Panorama of Providence, 1903. One of 6,000 items (almost all historical) on the Providence Public Library Flickr stream.

Providence in 1903.

I had assumed that Lovecraft never set foot on a sea-going vessel, but looking at the pictures there seems to have been a thriving commuter service by steamboat to New York. Did he always travel to New York by train, or sometimes by steam-boat? [Update: it seems he never went to New York that way, but friends such as Morton and Loveman did.]

Reference reading room, Providence Public Library.

Children’s reading room, Providence Public Library.

Ladd Observatory, Providence. Frequented by Lovecraft in his youth.

Quinsnicket, one of Lovecraft’s favourite parkland/woodland walks in Providence.