The picturesque sign located at the foot of the bridge on the Cranston side, serves as a historic marker. It states "Pawtuxet River — One of the Bounds of Providence Mentioned in the Indian Deed” and depicts a rather pleasant scene of Roger Williams, Rhode Island’s founder, being greeted by the Narragansett Indians after Williams, on foot, crossed the border from Boston to Providence to escape religious persecution.

I am often struck by the ease with which I can cross this border on a daily basis — in my car on my way to work, or on foot at the end of day, as I head out for a stroll with my husband before the sun goes down.

Outside of two gray-feathered geese who frequent the bridge and honk at passersby, there are no border patrol agents asking for your passport to prove that you are a resident of Pawtuxet Village.

This spot is where Post Road (U.S. Route 1) winds through the City of Warwick and becomes Broad Street, as you cross the bridge into the Edgewood neighborhood of Cranston. It is where the road begins to weave past the idyllic white-steeple Pawtuxet Baptist Church, the famous Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet events hall, the William Hall Library and St. Paul’s Catholic Church. All this can take between 3-5 minutes by car, or 20 minutes one-way by foot.

Invisible borders with visible landmarks.

Within minutes, the landscape changes as you enter the City of Providence’s Washington Park neighborhood, where it becomes La Broa’ and the location of Fefa’s Market, the first Latino bodega in the history of Rhode Island.