Lovecraft’s College Hill
Jen and I took a walking tour of the beautiful College Hill in Providence on Sunday, taking note of many of the important locations of H.P. Lovecraft’s works and life. We followed the wonderfully helpful map created by the kind folks at http://www.hplovecraft.com.
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- Poe and Lovecraft used to wander amongst these graves at the Cathedral of St John Episcopal
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- The inspiration for the house in Lovecraft’s “The Shunned House.”
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- The Fleur De Lys Studio, where great Cthulhu was first envisioned in stone.
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- The building given as the home of the artist in “Call of Cthulhu”
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- Founded in 1638 by Roger Williams, this is the oldest Baptist church and the mother church of the Baptists.
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- A library near Brown University frequented by Lovecraft, also Poe.
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- Having a sit down next to the Van Wickle Gates outside Brown University.
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- John Hay Library, across from Brown University, holds the largest collection of Lovecraft manuscripts.
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- H.P. Lovecraft Memorial
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- H.P. Lovecraft Memorial
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- The Samuel B. Mumford House, Lovecraft’s final home. Moved to this location from a spot next to the John Hay Library.
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- The Prospect Terrace park, with Roger Williams watching over Providence. One of Lovecraft’s spots.
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- Lovecraft’s home from April 1926 to May 1933
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- Lovecraft’s grave marker behind the Phillips family monument
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- “I am Providence” - Lovecraft’s Grave Marker
“I never can be tied to raw new things,
For I first saw the light in an old town,
Where from my window huddled roofs sloped down,
To a quaint harbour rich with visionings.Streets with carved doorways where the sunset beams,
Flooded old fanlights and small window-panes,
And Georgian steeples topped with gilded vanes ~
These are the sights that shaped my childhood dreams.”- Quote on H.P. Lovecraft Memorial
These photos are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Awesome…just freakin awesome. Great pics and I must admit. I am thoroughly and utterly jealous. Lovecraft has been a favorite of mine for years now and I would really like to take that tour sometime. And you got the grave shot! Very cool.
Thanks for posting these pics, it’s the next best thing short of being there. Some great shots in there too. I liked seeing where H.P. lived, “grounds” him more in my mind and almost makes the stories more creepy in my memory. Seeing the Fleur De Lys studio is particularly eerie. Cthulhu was one bad mamma jamma.
Very cool, thanks again for posting these. I bookmarked the map as well. Time to start planning a road trip. I think this one will be a tough sell to the wife though. Heh heh.
Even outside of the Lovecraft locations, College Hill has a lot going for it. The houses are beautiful, the streets are old and mysterious, and there are a few nice shops around the Brown University campus.
Jen had a wonderful time, one of her favorite day trips ever, and she is not a fan of Lovecraft. It’s a memorable place.
Your photos are so excellent that I had to devote a mini-entry on my own blog to this piece. Bravo! Spring is very kind to Lovecraft’s Providence.
Taking a walking tour of College Hill was a perfect way to shake off the winter doldrums and wake up to spring. I have a few more photos that I may clean up and post.
Hey, thanks very much for the great post on Grim Blogger!
My girlfriend and I had a conversation similar to your second paragraph, and we noted that the quote on his tombstone “I am Providence” was absolutely appropriate because of the influence of the city on his life, and vice versa.
Very cool. Needs more ghosts.
Eric,
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my walking tour map! I hope steep College Hill didn’t wear the two of you out. You don’t know how lucky you are to live so close to all this terrific history. You also owe it to yourself to get up to the North Shore and explore Essex County, particularly Salem (Lovecraft’s inspiration for Arkham), Newburyport (Innsmouth), and Marblehead (Kingsport). Here’s my walking tour of Marblehead:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/study/articles/mrblhd.pdf
I was living in Phoenix when I put these walking tours together, am now living in the Twin Cities area, and plan to move to the Providence area within the year. Then, I’ll be compiling all this information on Lovecraftian New England into book form. Just don’t hold your breath…
Donovan K. Loucks
Webmaster
The H.P. Lovecraft Archive
Donovan, really can’t thank you enough for the great map. You can count me as a sale for your book when it comes out!
As for the steep streets, we did okay. We followed your map which called for only a few steep climbs. What a view, though, everywhere you look!
I will definitely look into those other locations, particularly Marblehead. Thanks again.
P.S. The HPL Archive is without question the best Lovecraft site out there. Excellent work!
Eric,
Glad to hear that College Hill didn’t do you in. I chose Jenckes Street as the street on which to descend the hill since ascending it can be demoralizing. There’s only one remotely similar climb in Marblehead, and it has stairs. Thanks for all the compliments on The H.P. Lovecraft Archive!
Donovan K. Loucks
Webmaster
The H.P. Lovecraft Archive
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