Renowned for “The Brown Curriculum,” an innovative approach to undergraduate education instituted in 1970, this Ivy League school’s philosophy states that students, who are free to design their own curriculum, are “the architects of their own course of study.” Founded in 1764 by Baptists as Rhode Island College, the school moved to Providence in 1770 and became “Brown University” in 1804 after a generous donation by Nicholas Brown, the prominent Providence businessman and alumnus of the school. Points of interest include: The Van Wickle Gates (1901), Carrie Tower (1904), University Hall (1770), Hope College (1823), Manning Hall (1834), Slater Hall (1879), Rhode Island Hall (1840), and Robinson Hall (1878).

This block of North Main Street encapsulates the area’s three centuries as a thriving commercial zone with new storefronts imposed on older buildings to meet business needs. Points of interest: A 1920s Art Deco front on an Italianate building built in 1873. The Joseph and William Russell House (1772) was elevated a story so a new business could be inserted below. The Elizabeth Building (1872) with its cast iron façade.

While you're here: Grab a burger at Harry's Bar & Burger or treat yourself to dinner at Mill's Tavern

These three buildings are testaments to Providence as an early powerhouse of American industry. They preserve the scale and density of buildings in this commercial area before 20th century demolitions created the open spaces of the surrounding parking lots. Points of interest: 3 Steeple Street (ca. 1793) is the oldest surviving industrial building in Providence. 9 Steeple Street (ca. 1847) was built as a jewelry factory. It is also known as the former location of Al Forno, the restaurant that invented wood-grilled pizza, one of many innovations that sparked the dining renaissance of Providence. The area was also formerly home to Brown and Sharpe and the Gorham Manufacturing Company, famed for its silver production.

The oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States was founded by Roger Williams in 1638. Worshiping first in private houses and later in austere meeting houses, the Baptists made a new and bold move in erecting this magnificent building in 1775, a period when Providence enjoyed economic success. The largest surviving wooden structure from Colonial America, it combines the simple hall of a traditional New England meeting house with the most fashionable English architectural features, such as the steeple, modeled after a version of the one at St. Martin in the Fields (1724), on Trafalgar Square in London, by architect James Gibbs. Brown University, founded as a Baptist college, has held its annual commencement in the church every year since 1776.

A masterpiece by Providence architect John Holden Greene, the Federal-style building has classical arches and urns combined with soaring pointed Gothic style windows with delicate tracery decoration. Originally the First Congregational Church, the congregation became associated with the Unitarian movement and eventually changed its name.

Success, ambition and glamour dominate this block of Benefit Street. John Brown became wealthy from his family’s shipping business, which included privateering, the Triangular Slave Trade and the China Trade. This luxurious house, one of the grandest in the United States, played host to presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams. John Nicholas Brown, a great collector and preservationist, bought his great-great-great uncle’s house and donated it in 1942 to the R.I. Historical Society which now operates the house as a museum.

Designed by Joseph Brown in a restrained Georgian manner, the Market House (1775) was intended as a magnificent landmark to the wealth of the colonial city at the heart of the bustling waterfront. The groundlevel arcades originally provided open stalls for fishmongers, butchers, and produce vendors, while the upper floor housed government functions. A Masonic Hall occupied the third floor, added in 1797. During the 19th century, Market House served as City Hall during a 30-year debate (1845-75) over the construction of a new City Hall. It has housed classrooms for RISD since the 1950s. Market Square, always a site for news, gossip, and shopping, was the site of a colonial tax protest against the British on March 2, 1775 when the people of Providence burned tea. On September 7, 1897, Emma Goldman, a noted anarchist and feminist, was arrested for unlawful “open air speaking” and charged with attracting a crowd in Market Square. Nowadays you are more likely to encounter a RISD student’s art installation.

Providence’s tightly knit community of artists and collectors created this club to congregate, create, and display art; it is the second oldest art club in the country after the Salmagundi Club in New York City. Among the founders was Edward Mitchell Bannister, a celebrated African American landscape painter. The western-most of the club’s four buildings is the Fleur-de-Lys Studio (1885), built by Sydney Burleigh as workspace for himself and fellow club artists. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the studio is a masterpiece of Arts and Crafts architecture with finely rendered detail. On the street level corner is inscribed the phrase “Fair among the Fairest.” Not everybody appreciated this building; H.P. Lovecraft found it so revolting that he set his horror story “The Call of Cthulhu” (1926) there.

RISD is an internationally acclaimed leader in art and design education. Established in 1877 by 34 members of the RI Women’s Centennial Commission, the school embarked on a radical experiment in education: combining the study of art, craft, and design, from sculpture and textiles to furniture making and glass production. The red brick Waterman Building (1893) is a Venetian Renaissance landmark that was built to house art galleries, classrooms, and studios. At the base of the hill is the Metcalf Building (1915), created to look and function as a textile factory to teach students about the practical manufacture of fabrics, as well as their design. RISD offers more than a traditional fine arts school education, with an emphasis on creative thinking, industrial design, and superior craftsmanship. RISD’s campus has expanded from College Hill into Downtown Providence.

