A Weekend In Providence
It’s taken me 4 years but I finally have a blog post dedicated to a really fun weekend in Providence!
I had the pleasure of staying in a gorgeous apartment on Benefit Street for two nights with a few friends. It was so fun to have a staycation right in our little city. The apartment is hosted by PVDBNBs on Airbnb and Instagram and I highly recommend one of their listings for your Providence vacation. They are rich with history but so gorgeously updated and decorated, plus they’re in an amazing location for downtown Providence activities.
I hadn’t spent a lot of time in this part of the city on foot - though it’s always been part of the driving tour I give friends or family who visit me. It’s fun to look at all of the old buildings with all their historic plaques showing their origin dates and original ownership or purpose. It was especially beautiful to walk around in the fall. The first night we had dinner at Den Den Asiana Cafe. It is one of the best places in the city with such an awesome menu for Korean and Japanese fusion and it was in walking distance of the apartment. We got hot chocolates for the walk home and played Sushi Go for a few hours. It was a great relaxing first day of staycation!
We woke up the next day with such nice views from the front room windows. They are all huge and original with these wooden shades that you can close at night, but in the morning when I was opening them all up, I felt like a Bridgerton maid. “Morning Miss, tea’s ready for you!” vibes for sure. There’s also a courtyard with luscious greenery that would be awesome to spend time in during the summer months. We wanted to go get coffee and walk around Benefit Street during the day and see the foliage.
We went across the street to Bolt Coffee for oat milk lattes and egg sandwiches. It’s inside the Rhode Island School of Design museum and a great little stop in the area. There’s also another Bolt location farther into the city. In this area there is Brown University and RISD, two pretty well known colleges and it brings a nice energy to such a historical area of the city. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of 200 year old buildings and tons of young students. In this area there’s also Dave’s Coffee, Cafe Choklad, Plant City, and soon Brown Bee Coffee, all within walking distance.
After we got breakfast, we walked across the street into Providence Athenaeum, which I love. I first visited in 2019 when I was exploring Providence as a city to move to and it’s always been such a nice place to pop into. The interior is so dreamy and there’s an entire bottom level for events or readings that they throw for members and the public. The Athenaeum is known as the place where Edgar Allan Poe courted Providence poet, Sarah Helen Whitman. It has a slightly spooky energy for sure and I think that’s part of the draw, aside from the obviously gorgeous interiors.
One of the reasons that I wanted to partner with an Airbnb in the area is to host a dinner party with a “local” theme, including where we hosted. I wanted to boost local businesses by buying food from local vendors or using local ingredients to make a dish. We ran a few errands for the party including picking up a meze platter and sweets from Aleppo Sweets, not too far from the apartment. We also stopped for coffee at Coffee Exchange and it was shockingly my first time. This area also has a lot of businesses and restaurants like Amy’s, The East End, Brickway on Wickendon, Blick Art Supplies, Trader Joe’s, and a lot more.
The dinner party was so fun and we had such a great smattering of different foods and drinks from all these amazing local businesses. My friends really understood the assignment! I’m going to link and acknowledge all of the places we purchased from so you’ll be able to find them in the future. I highly recommend everything we had at this party. And I highly recommend hosting you’re own version of a local-themed party!
Cheeseboard - East Side Cheese
Baklava and meze platter - Aleppo Sweets
Fresh veggies and bread - Four Town Farm
Iced Teas - Granny Squibbs
Sodas - Yacht Club Soda
Meatballs - made with Walden Local Meat and Ocean State Pepper Co. seasoning
Pasta - fresh from Prica Farina
Tirimisu - Pastiche
Wine - Anchor and Hope
Salsa - Tito’s Cantina
Fresh fish for Crudo - Fearless Fish Market
On our last day, we also got coffee (at Dave’s - get the breakfast sandwich) and walked around. It’s just too beautiful. I love all of the old buildings and imagining what life looked like in 1775 when I see it listed on one of the historical plaques. It’s pretty unreal to think that these buildings have been through so much in the world, housed countless people, and have survived multiple centuries. It’s one of my favorite things about old New England towns/cities. It’s a bit sad to see the newer buildings coming up in the area and it’s curious they wouldn’t try harder to emulate the environment but at least a ton of the properties in this part of Providence are protected for years to come.
We ended the weekend in Providence with lunch at Ellie’s and I got the insanely delicious poutine with duck gravy and an egg. It was soo good. I also love Ellie’s for their desserts and coffees. It’s in another little section of the city that’s across from the Providence Broadway theater and near a lot of campus buildings for Johnson and Wales University. You could grab a coffee here and walk over to Westminster Street and shop till you drop over there. There are so many great businesses and restaurants on that street and people in Providence refer to that area as “down city”. This website, In Downcity, has a lot of good information on the happenings and businesses over there.
There are soo many parts to Providence and it’s impossible to see it all in one weekend but I hope this encourages you to visit my beautiful little city and spend some time in it’s historical heart. It would be great in the spring or in spooky season! You could catch a ghost tour even. Don’t forget to tell me when you’re in town! I’ll buy the coffees :)