In 1986, the Perennial Planters designed Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park to conserve rare green space in the urban landscape. Its establishment and maintenance represents the collaborative commitment of club members, the City of Providence, the Benefit Street neighborhood residents and the RI Foundation.
A History of the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park
by Rebecca W. S. More
Updated: September 2023
The City of Providence's Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park was dedicated in 1989. Until the fall of 1988, the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park was an eyesore, an overgrown, abandoned lot in the heart of historic Providence. Visitors to the remarkable architectural heritage of Providence and the PPS Festival of Historic Houses had to pass a tangle of underbrush and garbage behind a rusted chain link fence.
The L-shaped Lot, which fronted Benefit St at 141 and extended behind 147 Benefit St, was part of the original 17th c. Benjamin Cushing Lot which ran from Town (N. Main) Street to Hope Street. A house was built on the Benefit to Wheaton (Pratt) Street portion of the Lot in the 19th c., the outlines of which may be seen on the Park-side of 147 Benefit St. It was owned by "Dr." William Lincoln Bates who operated an electropathic sanatorium there until c. 1900. It is possible that science-fiction author H. P. Lovecraft was inspired to write "The Shunned House," (1924) about the house adjacent at 135 Benefit St., because of its proximity to the controversial Bates Sanatorium.
by Rebecca W. S. More
Updated: September 2023
The City of Providence's Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park was dedicated in 1989. Until the fall of 1988, the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Park was an eyesore, an overgrown, abandoned lot in the heart of historic Providence. Visitors to the remarkable architectural heritage of Providence and the PPS Festival of Historic Houses had to pass a tangle of underbrush and garbage behind a rusted chain link fence.
The L-shaped Lot, which fronted Benefit St at 141 and extended behind 147 Benefit St, was part of the original 17th c. Benjamin Cushing Lot which ran from Town (N. Main) Street to Hope Street. A house was built on the Benefit to Wheaton (Pratt) Street portion of the Lot in the 19th c., the outlines of which may be seen on the Park-side of 147 Benefit St. It was owned by "Dr." William Lincoln Bates who operated an electropathic sanatorium there until c. 1900. It is possible that science-fiction author H. P. Lovecraft was inspired to write "The Shunned House," (1924) about the house adjacent at 135 Benefit St., because of its proximity to the controversial Bates Sanatorium.