Going for brunch this weekend? After searching for the perfect place for eats and drinkies, you might want to take an excursion to one or all of these spots in the OS. We asked a local author (Scroll ahead for more about her.) who kind of specializes in under the radar spots around RI to name three places that most people (whether they ae natives or transplants) are probably unaware of, and she did not disappoint. 

1. A beautiful spot not often talked about is Rhode Island’s own Sistine Chapel of sorts. Right in Woonsocket, St. Anne’s Cultural Center houses North America’s largest collection of fresco paintings, a mural technique that creates the illusion the painting is part of its surface, that were created using former parish members as models.

Tours run most Sundays from 1 to 4pm.

2. If you’re looking to get in a little exercise, enjoy one of Providence’s best views, and knock an item off your Rhody experience bucket list, Neutaconkanut Hill is a largely hidden oasis. Hiking up to its highest point (an achievement for fans of highpointing who seek to reach the highest point in any geographic area), you’ll feel far removed from city life except that you’ll get an absolutely stunning look at the skyline.

3. We’re all familiar with the historic village of Chepatchet and most likely with Brown & Hopkins Country Store, but did you know you were shopping in the country’s oldest continually operating country store? Or that a few blocks away, hidden behind town hall, is a (now very weathered looking) giant Mr. Potato Head fashioned after Little Bet, a traveling circus elephant killed in Chepatchet in 1826? 

The store's open most Saturday's 10am to 5pm, and Sunday's 11am to 5pm.

About Rebecca

Rebecca Keister is the author of “Secret Providence”, available at Books on The Square, Barrington Books, Symposium Books and local Barnes & Nobles stores, as well as “100 Things to Do in Providence Before You Die”. For more from her, check out www.100ThingsPVD.com and follow along on Instagram @100ThingsPVD.

Photo Credits: Top photo by joebrandt/iStock/Getty Images (used with permission)