(2.21) I’m guessing this was his first. And somebody has left the door open . . . again! Author and native son Will Hunt will be at the Books on the Square Thursday to discuss “Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath our Feet.”
When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode Island. His first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to sacred caves, catacombs, tombs, bunkers, and ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world.
Seen here is the easternmost entrance of the 1908 railroad tunnel that still runs under the East Side to North Main Street. Gano Street (near Amy Street) passes overhead. This is a perfect place for disposing of inconvenient bodies and lawn furniture. You investigate at your own risk.
From a favorable review of the book in The Guardian:
Underground is also beautifully written. Hunt is attuned to the smells and textures of subterranean places (in the dark, visual comparisons don’t get you very far), to the “earthy, almost pastoral aroma, like rain-soaked chalk” of the Paris catacombs, and the “old farm shed full of fertiliser” he smells in the New York sewer system. Below Manhattan on summer nights, he says, “you can almost smell the city’s granite bedrock”.
Meet the author, 7pm, Thursday, February 21, Books on the Square, 471 Angell Street, (directions)
***Below is the western end, a little up the hill from North Main Street — Mills Tavern is on the left, the back of the Providence Art Club is on the right, and Benefit Street passes overhead. This place is just screaming for a rehab. I’m seeing a bohemian boîte stuck into the mouth of the tunnel — covered with artwork and adorned with catacomb-y fixtures. Plenty of room for outdoor seating. We can sit around being louche and arguing about Simone de Beauvoir.
Or maybe . . . a rave space with DJs and complimentary cans of spray paint; maybe we could throw axes at the stalactites. Is raving still a thing?
Governor Chafee checked out the tunnel in 2013 to see if it could be repurposed.
The century-old East Side Railroad Tunnel hadn’t been inspected since it was sealed off 20 years ago. Chafee said he wanted to get a firsthand look at the mile-long corridor to determine whether it could be reused. While no plans are pending to reopen the tunnel, Chafee said it could possibly be used one day for buses to relieve congestion on city streets.
I like my ideas better.
