Providence by the Book: A Literary Walking Tour
Learn About Providence's Famous Authors
H.P. Lovecraft- one of the most significant supernatural horror fiction authors of the 20th century- wrote these words about his hometown of Providence. This tour discovers the author's traumatic upbringing, racism, and favorite haunts; guests also meet some of the fictional characters that Lovecraft wrote into the city's fabric.
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But Lovecraft isn't the only famous author that ambled the city's centuries-old sidewalks: Sarah Helen Whitman, the poet who was briefly engaged to Edgar Allan Poe, also called the Creative Capital home. This tour explores her life and relives the couple's whirlwind- and doomed- romance.
"...the slanting sunlight touches the Market House and the ancient hill roofs and belfries with gold, and throws magic around the dreaming wharves...After a long look he would grow almost dizzy with a poet's love for the sight..."
HP Lovecraft, Author
Sights to See
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The Providence Athenaeum, our nearly 200-year-old library which all Providence authors enjoyed (and continue to!)
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Prospect Terrace Park, Lovecraft's favorite and the city's best view
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Lovecraft's and Whitman's homes
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135 Benefit Street: the inspiration for Lovecraft's The Shunned House
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The place where Poe first saw Whitman, later claiming "love at first sight"
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140 Prospect Street: Home of H.P. Lovecraft's character, Charles Dexter Ward