One of the grandest state houses in the U.S. for the country's smallest state. Designed by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White, noted for the Boston Public Library (1895) and renovations to the White House (1902), the majestic domed building clad in white Georgia marble was built (1895-1904) at the high point of Rhode Island's Industrial prosperity. Inside, a new museum showcases the Colonial Charter granted in 1663 by King Charles II of England. The Charter was first signed by a monarch to guarantee religious liberty. Atop the State House dome stands a statue of Rhode Island's Independent Man, representing the spirit of freedom of thought and action.

While you're here: Stop in at the Providence Place Mall for some shopping, grab a bite to eat at Fogo de Chao or play some games at Level 99 and Dave & Buster's.

Founded in the same year as the school, the RISD Museum has one of the country’s finest collections of art from across many cultures, time periods, and media, from ancient Egyptian artifacts and early American decorative arts to French Impressionist paintings and cutting edge film and video. The museum supports the school’s original focus on industrial arts education in many forms from textiles to jewelry design. The museum’s groundbreaking exhibitions, broad educational outreach, and extensive public programs continue to form the foundation of a thriving creative culture in Providence.

A visionary and independent thinker, Roger Williams was warned by the Puritan authorities in Massachusetts Bay Colony to refrain from spreading his “new and dangerous opinions.” Banished and alone, Williams wandered in the wilderness eventually settling in the land he named “Providence” in the spring of 1636. Befriended by the Narragansett tribe, he founded a community where any persons could think, worship and act in accordance with their own conscience without fear of persecution by the government. This spiritual and intellectual paradise to some was considered a hotbed of heresy to others. In 1965, Congress authorized the creation of the memorial and the 4.5-acre park opened to the public in the 1980s.

Roger Williams settled in this area because of its fresh water spring. Look out from the park towards the west and you will see the gleaming white RI State House. Early settlers in Providence looked out onto the Great Salt Cove and wharves teeming with activity in this busy seaport. Filled in during the late 1800s as the city became an industrial powerhouse, the watery cove was covered with train tracks, as well as commercial and manufacturing buildings.

The progressive idea of promoting education to all in support of a free society was at the heart of this old brick schoolhouse. By 1800, Rhode Island had one of the earliest public education systems, housed in this building. In its long history as host to innovative educational initiatives, it served as a school for African American students, an early fresh air school for children suffering from tuberculosis, and site of the Meeting Street School, a pioneering organization for children of all mental and physical abilities. The Providence Preservation Society (PPS), formed in 1956, leased the old schoolhouse from the city for its headquarters in 1960 and undertook restoration. Organized to rescue 18th and 19th century buildings in the College Hill area of the East Side of the city from demolition, the PPS saved the historic character of whole neighborhoods and has grown into a citywide advocate for preservation. The College Hill Study of 1959, sponsored by the PPS, the City of Providence and the Housing and Home Finance Agency, was an early example of urban revitalization using preservation and rehabilitation rather than demolition and redevelopment. Among many activities, it publishes the annual Ten Most Endangered Buildings List to raise public awareness of the threat to the city’s architectural heritage.

While you're here: Make reservations at New Rivers for some great local dining or head across the river to Cafe Nuovo.

In the early 1800s, Providence attracted artists and writers, many of whom gathered at the Athenaeum. In 1845, the writer Edgar Allan Poe fell in love with the Providence poet, Sarah Helen Whitman in this dignified Greek Revival style library. She called off their engagement in 1848 when his sobriety was questioned. Providence inspired the work of a remarkably creative writer, H.P. Lovecraft, who set his novel “The Shunned House” (1924) in a Colonial house on Benefit Street.

While you're here: Book a Providence Ghost Tour to hear about Edgar Allen Poe sightings at The Providence Athenaeum and more East Side spooky stories.

Take a tour of the 1707 home of Declaration-signer Stephen Hopkins, his family and their slaves, eight rooms full of antiques, Hopkins heirlooms and 18th century atmosphere. Learn about Rhode Island's own Founding Father and his house, the city's oldest, moved twice but virtually unmodernized, where George Washington was a guest in 1776. Relax in our parterre garden designed by Alden Hopkins of Williamsburg. We're on Benefit Street between the John Brown House and Roger Williams' First Baptist Church, a block from the RISD Museum, the Athenaeum, the Brown University campus and Providence's spectacular WaterFire. Open late for full WaterFire lightings, last tour starts at 9:30 p.m.

While you're here: Walk down the hill for a bite to eat at Parkside Rotisserie & Bar

A fine collection of Georgian, Greek Revival and Victorian houses line this street. Of special note: Seth Adams House (1854) The work of the master architect Richard Upjohn, first President of the American Institute of Architects. This Italianate house reflects Upjohn’s sense of fine proportions and restrained decoration. Ward Perry House (1814). Built for the daughter of Joseph Brown in the Federal style.