We know that the Pilgrims encountered a brutal winter, and half of them died during that first winter. But, was that weather typical of the time? Was it what they expected to find? in this 22-minute video Sowams Heritage Area Coordinator describes the effect that changes in climate had on both English colonists and members […]
Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is a historical fiction account of the very real men, women, children, crew, and two dogs that sailed from Plymouth, England to what became Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. It is also the story of the Natives who watched them build Plimoth Plantation and then came calling on the new […]
The Seekonk Land Conservation Trust has created a fabulous walking trail that begins behind the Newman YMCA and Seekonk Town Hall, goes through deep woods, and crosses the Runnins River before opening out onto Arcade Avenue. The trail comes close to what the woods must have been like in the 17th century in this region before Europeans began to clear […]
Myles Standish was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military adviser for Plymouth Colony. He accompanied them on the Mayflower journey and played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception. On February 17, 1621, the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him […]
In the 15 years after the Massasoit Ousamequin’s death, his son, Metacomet (later called King Philip), grew more distrustful of the English and eventually led an alliance of tribes into one of the deadliest wars between the native people and the English settlers. The war, known as King Philip’s War, spread well beyond the Pokanoket […]
Mashapaug Pond is one the last surviving kettle ponds that once dotted the Providence area after the glaciers retreated. As a source of fresh water, the Pond was used by generations of Indigenous people for the past 10,000 years. There were nine principal villages throughout the Nanhigganeuck (Narragansett) Chiefdom, and Mashapaug was one of those villages. […]
On August 28, 2020, a 71-year-old Warren man completed a 25-mile row from Providence to Newport yesterday in training for the 350th anniversary of the August 8, 1672 trip that Roger Williams completed when he was 70. “I didn’t know for sure that I could make it,” remarked avid rower Rock Singewald, “but I’m glad […]
In October, 1924, the Rhode Island Historical Society published an article entitled “The Implements Found in Rhode Island.”. It described a number of stone implements and tools that had been discovered across Rhode Island in the previous 200 years. Included were a soapstone “mask” carved into the bottom of a soapstone bowl found at Field’s Point in Providence […]
Hugh Cole was baptized on June 29th,1628 in Barnstaple, Devonshire, England and traveled with his family at age five or six from England to the Pilgrim settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1631. As a six-year-old boy, he was paid 50 bushels of corn by the town of Plymouth for tending the cows of the townspeople. […]
The Sowams Heritage Area Project has recently been incorporated with the State of Rhode Island as a non-profit corporation. Project Coordinator David Weed applied for the status in preparation for filing as a 501c3 tax exempt organization with the IRS. “This is an important step toward our goal of creating a National Heritage Area designation […]