For nearly four decades, gardeners in one Providence, Rhode Island, neighborhood planted vegetables, tended flowers, and built a community on land they could never be certain would remain theirs.
That gnawing uncertainty is at last a thing of the past. Peace & Plenty Community Garden now owns the land beneath its 55 plots, permanently protecting the longtime green space from future development.
The Southside Community Land Trust began leasing the roughly one-third-acre property from St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1989, according to Paolino Properties. On Aug. 31, developer and former Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino Jr. formally transferred four parcels making up the garden to the organization.
The land has a combined assessed value of $576,000. Providence Preservation Society reports that the property changed hands for a symbolic $1, while Paolino Properties describes the transaction as a donation.
The Garden Spent Decades on Borrowed Ground
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Peace & Plenty sits in Providence’s Elmwood neighborhood on land that was once part of the St. Joseph’s Hospital property. The community land trust repeatedly hoped to purchase the garden site over the years. Instead, it remained a tenant, according to Providence Preservation Society.
That changed after Paolino acquired the former hospital campus in 2017. When most of the hospital property was later sold for redevelopment, he retained the garden parcels so they could be transferred separately to Southside Community Land Trust, according to WPRI.
“When he purchased the hospital property in 2017, almost 30 years later, we suddenly saw a bright new future, one where the garden could finally be protected for generations of gardeners and community members,” said Southside Community Land Trust Executive Director Margaret DeVos, as reported by Paolino Properties.
That protection is now cemented for the property’s future. Providence Preservation Society reports that the deed designates the land for community garden and open-space use, while Paolino Properties says it will remain dedicated to gardening, food production, education and neighborhood stewardship.
There is More Growing Here Than Vegetables
Peace & Plenty has evolved well beyond a collection of individual garden beds. Southside Community Land Trust describes it as a space where family gardeners work alongside market growers, volunteers and community organizations, with projects extending into environmental education and neighborhood stewardship.
The garden has even come to function as a small outdoor laboratory. During a yearlong BioBlitz project in 2025, community scientists documented hundreds of animals, plants, and insects there while studying how small urban green spaces can contribute to biodiversity.
Its value to the neighborhood was part of Paolino’s reasoning for preserving it. “Peace & Plenty Gardens represents the very best of what community spaces can be,” he said.
Highlighting the many functions the space can serve, Paolino added, “We made a commitment that this garden would be permanently protected, and I am proud to see that promise realized.”
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