We decided to head north to Rhode Island to visit the Roger Williams Park.  This is a second visit to Rhode Island.  This means Edonna only has one more state to visit before she has all 50 under her belt.  We will be visiting Massachusetts soon.  Then we will both have all 50 states completed.  Our new goal is to visit all 60 national parks.  That is a lofty goal.

Providence, RI is about 45 minutes north of our campground.  It was an easy ride.  My father took me and my sister to this park when we were kids.  It was as fun as I remembered. There were many Canadian geese in the park but I was not attacked.  There will probably be a common thread through many of my posts, Canadian geese hate me.  I hate them right back.  Perhaps I will regal you with my tales with Canadian geese in another post. There is a room in the natural history museum that creeped me out today as much as it did when I was a child.

This is a very old public park.  The original plans were drawn up in the 1870s.  This is an amazing space.  There are walking trails. A rose garden.  A Japanese garden.  Lots of statues.  A natural history museum with a live, active bee hive.  A zoo and much more.  It is a great place to get away from city living.

Here is more specific information directly from their website (https://rwpconservancy.org/):

“Roger Williams Park was created in 1870 after Betsey Williams bequeathed 102 acres of farmland and woodland to the city of Providence to be used for public purpose. A portion of the gift included land that was shared with her great, great, great grandfather, Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, by the Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomo.

Horace Cleveland, a leader in the Urban Parks Movement, created the design for the Park. It was intended to serve as an escape for those working in highly industrialized Providence in the late nineteenth century. Twenty years after Betsey’s bequest, the Park quadrupled in size and daily attendance had grown to 15,000 visitors.

Comprised of more than 435 beautiful acres and offering a range of recreational and educational opportunities, Roger Williams Park still serves as “the people’s pleasure ground” that Cleveland intended, hosting family picnics, community festivals, weddings, and running groups. Each year over 1.5 million visitors from around the state – and beyond! – enjoy the same scenery and activities as past generations. The People’s Park truly represents Rhode Island’s rich and diverse history.”