It’s no 'Ripley’s Believe it or Not' that a Rhode Romp worth undertaking is an historical walking tour rooted in the capital city of Providence. The oddity of nature is the preserved apple tree root which “pushed downwards in a sloping direction and nearly a straight course towards the precise spot that had been occupied by the skull of Roger Williams” (Report 'Upon the Burial Place of Roger Williams' by Howard M. Chapin; published in Providence, 1918).

Let’s branch out on an historical walking tour of cultural and architectural magnitude along a gnarly route on Benefit Street in Providence, Rhode Island, rooted in the seed of Rhode Island’s founding by Roger Williams:

Radical religious beliefs put this Protestant theologian at odds with the Church of England and also with the flock who boarded the 'Lyon' in December, 1631, and settled in Boston of the New World. Roger stirred up a tempest as tumultuous as any storm brewing along the Atlantic by espousing three principles dear to his heart: separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Furthermore, his study of the Native Americans caused him to doubt the validity of the King’s colonial charters whereby he wrote a lengthy tract to the Massachusetts governor in 1632, advocating the purchase of land from the Indians.

By 1635, Williams was tried by the General Court and convicted of sedition and heresy. Ordered to be banished, illness delayed execution of this decree. Nevertheless, he skipped town in 1636, trudging through the deep snow on a 105 mile trek from Salem to the head of Narragansett Bay where he received a hearty welcome by the Wampanoags.

Fearing extradition of the expatriate, a band of supporters invited the fugitive to cross the Seekonk River. Roger Williams named this settlement which began with twelve friends, “Providence,” whose meaning stemmed from “divine help from God.”
Roger Williams served as governor of the colony from 1654 through 1658, and is believed to have died sometime between January 28 and March 15, 1683 with a burial on his own property.

Fifty years later, his house collapsed into the cellar, and the gravesite for such a prominent man was forgotten until 1860 when Zachariah Allen sought to locate the remains of the first governor. This endeavor bordered on the bizarre: “The root of an apple tree was discovered. This tree had pushed downwards one of its main roots in a sloping direction and nearly straight course towards the precise spot that had been occupied by the skull of Roger Williams. There making a turn conforming with its circumference, the root followed the direction of the back bone to the hips, and thence divided into two branches, each one following a leg bone to the heel …” (Report, 'Upon the Burial Place of Roger Williams' by Howard M. Chapin; published in Providence, 1918).

In the King’s English, the apple tree root bore a strong resemblance to the outline of the skeleton belonging to Rhode Island’s founding father!

The apple tree root is now regarded as a curio and kept by the Rhode Island Historical Society at the John Brown House Museum (52 Power Street, corner of Benefit). As long as you’re in the vicinity of the apple tree root that consumed Roger Williams, you should “branch” out to other noteworthy historical landmarks of cultural and architectural magnitude within walking distance along Benefit Street in Providence, the city so lovingly named by its founding father:

The Rhode Island Historical Society:
Benefit Street, A Mile of History - Ongoing programs, exhibits and opportunities where one can absorb over three centuries of history while taking in the beautiful surroundings of 18th and 19th century architecture, art installations and sculpture, gardens and riverfront activities, and the vibrant rhythm of the surrounding urban neighborhoods.

The Shunned House (135 Benefit Street): The Stephen Harris House built in 1763, was made famous by Providence writer H.P. Lovecraft. People died there in alarmingly great numbers perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water – hence “shunned.”

The Rhode Island School of Design Museum (224 Benefit Street): Also known as the RISD Museum, Rhode Island’s leading museum of fine and decorative art, houses a collection of 84,000 objects of international significance. It is southeastern New England’s only comprehensive art museum and is accredited by the American Association of Museums.

The Providence Athenaeum (251 Benefit Street): The fourth oldest library in the United States (1753) - neither a public library, nor an academic library, nor a community center, nor a private club - it is a little bit of all these things and more.

The Nightingale-Brown House (357 Benefit Street): The museum collections in the house represent and link each of the five generations of the Brown family. The butler’s pantry contains more than 100 pieces of Canton China, possibly imported to Providence aboard Brown family merchant vessels in the eighteenth century and used by the family.

The First Unitarian Church of Providence (1 Benevolent Street, corner of Benefit): The third church and present building, dedicated in 1816, was designed by distinguished local master-builder-architect, John Holden Greene, whose many fine buildings changed the face of Providence during the early nineteenth century.

An historical walking tour deeply rooted in the apple tree oddity that consumed Rhode Island’s founder, Roger Williams, naturally branches to other architectural and cultural landmarks of prominence dotted along Benefit Street in the capital city of Providence. A Rhode Romp in this vicinity by native Rhode Islanders and out-of-towners constitutes a visual odyssey sure to bear fruit as the apple of one’s eye.