Trail Blazers Elli Panichas of Silver Lake and Lisa Aurecchia of West Broadway Set Their Sights High on Neutaconkanut Hill

Elli Panichas was born and raised in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Providence.  She owns the house that is seated on the apex of the City, nestled on the summit of Neutaconkanut Hill where Native Americans and Kings used to roam.  From where she lives, views of Providence are spectacular and her backyard is still a watering hole for some of nature’s greatest and historic dwellers. 

On the other side of the hill, Lisa Aurecchia was born in the City of Johnston but she shared the same hilltop views and fond memories that Elli had.  With a firm commitment to reviving Providence’s natural resources through her work with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and Citywide Green, she’s since relocated to the West Broadway neighborhood.

Together with other passionate neighbors, like committed landscape architect, Mike Lusi, and Providence police officer, Robert Fitzpatrick, they set out on a unified mission:  to rehabilitate what will soon be again a magnificent gift from Mother Nature to the City of Providence in the Neutaconkanut Hill Park.

How has each of your organizations played a role in the rehabilitation of the land on the summit of Neutaconkanut Hill?

E: The Neutaconkanut Hill Association (NHA) started in the 1970s.  We started just a small group of us.  Back in the 70s, there was a proposal from a private company to build condos in the neighborhood.  The group of us fought that and eventually the land was sold and individual homes were built instead.  It’s a strong association.

Citywide Green identified this area as a pilot project.  Its membership is comprised of neighborhood organizations. With their help, we have brought back trails and waterways in Neutaconkanut Hill, which has been sadly neglected for years.

How long have you lived in the house on the tallest point of Providence?

E: We’ve lived here for 36 years, but I was born and brought up on Daniel Avenue, just a couple of blocks away.  We built this house from the ground up.  There were no other houses nearby but the closest one was about four blocks down.  I was thrilled to come back and live where I grew up.

How did this new collaboration/community effort come about?

L:  We got word that the city was going to sell the land for development and we said, ‘wait a minute.’ For me, this has been a childhood dream to bring Neutocankanut Hill back to life.  I grew up on the other side in Johnston.  I met Elli years ago when I was working with the Silver Lake Community Center, which has been working with the NHA.

In meeting with Elli and other neighbors about the potential of this park, and through the organizations I work with, the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council (WRWC), as well as Citywide Green, everyone was like, ‘oh my god, we gotta make this happen!’

E: The NHA and the WRWC worked together to write a DEM grant for this project.  There was a crew of four of us – myself, Lisa, Robert Fitzpatrick – who’s a police officer that lives in this neighborhood, and Mike Lusi, our landscape architect.  We are so fortunate to have Mike manage the crew of volunteers for just $50,000. 

But the four of us are born and bred in the area, so we’re really passionate about this project.  There’s a lot of love and passion for it.

L: Kudos to the Mayor and officials at the Parks Department like Bob McMahon for recognizing this land as an asset to the City and the residents.  I do see the city thinking outside the box. 

E: What this project does is create a synergy that wasn’t there. A lot of credit also goes to Councilman John Igliozzi, who lives in this neighborhood.

Talk to me about Neutaconkanut Hill, the improvements that you’re making, and how you believe this will impact the surrounding neighborhood.


(L to R: Lisa Aurecchia, Elli Panichas stand on the highest peak in Providence inside Neutaconkanut Hill overlooking spectacular cityscapes.)

L: There’s about 88 acres of land owned by the City that we’re looking at here.  It’s been an archaeological dig.  There was a huge tower in the park where Elli would talk about watching concerts and movies when she was young. 

E:  Yeah, I remember down by where the recreation center is now, we used to have concerts and movies.  And where the softball field is, were wonderful manicured gardens.  Families would stroll there on a Sunday afternoon. 

L: One of the things we’re trying to do also is revisit some of the amazing vistas of the city -- so that the public can see what Elli and her neighbors see everyday.

E: There’s a spot in the park where you can see the Mount Hope Bridge.

L: We’re also opening and marking all the trails. General users can take day trips now and feel comfortable walking through the park.  It’s really a process to make it accessible to the general public.

So how does one enter into the park?

E: There are two entrances – the WPA developed the first one in the 1930s, and the second is right around the ball field.   There’s a cement path that curves into a gentle slope at the top of the hill.  You end up standing at the top of a very old but well-used ski slope. 

L:  Right now, we are hydro-seeding the ski slope.  When it snows, Neutaconkanut becomes a very busy place.  But the slope was really rugged and not the safest place to go ski jumping.  So, one of the things we did is clear up that hill a little bit, for safety and also to create a vista.

