Windowless library, art gallery, and mausoleum at 21 Brown Street built 1903-1907 by General Rush Hawkins for his wife Annmary Brown; both are interred inside, and tour-guide accounts describe her presence when belongings are disturbed.
21 Brown Street, Providence, RI 02912
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission during open hours. Operated by Brown University Library.
Access
Limited Access
Historic mausoleum building with steps at the entrance. Contact Brown University Library about accommodations.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1907 · Norman Isham Design · Civil War General Rush Hawkins Memorial Project · Functional Mausoleum and Museum · Incunabula and 19th-Century Art Collection
The Annmary Brown Memorial sits between Brown's Keeney and Wriston Quadrangles at 21 Brown Street. It was commissioned by General Rush Christopher Hawkins (1831-1920), a Civil War officer and bibliophile, as a memorial to his wife Annmary Brown Hawkins (1837-1903), a granddaughter of Brown University benefactor Nicholas Brown Jr. The building was designed by Providence architect Norman M. Isham and constructed between 1903 and 1907; it is notably windowless, a deliberate choice to protect the artworks and rare-book collection housed within.
General Hawkins assembled a substantial art and book collection during his lifetime, including paintings by 19th-century American and European artists; selections from the collection are displayed on the marble walls of the memorial's interior rooms. Hawkins was also a noted collector of incunabula (books printed before 1501), a portion of which is also preserved in the building.
Both Annmary Brown and General Hawkins are interred inside the building, making it a functional mausoleum as well as a museum. After General Hawkins's death in 1920 and a period of separate operation, the building was transferred to the Brown University Library system, which currently operates it on a limited public schedule.
Sources
According to the Brown Daily Herald's 2023 'Campus haunts' piece, the Boston Globe's 2023 Providence haunts feature, and Providence Ghost Tour, the Annmary Brown Memorial is the second Brown stop on the city's flagship ghost tour. The principal legend is that Annmary Brown's spirit 'paces and frets' inside the mausoleum when her belongings are disturbed or when scheduled events run past their closing time.
Tour-guide accounts root the haunting in two threads: (1) General Hawkins is said to have warned, before his own death, that anyone disturbing his wife's resting place would regret it; and (2) a period in the 1960s-70s during which several items were stolen from the collection, after which staff reportedly noticed an uptick in unexplained sensations and apparition reports.
The paranormal lore is principally tour-narrative; there are no published independent paranormal investigations of the memorial. The atmosphere is described in all sources as quiet and contemplative — what Brown calls a 'sentimental' rather than 'frightening' haunting.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the Annmary Brown Memorial during open hours. The four interior rooms display works from General Hawkins's collection; Annmary Brown and General Hawkins are interred in the building. Quiet, contemplative space.
Second Brown University stop on the Providence Ghost Tour. Guides discuss the Hawkins-Brown story and the tradition of Annmary Brown's specter manifesting when her belongings are disturbed.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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