Rhode Island is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the home state of H. P. Lovecraft and the setting of several Cthulhu Mythos tales. Its capital and largest city is Providence.
Known as the Ocean State, it is the smallest state in the union. Despite its name, it is mostly on the US mainland. It was founded by Roger Williams, who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over his advocacy of religious tolerance.[1]
In Lovecraft's Fiction[]
Providence appears as a setting in such Lovecraft stories as "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Shunned House", and "The Haunter of the Dark".
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward takes place in both Providence and in Rhode Island's Pawtuxet Village, where Joseph Curwen has his laboratory. The climax takes place at a private hospital on Conanicut Island.
The town of Pascoag, Rhode Island, appears in the prologue to "The Horror at Red Hook" as the place where Thomas Malone goes to recouperate.
Bristol Highlands, a neighborhood in Bristol, Rhode Island, is mentioned in "The Strange High House in the Mist" as Thomas Olney's vacation home goes after his time in Kingsport--a place "where no tall crags tower, and the neighbours are urban and modern."
In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, the litany of beloved scenes from Randolph Carter's youth includes the "hushed stony slopes and low ivied cottages in the lee of huge boulders in Rhode-Island’s back country".
References[]
- ↑ History.com: "Rhode Island"