Roger Williams National Memorial, Providence

Roger Williams National Memorial is a 4.5-acre landscaped park marking the area where Roger Williams established a settlement in 1636. Banished from Massachusetts for his religious and political views, Williams created a community based on liberty of conscience. He argued that government should not control religious belief, an idea that contributed to later American principles concerning freedom of worship and the separation of church and state.

A freshwater spring once formed the centre of the early settlement. Its traditional location is marked by the Hahn Memorial, a formal stone courtyard designed by architect Norman M. Isham and constructed between 1931 and 1933. An octagonal limestone wellcurb stands at its centre. The courtyard honours Isaac Hahn, the first Jewish person elected to public office in the local community, and was donated by his son, Judge Jerome Hahn.

Tree-lined paths cross lawns and gardens containing historical interpretation panels. The Antram-Gray House, an early 18th-century building with a later addition, serves as the visitor centre. Exhibits and a short film explore Williams’s life, Indigenous relations, and religious freedom. Gardens, lawns, and Bernon Grove offer places to pause.