Providence Harbor walk at Fox Point & India Point
1. Fox Point and Night Boat Era 1822-1932 Firefly challenges the Stagecoach Era
2. Colonial Wharf at South Water Street: 1910-1942
3. Fox Point Hurricanes Barrier 1961-1966
Construction and 2005-2007 changes from I-I95 relocation
4. Providence River Bride Its design, construction and journey up Narragansett Bay by tugboat
5. Shipping Expands around the Point
6. Fox Point: the 19th Century Port of Providence Downgrades from goods and passengers to coal and scrap metals
7. Welcome to India Point Park
8. Welcome to Fox Point
9. Tockwooten and the Indiamen Ship building and trade with Orient India Point
10. Sails to Rails 1835: Providence's First Train Station
11. Bridging the Seekonk
12. Rogers Williams Landing 1636
In 1962, Mary Elizabeth Sharpe wrote of her vision for a park at the head of Narragansett Bay. Her passion for landscape allowed her to see beyond the abused and neglected waterfront. She shared her thoughts in a Providence Journal article. "The Providence area is a dream by nature... perched to overlook a breathtaking expanse of sparkling bay front... It is a paradox that this beauty has gone so completely unrecognized. Our bay-front -a potential "Rio" of the north'- is a hodgepodge of unrelated and semi-decayed commercial activities... and will again be, I believe- a sparkling inspiration in the plan of our town."
Mrs. Sharpe set the wheels in motion. Land had to be bought and swapped, piles of scrap metal and abandoned tracks had to be removed and money had to be raised. Mrs. Sharpe herself donated more than $150,000 toward development of the park. Hundreds of others made donations, including children from the Fox Point Elementary School. Twelve years after Mrs. Sharpe's proposal, India Point Park was dedicated on September 7, 1974.
An aerial drawing illustrates Albert Veri's vision of India Point Park.
In 2000, concern about the re-routing of I-195 led to the creation of Friends of India Point Park. Rhode Island residents and other visitors continued to enjoy and help maintain the park. Activities depicted below include the community boating fleet the Cape Verdean Independence Day celebration, Mexican Soccer League tournaments.
This watercolor by Edward Peckham depicts the Fox Point shore in 1832
The same shoreline as in the painting above, just before work began to create India Point Park in 1974.
To design the park, Mrs. Sharp hired young landscape architect Albert Veri in 1971. Veri spoke of the project; "We wanted to bring the water's edge to people who were cut off by the highway and industry. Rusty mountains of scrap metal covered nearly three acres."
In his work, Veri believed that parks should be accessible to communities, offering people a place to come and enjoy themselves. "It's but a beginning," he later reflected. "You plant something and it grows. Adjacent areas in time will tie in. This will be the seed." Time has proved Veri and Mrs. Sharpe correct.
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