What's the 411... er...401?

Providence. Divine foresight. Prudence. Care. Also the capital of Rhode Island, the Ocean State, Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams. 367 years later, my brother Brandon landed there. Known for its jewelry and silverware, its Italian people and “influence”, and great restaurants, Providence went from the “Beehive of Industry” to the “Creative Capital” and remains the second largest city in New England. Brown University, renown art school RISD and culinary school Johnson and Wales call Providence home. Wikipedia Providence


Approx 50 miles from Boston, MBTA and Amtrak connect the sister cities - 45 minutes on the train. And that’s precisely how Erik and I began to know Providence after moving to Boston in 2003. Brandon commutes to Boston for work, and we soon realized the two cities are more accessible to each other than Boston is to some of its suburbs. Countless train rides (with just enough time for 1 adult beverage from the bar car), weekends of dinners out at small independent restaurants, trips to the beach (hello Block Island), and walks around Providence’s tony East Side - we started slurping the pasta sauce.


The premise of Project Prov is this: people will see Providence as an extension of Boston - smaller city living at a more affordable price. And if we in our heart-of-hearts believe that to be true, we figured we’d better be willing to put our selves, our money, our energy - our lives - there. Stop talking about it and start being about it. I’d say it’s more difficult than it sounds, but it even sounds difficult. Uproot our city life in Boston and move it 50 miles down the road to another city in another state. See what happens. Hope it’s not boring. That’s how the story begins...