The city that cast a spell over Muggle Emma
ARRY POTTER star Emma Watson is used to the limelight. But when she went to one of America’s top universities in her late teens, she hoped she would put Herimone Granger on hold and just be an ordinary student.
No such luck. The Hogwarts movies were box office blockbusters, making Emma a household name. As she walked into the canteen on her first day at Brown University in the state of Rhode Island, everything went quiet.
She dealt with it, settled in and then loved her time in the city of Providence, the small but so-friendly capital of one of the most welcoming and liberal states in America.
Even today, folk in this New England city remember Emma as a happy and outgoing person who fitted in well as she got on with her studies. She took a couple of terms off for filming, but ended up with a good degree in English Literature.
That was a decade ago and it’s pushing towards 20 years since she burst upon the scene as a 10-year-old in the first Harry Potter film. It’s hard to believe that the sorceresss schoolgirl is the same woman just named among the most admired in the world in a YouGov survey.
She came fifth, behind Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie and Queen Elizabeth II. Not bad company.
You can walk in Emma’s footsteps in Providence.
The campus at Brown – up there with Yale and Harvard as an Ivy League university – is light and airy.
Between the university buildings, clustered on a hill overlooking Providence, you stroll along tree-shaded pathways.
As you spill down the hill, towards the city centre, you take in old colonial homes that have been here since the British colony of Rhode Island was set up in 1636.
Its founder, Roger Williams, was a man of vision and liberality, and you can still feel the affection for him in America’s smallest state.
Williams, who had to flee Puritan-dominated Boston back in 1636, insisted on separating church and state, and welcomed people of all religions.
No tithes had to be paid to the church, so there was more money to invest. The small colony prospered, and went on to become a key player in the battle for American Independence.
It was ultimately a founding base of the American industrial revolution. Times change, and much of the early industry has gone, to be replaced by high-tech businesses. However, many of the huge textile mills remain, now being ‘re-purposed’ and used for apartments. They’ve even linked up the old industrial area as a national park.
Today’s visitor has a city of three parts to explore. The university and hillside colonial area; the vibrant Downtown city centre; and the revived old industrial heartland to the west.
There are three self-guided tours, with maps and routes to follow, and it’s a fascinating place to visit for two or three days. Providence is a classic hidden gem and there’s a real feel-good factor about the place.
No doubt Emma went to the celebrated Water Fire event, held a dozen times between May and November, and unique to little Providence.
Since the late 1990s, more than a hundred bonfires are set alight at sunset. They illuminate almost a mile of the city centre channels, with thousands of onlookers watching, or strolling along the riverbank walkways.
We ate at Rosalina, an Italian restaurant in a city with a sizeable Italian community mainly congregated on Federal Hill. The food was authentic and delicious, and the fact that the restaurant was packed with Italians spoke volumes.
We took in the delights of the city on a Viking Trolley tour, and stayed at the city centre Dean Hotel, a converted warehouse that is blackand-white painted ‘cool’.
If luxury is your bag, stay at the Biltmore, with class seeping through into its impressive lobby and grand staircase.
Providence is one of America’s creative hotspots, its Design Centre enjoying an enviable reputation. Nearby, the city’s Atheneum Library is a masterpiece of public provision, with welcoming style at its heart.
The city is just an hour from the bustling seaside resort of Newport, with its ocean-going yachts and its historic architectural masterpieces.
But take time out, like Hermione, for a spell in this hidden gem with its welcoming locals.