City Life

Celebrate 60 Years of Preservation with PPS

The Providence Preservation Society celebrates with its Festival of Historic Houses

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Congratulations are in order as the Providence Preservation Society celebrates its 60th anniversary. To honor this momentous occasion, the organization is featuring a couple of special events alongside its 37th annual Festival of Historic Houses on Saturday June 11.  The 2016 Festival of Historic Houses is being held on the north end of Benefit Street, where the Providence Preservation Society was formed. Sarah Santos, the organization’s Director of Development and External Affairs, takes me on a trip down memory lane, proudly recounting the society’s start. “PPS formed because the College Hill neighborhood was threatened by demolition,” she says. “[Our] success in releasing the College Hill Study in the ‘50s [provided] the answer for renewal.” Therefore, Santos deems this year’s tour on Benefit Street “a fitting location.”

The Festival of Historic Houses is the Providence Preservation Society’s signature event. Providing the chance for a fascinating, hands-on history lesson, the society opens the doors to over twelve stunning, currently lived-in historic homes and gardens. Tour guides will also tell the stories of the homes’ origins and inhabitants. Sites included in this year’s tour are the eighteenth-century homes of ship owner Zachariah Allen and house wright Samuel Staples, as well as the Old Brick School House, Providence’s oldest public school and Providence Preservation Society’s current headquarters.   

Two new additions have been made to the 2016 festival to honor PPS’s Diamond Anniversary. First, if you are intrigued by Santos’s telling of the Society’s founding and want to learn more, travel the short trip from Benefit to Meeting Street after the festival to attend Cheers to 60 Years, a free open house. Second, for all the history buffs out there, PPS is pleased to announce that it has partnered with the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau to introduce the first ever Explore Providence History Day. While walking the halls of Providence’s historic homes at the festival, check out what the RISD Museum, the John Brown House Museum, the Providence Athenaeum and other cultural partner organizations have to offer, including open tours and more.

As all Rhode Islanders know, Providence has a ton to offer. The Festival of Historic Houses is a Providence Preservation Society tradition and local favorite. “People in the city of Providence are very excited about it,” says Santos. Also a tourist attraction, Santos discloses that people travel from out of state to attend every year. Without the dedication and determination of the Providence Preservation Society over the past sixty years, the state capital wouldn’t be the same. Celebrate that profound feat at the 37th Festival of Historic Houses. 10am-4pm. Tickets: $35-$55. 176 Benefit Street, Providence. 831-7440,
www.ProvidenceHouseTour.com

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