We drove to Providence today, on day one of our little getaway. I’d been considering such a trip for years, but after recently reading the newly reprinted Ramsey Campbell book ‘The Thing In The Lake’ the trigger had been pulled.
It was finally time to pay my respects to Lovecraft.
The first stop was a wonderful store downtown that promotes the memory and legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, an author (mostly) obscure in his life but now recognized as one of the most influential American authors to have ever lived. His contribution to the genres of fantasy and horror can hardly be underestimated, and I’ve been a fan for about 30 years.
The store had some remarkable items, and the lovely proprietress gave us a map of providence with all the Lovecraft sights on it. Afterwards we walked a few minutes to a local library to see this bust (which had been partially funded by Guillermo del Toro):
And then we headed to our primary destination, the Swan Point Cemetary. Specifically this small and somewhat unassuming tombstone:
Lovecraft was poor in his time, and upon his death didn’t even get his own gravestone (the above was erected over 50 years later). Initially he was only on the Phillips tombstone, behind me when I took the above shot. (Yes, I placed the tiny Cthulhu on top, but you can see offerings left by others – including foreign coins.)
Ironically he wrote about this very cemetary in his stories, as he did about many other sights in Ptovidence. He was a somber man, very poor and (as he believed) unsuccessful. If only he could have known how famous he would one day be, and how in a cemetary packed with incredible edifices the one that most people would come to visit was the tiny stone with his name on it.
Mr Lovecraft: your imagination was boundless, your stories timeless and I’ll always be a fan.
It was late in the day when we finally got to our B&B and we’re gobsmacked by how beautiful it is!
That’s the dining room we’ll eat breakfast in tomorrow! Everything in here is beautiful, and it’s probably much fancier than I deserve 🙂
Tomorrow we’re off to the zoo, only a hop and skip from here. Expect photos of animals!
