Check it Out: 5 historic walks in R.I.

Sept. 22--1. Waterfront Historic District, Bristol

In January 1680, after King Philip's War, the Plymouth Colony sold a large section of today's Bristol to four Boston merchants, who created a design for the town with other early settlers: The harbor area was to be more densely developed, and the outlying areas were designated for farming.

"The central part of Bristol was laid out as a grid, a pattern which is still clearly visible today," according to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission. "The rectilinear plan was established by four streets [now named Thames, Hope, High and Wood] running north to south, and nine cross streets [Oliver, Franklin, Bradford, State, Church, Constitution, Union, Burton and Walley] running east to west."

Today, downtown Bristol is known for its picturesque harborfront and the Rockwell and Independence parks, both close to the end of the 14 1/2 -mile East Bay Bike Path that connects Bristol to India Point in Providence. The famed Linden Place museum at 500 Hope St., designed by noted architect Russell Warren, was built in 1810 with the slave-trading riches of the DeWolf family. The district also includes the Herreshoff Museum at 1 Burnside St. A bit south of the district is the popular Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum at 101 Ferry Rd.

2. College Hill, Providence

The first permanent Colonial settlement in Rhode Island was in College Hill; in 1636, Roger Williams built the first home there. (It was destroyed during King Philip's War.)

But the former home of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Stephen Hopkins, built in 1707, still stands at 15 Hopkins St.

Benefit Street is the best-known street in the district. The house at 1 Benefit St. (1772) is named for Zachariah Allen, the founder of Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Co., the forerunner of insurance giant FM Global.

Benefit Street is also home to the Providence Athenaeum, the fourth-oldest library in America, and Athenaeum Row, five attached brick townhouses built in 1845 at 257-265 Benefit St. But according to the Providence Preservation Society/American Institute of Architects' "Guide to Providence Architecture," the houses at 106, 102, 98, 94, 88, 62, 56, 52, 50 and 48 Benefit St. "define the popularly conceived image of 'Historic Benefit Street.'" These simply designed clapboard houses were "built mostly between 1783 and 1798," according to the guide.

The historic district also includes the John Brown House Museum (1788) at 52 Power St., while the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and many other Brown and RISD buildings are close by. Thayer Street's shops and restaurants form the commercial heart of the College Hill neighborhood.

3. Wickford Village, North Kingstown

Wickford is a waterfront neighborhood settled in 1637 and known for its annual summer art festival and historic homes, shops and restaurants. Main Street includes a mix of buildings constructed between 1785 and 1845.

Many of the village's most beautiful historic homes are on Pleasant Street and have views of Wickford Harbor. A Georgian Colonial at 19 Pleasant St., which is thought to have been built around 1745, is on property once owned by Wickford's founder, Lodowick Updike.

Historic Wickford Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to the appreciation and preservation of the village's history, has a website with information about upcoming events, including Wicked Week and a horribles parade in October, and the Festival of Lights in December. For more information, go to wickfordvillage.org.

4. The Point, Newport

Newport has many well-preserved historic neighborhoods, but The Point stands apart.

The waterfront neighborhood, laid out in a grid, is compact and almost entirely residential. But it is a short walk to the shops and restaurants on Thames Street, as well as the visitors' center on America's Cup Avenue.

The Point is also known as Easton's Point, in honor of Nicholas Easton, one of the founders of Newport. After Easton died, his farmland was passed on to Quakers who sold the property for house and garden lots in 1725.

A number of elegant historical mansions originally built for wealthy merchants can be seen on Washington Street, which borders Narragansett Bay. But many houses in The Point are modestly sized, being the former homes of the artisans and tradesmen who once worked and lived there. The John & Thomas Goddard House at 81 Second St., built in 1741, was the home of the Colonial-era furniture makers whose creations are valued in the millions today. John Goddard made a famous six-shell desk-bookcase for Providence merchant Nicholas Brown that was sold by the Brown family in 1989 for $12.1 million.

5. Commons Historic District, Little Compton

The Commons is a rural, out-of-the-way spot, known as one of the loveliest town centers in Rhode Island.

In true New England style, the Commons landscape is dominated by a tall white church, the United Congregational Church, and a historic cemetery, the Old Commons Burial Ground. A gravestone in the cemetery marks the resting place of "Elisabeth Paebodie, daughter of the Plymouth Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullin, the first white woman born in New England."

The Commons is also home to the Town Hall, the post office, the Brownell Public Library, the senior center and the community center. Free of chain stores and fast-food restaurants, the district has just a handful of shops, including the charming Art Cafe, Commons Lunch, and Wilbur's General Store. The town recently invested in improvements to the Commons Recreation Area, near the Brownell House on Meetinghouse Lane, including a walking trail to connect with the Dundery Brook Trail.

For more recommendations for things to do in Rhode Island, go to providencejournal.com/checkitout

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