RESCUING HISTORY AT SOWAMS

“While memories of this land spark the fires of his spirit, let the smoke rise in prayerful respect to Wampanoag Massasoit”: a rare monument to Indigenous leadership and peacemaking in early New England. Image: Dave Weed/Sowams Heritage Area Project

Fifty-three historical sites, many previously unknown and some newly discovered, are now linked in a novel and ambitious new project to put 17th century early American history on the map. Sowams Heritage Area is the remarkable creation of Dave Weed, his Indigenous partners, and a large board of directors, all aimed at gaining recognition for this most historical part of New England. From Roger Williams’ first home on fleeing Massachusetts, courtesy of Pokanoket sachem Ousamequin, to the place marking the outbreak of King Philip’s War and the granite hill where Metacom, or King Philip, gathered his people, this network of historical sites weaves together the complex, often painful, elements of the New England past. A visit to the Sowams Heritage Area, led by Dave Weed, is an incomparable experience. Find out more at https://sowamsheritagearea.org/wp/

The Seat of Metacom in Bristol, RI, is where the Pokanokets have held their important ceremonies for the past 8,000 years. The quartz mountain top was visible to all who approached from Mt. Hope Bay. Image: Dave Weed

Sowams, the homeland of the Pokanoket Tribal Nation and their leader, the Massasoit Ousamequin, is the setting for one of our nation’s origin stories: the critical alliance that established 50 years of peace between the Indigenous tribes that had farmed, fished, and hunted the region for millennia and the English settlers arriving on the Mayflower.

Sowams is also ground zero for the fracturing of that alliance during King Philip’s War, a devastating conflict that ultimately encompassed Indigenous and colonial communities throughout New England.

At the heart of that conflict lay differing worldviews of law, land, and water. In Sowams, the legacy of those differences and the ways in which people have valued and used the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay has shaped the complex history of the region from prehistory to the present. The clash of Indigenous and European ideals first seen here would repeat itself across the continent and set a precedent for American relationships with Indigenous peoples that has endured up to present times.

The little known marker on the site where King Philip’s War first broke out - an effort by Tribes united by Metacom to push back against the loss of land, livelihood and lives to European settlement. It became the bloodiest war, per capita, in American history. Metacom and his fighters came close to victory, but were defeated. Metacom was decapitated, his head placed on a pike outside Plymouth. Image: Dave Weed

Over 500 pages on the Sowams Heritage Area website SowamsHeritageArea.org focus on the 17th century history of Sowams by describing over fifty locations that reveal parts of that story. From the Seat of the Massasoit at Mount Hope in Bristol, RI, to the Royal Pokanoket Burial Grounds in Warren, to the Roger Williams Memorial in Providence, one can now trace the evidence of those times when an ancient culture was replaced by European settlement through war, enslavement and attempts to erase the people who have lived here for 10,000 years.

Despite those attempts, the Pokanoket Tribe continues to live in Sowams and is gradually emerging from years of oppression to tell their story. You can join them for Pokanoket Heritage Day, at Burr’s Hill Park, Warren, RI, this August 6, 1-5pm.

A flier for Pokanoket Heritage Day, August 6, 2023, at Burr’s Hill Park, Warren, Rhode Island.

The Sowams Heritage Area website features the stories of the Pokanoket and many of the Tribes throughout the region. On the website’s Events page, you’ll connect to hundreds of presentations that tell aspects of that history.  You can also find links to:

·       Historic parks and other locations

·       Monuments and markers

·       First period houses

·       Historic churches

·       Burial grounds

·       Aboriginal sites

·       Farms and natural settings

A map of the richly historical Sowams area, with the 53 sites identified by the Sowams Heritage Area project.

You can also find maps, publications and tours.

To keep abreast of remarkable events in the Sowams area and beyond, sign up for the Sowams Heritage Area newsletter via the website.

Roger Williams National Memorial in downtown Providence, RI, interprets Roger Williams’ life story and his contribution to New England history. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday and provides free guided tours at 9:30am and 1:30pm. Image: Dave Weed