I was a bit pressed for time today, so decided to head up to Prospect Park on the East Side of Providence for my photo. With several colleges clustered around the park, there was a good chance that there would be some interesting photo opportunities there, and if there weren't, I knew there were good static shots available as a fallback. Well, it turns out that a strong wind whipping through the park had wind chills down in the teens, and there wasn't a soul in site. I did wait around as long as I could, hoping even one person would venture into the park, but it wasn't to be. I settled for this shot looking across the park at the large statue of Roger Williams, the state's founder.
Prospect Park was built as a memorial to Roger Williams in 1930. It's also the final resting place of Williams. He's interred at the base of that statue. At least, most of him is. The remains of Williams and his wife were unearthed in the 1700s when Benefit Street was widened. Like most of the burials that were disturbed by that project, his remains were moved to the new North Burial Ground about a mile west of his original grave. In Roger's case, though, there wasn't much left to move. The roots of an apple tree planted in his back yard had destroyed his wooden casket and had completely engulfed his body. In fact, the roots were so well grown around the body that they took the form of his face. The "tree that ate
Roger Williams" is now property of the Rhode Island Historical Society and is at the John Brown House Museum in Providence. In any case, his remains were moved to a crypt in the North Burial Ground, and they lay there for a couple of hundred years. In 1939, Roger was again moved to the base of this statue, where they rest today. While his wife is also officially buried here, the reality is that the only remains they ever found of her (likely due to that voracious apple tree) was the long braid of her hair, and it's that braid that rests with her husband today.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, boost black, boost white, protect highlights, and details. A levels adjustment and a sepia photo filter were added in PSE.
Here's the high res version on Smugmug:
http://kannafoot.smugmug.com/Photo-Challenges/PAD2013/i-zWBNBX8/0/XL/2013%2002%2001_0039%20copy-XL.jpg
