Visiting Providence?
Stay at the
Old Court
Bed and Breakfast
at 144 Benefit Street...

The Old Court was built in 1863 by Alpheus Morse. Originally a rectory, it sits next to the historic Rhode Island Courthouse, which currently houses the
Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission.
Italianate in design, the Old Court reflects early Victorian styles including the passion for ornate Italian mantlepieces, plaster mouldings, and twelve foot ceilings.

"I never can be tied to raw, new things,
For I first saw the light in an old town,
Where from my window huddled roofs sloped down
To a quaint harbour rich with visionings,
Streets with carved doorways where the sunset beams
Flooded old fanlights and small window-panes,
And Georgian steeples topped with gilded vanes--
These were the sights that shaped my childhood dreams."

Location

Providence has been described, by H.P. Lovecraft, as "that universal haven of the odd, the free, and the dissenting..."
In the mid 1700's, Providence was growing in population and stature, eclipsing its elegant sister by the sea, Newport. In 1758, Back Street was created, which was renamed, in 1772, Benefit Street...as it had been created for "the common benefit of all."
In order to carve Benefit Street out of the existing properties, where theretofore only footpaths meandered through gardens and orchards and family burial plots...it was necessary to exhume the dead.
Thus Benefit Street was built upon consecrated ground.
The first and grandest home built on Benefit Street was the John Brown House, at the corner of Benefit and Power in 1785. John Quincy Adams declared it "the most beautiful and elegant private mansion I have ever seen on this continent."
The Old State House, at 150 Benefit Street, was the forum from which Rhode Islanders renounced their allegiance to England on May 4th, 1776...a full two months before the rest of the colonies got up the nerve to do the same.
H.P. Lovecraft, in his 1941 novella, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, described a place where "titian elms...cast a restoring shadow...over long lines of pre-Revolutionary homes with their great central chimneys and central portals..."
He was talking about Benefit Street, Providence's "Mile of History."

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Characters and Settings

Angie Russo is smart, funny, brave...and all on her own. Her husband recently died of cancer, and her son has his own life now. Everybody expected Angie would sell her house, buy a condo somewhere and grow old gracefully. Instead, she gambled her life's savings on a rambling old house in historic Providence.

Beatrice Newman is Angie's oldest and dearest friend. She is a successful accountant who lives openly and defiantly with Marian, the love of her life. Beatrice is stern and judgmental, but she is always there when Angie needs her.

Michael, Angie's son, has a great job and a beautiful wife, but two devastating events rock his world and force him to make his own life-altering decision.

Wynn Dartt is a gentleman of the "old school," a scrupulously ethical real estate agent who helps Angie find the house of her dreams on Benefit Street. He never dreamed he was putting Angie in harm's way.

WRI Radio, where Angie gets a job as a receptionist, is populated by a host of colorful characters. Joe Bradley, the station manager, is a brilliant administrator who can't shake his dangerous addiction...to cigarettes. Gene James is WRI's brash talk show host, who has a shocking connection to The House on Benefit Street. And Carol, Angie's best friend and mentor at WRI, is battling breast cancer...and winning.

Dr. Mike is kind, gentle and dedicated. Medicine is his life, but social prejudice has made him an outcast.

#140 Benefit Street is a brooding, restless house, concealing a century's worth of family secrets within its walls. The House on Benefit Street refuses to give up its ghosts. Now it's got Angie and it won't let her go...