidified in my first year of university, when I read Lyon Sprague de Camp's thorough (though hardly impartial) biography of Lovecraft.

Though the Lovecraftian angle interested me particularly, the journey was not one of mere literary significance. Providence intrigues me in and of itself, by virtue of being one of the oldest cities in North America, and furthermore compact enough to be easily encompassed in relatively short visit. Finally is has the quality of a "real" city, which is to say it is a living metropolis and not merely a tourist destination or collection of attractions.

I should note that thebitterguy also hoped to come with Alex and I on the trip, but had to back down due to work obligations. His loss on the trip was regrettable! That said, Alex was an excellent travelling companion, and there was no point where our mutual impulses for the direction of the trip were out of step – no arguments about maps or stops or places to eat, etc., etc. More importantly we seem to share a certain aesthetic when it comes to self-directed tours of this kind, and always seemed happy to see the same things the other fellow wanted to see.

We left Hamilton late on a rainy Friday afternoon... (click on the images for larger versions!)

( The Trip and the Tomb )

After visting the tomb, we went for a stroll through the cemetery grounds. Alex, who is a military history buff, was inspired by the vintage of the stones to tell me his favorite anecdote about the Civil War. Almost as soon as he'd begun, I noticed a monument to one Major Sullivan Ballou a few metres off our path, and pointed it out to Alex.

"That fellow seems to have died in the Civil War," I said.

Alex, incredibly, recognized the name on the tomb. As he noted in his journal:

"Those of you who know Ken Burn's Civil War documentary well will now have little shivers running up and down your spine - for the rest of you who never shared that particular deep geekiness, Sullivan Ballou is essentially no-one. He is, as far as I know, almost completely unimportant in history, except for one thing:"

That one thing being a particularly poignant and eloquent home to his young wife, Sarah. Alex quotes a few lines from the letter, and later directed me to full reading of it from a Civil War documentary. The letter starts at 2:27 in this video link:

( My love for you is deathless )

After leaving the cemetery we headed into downtown Providence with two specific destinations - the Westminster Arcade and the "Shunned House."

I'll write about those later...

The Great Lovecraftian Pilgramage of 2007 - "Birds nested in their gnarled boughs"

"I shall find mixed with my relief a queer regret when it is torn down to make way for a tawdry shop or vulgar apartment building. The barren old trees in the yard have begun to bear small, sweet apples, and last year the birds nested in their gnarled boughs."
- The Shunned House

Having addressed our primary reason for visiting Providence, we were free to wander more or less at will. I had identified a handful of interesting sites to visit within an easy walk of downtown Providence, so there we ventured.

Our first stop was the Westminster Arcade, the oldest enclosed shopping mall in North America. In most places, the "oldest enclosed mall" would be some run-down strip mall constructed in the early 1960s, home to a coffee shop and not much else. In Providence, "old" means "Built in 1828."

Unfortunately, though the 179-year-old Westminter Arcade was a pleasant building and interesting to explore, it also contained mostly empty storefronts. Alex and I were very nearly the only shoppers on Saturday afternoon. Significantly, the only store showing any particular sign of life was the one that sold RPGs...

( The Game Keeper )

Our next stop was "The Shunned House," a real house built in 1786 that served as the inspiration for a Lovecraft story of the same name. The real world house had a bad reputation in the 19th century, it seems, with tales of madness and death surrounding the early inhabitants. However, since that time it has apparently been quite respectable.

( ...people died there in alarmingly great numbers )

Following this visit, we stopped for sandwiches at an excellent little place full of cool, exciting university students, free newspapers, music, and a barrel of fresh dill pickles. There were dozens of sandwiches on the menu, all excellent - including one called the "Margaret Trudeau." We then went for a walk around the downtown core.

( The Margaret Trudeau and the Sloppy Ho are two different sandwiches )

As we walked, Alex caught sight of a very distinctive house that he recognized from the 2005 silent film production of The Call of Cthulhu.



As the sun set, we returned to the car and set our sights on ancient Newport, surrounded on three sides by ocean. We arrived there just night was setting in... more on that, later!

The Great Lovecraftian Pilgramage of 2007 - "Wraithlike from its Dreaming Breakwater"

"...Newport climbing wraithlike from its dreaming breakwater. Arkham is there, with its moss-grown gambrel roofs and the rocky rolling meadows behind it; and antediluvian Kingsport hoary with stacked chimneys and deserted quays and overhanging gables, and the marvel of high cliffs and the milky-misted ocean with tolling buoys beyond.

"Cool vales in Concord, cobbled lands in Portsmouth, twilight bends of rustic New Hampshire roads where giant elms half hide white farmhouse walls and creaking well-sweeps. Gloucester's salt wharves and Truro's windy willows. Vistas of distant steepled towns and hills beyond hills along the North Shore, hushed stony slopes and low ivied cottages in the lee of huge boulders in Rhode Island's back country."
- The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

After leaving the Shunned House, we got in the Haunted Police Car and drove southwest to Newport, a town perhaps older than Providence, one surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. The drive was slow and meandering and as we proceeded the surroundings changed from the blue collar homes of Providence, getting larger and often older, and more ornamental. We actually saw gambereled roofs. In Newport itself, there were entire neighbourhoods where every single house predated Canadian Confederation - all occupied and in good repair. In some places, there were rows of houses older than America.

I described the drive down as "cripplingly picturesque."

We were in Newport for two reasons. First, to visit the "mystery mill," a sort ruined stone tower that, at the very least, is more than 400 years old. No one is sure who built the tower, or when, but the best guess is that is served as a mill around 1650. However, there is apparently evidence to suggest it may have been constructed a century or more earlier, or even in Pre-Columbian times by wandering Vikings.

( Newport at Sunset )

After peering at the stone tower for a bit, we wandered around Newport on foot, trying to reach the ocean. This was fairly easy, but we could not find any beach - only docks. So, we gunned up the Haunted Police Car once more, and pointed ourselves southward.

We soon discovered Ocean Drive, a scenic stretch of road sided on either side by the famous Newport Mansions, a series of 19th century and early 20th homes built by the barons of American industry. I took no pictures, but we were both suitably awed.

As the stars began to appear we found a stretch of clear, rocky beach, and disembarked.

( In these realms where the Pole Star shines high )

We returned northward to Providence and paused for supper at the Newport Creamery, a local chain. After resting in the hotel for an hour or two, we hitched up our resolve and headed back to downtown Providence to see what night-time diversions the city had to offer.

First of all, we discovered that the city core is much livelier at night. During the afternoon, the downtown had been nearly empty. At night, we had trouble finding parking, and knots of people were everywhere. One wonders if it is a city.... of VAMPIRES!

In any case, the highlight of the evening's jaunt was our visit to the Haven Brothers Diner. This establishment is significant for two reasons. First, it is the oldest diner in the world - founded in 1888. Second, it is a diner in the original sense of the word, which is to say that it is a portable structure. It has been parking in the same spot since 1892, though of course the original vehicle was a horsedrawn cart. Today, it's a trailer hitched to a truck.

I loved it.

After downing cheese dogs and coffee at Haven Brothers, Alex and I walked along the river, looking at things.

( Lovecraft has no good quotes about diners )

We got back to the hotel around midnight... and came home on Sunday. The drive home was fun, but I didn't take any photos.

This concludes The Great Lovecraftian Pilgramage of 2007