Providence, Rhode Island

Everything Providence is known for

9 songs mention this city 253 artists from here

Providence, Rhode Island, the capital and most populous city in the state, is known for its thriving arts community and rich history. The city has been home to 253 artists, including pop artist JVKE and R&B singer Jeffrey Osborne. Nine songs mention Providence, such as "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads and "The Last Resort" by The Eagles.

Music in Providence

Songs About Providence

The Last Resort
The Eagles
85%
"She came from Providence"
Psycho Killer
Talking Heads
60%
Burning Down the House
Talking Heads
55%
Once in a Lifetime
Talking Heads
55%
Kosher Certified
Certified Trapper
8%
"My eyes land on an opp, I'm fuckin' up the road, no Providence"
Backpackers
Childish Gambino
6%
"I wrote on rape culture my junior year at Brown"
The Last Resort
Eagles
6%
"She came from Providence"
? (Modern Industry)
Fishbone
4%
"WBRU"
Hannah Hunt
Vampire Weekend
3%
"As we made our way from Providence to Phoenix"

Rivers & Roads in Song near Providence

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Providence.

History of Providence

The City That Sets Its Rivers on Fire RoadyGoat

Providence is the rare city that literally sets its rivers on fire and calls it art. WaterFire, created by artist Barnaby Evans, fills the downtown rivers with dozens of floating bonfires on metal braziers; it grew from an eleven-fire New Year's piece in 1994 into the full multi-fire installation by 1996, drawing crowds along the water at dusk. Up the hill, Federal Hill is the city's Italian-American dining heart, and you enter beneath an arch on Atwells Avenue hung with La Pigna, a bronze pinecone (often mistaken for a pineapple) that's an old symbol of welcome. Downtown sits The Arcade, built in 1828 and widely called the oldest enclosed shopping mall in America, once nicknamed 'Butler's Folly.' Add Brown University, founded in 1764, and the Rhode Island School of Design, and you've got a small capital that punches far above its weight.

The Borden House RoadyGoat

1892

On the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were killed inside their home at 92 Second Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. The only person indicted for the murders was Andrew's thirty-two-year-old daughter Lizzie, who was acquitted after a nationally followed trial and who lived out the rest of her life in the same city under the same watchful eyes. The case was never officially solved. The house still stands on a modest working-class block, and today it operates as a bed-and-breakfast and museum; guests can stay in the same rooms the Bordens slept in on their last night. It is one of the few places in America where you can rent a bed in a murder scene and sleep through the whole thing, if you are able.

RoadyGoat → · 15.8 mi away

Roger Williams National Memorial

1636

Site near where Roger Williams established Providence in 1636 after being banished from Massachusetts for advocating religious freedom and separation of church and state.

Slater Mill

1793

First successful water-powered cotton spinning mill in the United States, built by Samuel Slater in 1793 on the Blackstone River.

4.1 mi away

Brown University

1764

Founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island, the seventh-oldest college in the U.S. and the first Ivy League school to accept students regardless of religious affiliation.

Rhode Island School of Design

1877

Founded in 1877 by women from the Rhode Island Centennial Commission, RISD is one of the oldest and most prestigious art and design schools in the nation.

WaterPlace Park and WaterFire

1994

Public art installation by Barnaby Evans featuring nearly 100 bonfires on the three rivers of downtown Providence, credited with sparking the city's urban renaissance.

Providence Athenaeum

1836

One of the oldest lending libraries in America, where Edgar Allan Poe courted poet Sarah Helen Whitman among the bookshelves in 1848.

Everything Near Providence

155 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Providence on the Map