The Legendary Clock of Providence
New England Legends Podcast
Jeff Belanger
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 435, Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger visit the legendary Ladd Observatory in Providence, Rhode Island, to explore its connection with a literary icon, possibly his ghost, and the method Providence used to keep time for 80 years.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey Ray, what time you got? |
| 0:05.0 | Let me check my phone. It's 220 in the afternoon. |
| 0:09.0 | Okay, got it. And do you know where your phone gets its time from? |
| 0:13.0 | Actually, Jeff, I do. |
| 0:15.0 | Okay. |
| 0:16.0 | So the U.S. Naval Observatory maintains about 100 atomic clocks. |
| 0:20.0 | The United States and 90 other countries send their atomic clock data to the Bureau of Wights and Measures in France. |
| 0:26.2 | The Bureau produces a weighted average of all the data to create a timescale called Coordinated Universal Time or UTC. |
| 0:34.9 | Huh. I've heard of that. |
| 0:35.8 | Yes. |
| 0:36.2 | The U.S. Naval Observatory then adjust their time scale for their master clock in Washington, |
| 0:41.3 | D.C. |
| 0:41.8 | The Naval Observatory then beams the time to GPS satellites to correct their onboard clocks |
| 0:47.8 | and cell towers take their time from the GPS satellites. |
| 0:52.3 | It's almost like you had that prepared. Almost, almost. So when I tell you that it's now 221 in the afternoon, you can be sure that's as accurate a time as you're going to get. And you know what? I believe you. Thank you. So what brings us to Providence, Rhode Island, today? I assume if we wanted to know the time, we could have figured that out from home. No, that's true. We've come to explore this iconic building perched on the highest point of the city. |
| 1:15.6 | Oh, I know this building. Oh, that's very cool. For decades, this was the building that Providence said its watch too. |
| 1:21.2 | But that's not the only notable thing associated with this place. There's a connection to Brown University, who owns the facility, a connection |
| 1:28.1 | to a literary icon, possibly this author's ghost, and over 130 years of local history. We're |
| 1:35.1 | in Providence to explore the legends of the Ladd Observatory. |
| 1:43.2 | Hey, I'm Jeff Belanger. |
| 1:44.7 | And I'm Ray Osier. |
| 1:45.5 | Welcome to episode 435 of the New England Legends podcast. |
... |
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