Are you excited about that, Elli?

E:  I’m very excited – a little apprehensive at first.  It’s a winter treasure.  I can see it as a great place for winter sports. 

L: This is a phenomenal city asset.  You can see deer, fox, raccoons, red-tailed hawks – and you’re in the city! For years, only the brave and the residents would come here.  Now there are markings on the various trails in the park.

What do you hope will come out of this effort? Where do you see it going in the future?

E:  This is a long-term project.  We saw great potential in the 70s for an archaeological dig to unveil the history of Narragansett tribe that worked and lived in this land, but, unfortunately, that project was stopped short on its tracks. We can envision years from now wonderful historic stories being told and shared. 

It’s ongoing in many ways.  Behind the recreation center, there’s a pond that also needs to be rehabilitated.

L:  We’d also like to get more signage around the park.  I think without signage, it’s harder for the police to enforce rules.  We have more users now.  People are hiking the trails.  To have more signage like No Trespassing, or No Alcohol, and police doing enforcement, could help set the tone for the park. 

E:  Yeah and someday maybe we can have signs also that describe the history of the Narragansett Indians that lived here.  What I would like to see in the future is the education of people – education in taking pride in the land where they live.  Whenever we see people throwing garbage near the bottom of the hill, we try to talk to them about their environment.  But there seems to be a lack of pride nowadays in the land. 

Do you think that education will boost your efforts to maintain this park for years to come?

E: We hope – Education is a part of it.  Right now, we’re hoping to prepare the land first and we’d like to partner with the recreation center someday and talk to them about preserving the land.

L: I’m blown away by how many kids don’t go into the woods.  I feel like a place like this – in making it more accessible, by having maps around the park – can get inner city kids, for example, to see a deer in the city of Providence! 

E: We have had two volunteer days with pretty good results.  Also helpful this summer was volunteer help from the colleges.  Providence College sent a group of 60 freshmen for two days.  They cleared trails, hauled cut tree branches and generally cleaned the trails.  The PC students also created an oasis around the King monument.  We’ve also received help from 40 students from Roger Williams University and dozens of students from the MET school. 

L: It’s important to get kids to be more connected to nature and not to be so distant from the natural environment. 

E: Last year, we had assistance for an entire summer and fall season from the American Cadet Alliance, Inc. Military Cadets of New England.  The cadets cleared the cement path that leads from the softball field to the summit of the hill, and unearthed a magnificent stone staircase, originally built by the WPA in the 1930s, that begins just behind the rec center and climbs the hill to the summit.

This is a very inspiring project that will truly benefit generations of Providence residents.  How would you encourage others to do the same for their own neighborhood parks?

L: I think that Neutocankanut Hill spans beyond the Silver Lake neighborhood.  I see this as a citywide resource where, even myself as a resident of West Broadway, can partake in this natural asset. 

And, if other people are interested in restoring their neighborhood parks, I encourage them to work with Citywide Green.  Part of what that organization does is to work with the city and with neighborhood groups in finding resources to revitalize their neighborhood parks.

We have these amazing resources and it’s wonderful that now it can be shared with and enjoyed by others.

Soon, Elli, who is the President and Historian of the Neutaconkanut Hill Association, will be sharing more about the history of Neutaconkanut Hill with others as she embarks on an extensive written project about her neighborhood.  She has many, many stories to share and we could only hope that she will continue in her journey to rediscover our City’s rich history. 

For Lisa, realizing her childhood dream of revitalizing Neutoconkanut Hill through her work with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council and Citywide Green, signals greater, brighter, and greener things to come.  She is hopeful that more of this type of rehabilitation spreads across neighborhoods in Providence so that future generations would not only dream about a great city but can actually live it in reality. 

Elli, Lisa, and all their partners, including the Providence Parks Department, are inviting the public to join them on what will surely be a historic day for the City.  Tomorrow, on Friday October 28, at 12:00 p.m., there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the first phase of the Neutaconkanut Hill’s newly marked trail system.  Guests will be meeting at 675 Plainfield Street.  On Saturday, October 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., there will be guided tours through the Hill’s 88 acres of woodlands.  Tours will also begin at 675 Plainfield Street.  They have scheduled a rain date for the tours the next day, October 29 (same times).

 
Download Park Map courtesy of landscape architect, Mike Lusi. Download Ribbon Cutting Invitation courtesy of Elli Panichas.