2025

Warren Town Council unanimously passes resolution supporting Sowams Heritage Area

(Photo, left) Dr. Weed requests a vote on the following resolution on November 12, 2025: Whereas, The Town of Warren is one of nine Massachusetts and Rhode Island municipalities on the northeastern shore of Narragansett Bay that comprise Sowams, the ancestral homeland of the Massasoit Ousamequin who welcomed the Pilgrims in 1621 and forged a […]

Thanksgiving Retold: A Conversation with Don Strong Turtle Brown, Jr. and Richard Pickering

The Roger Williams University Co-Lab presented Don Strong Turtle Brown, Jr. (Pokanoket Tribal Historian) and Richard Pickering (Deputy Executive Director & Senior Historian, Plimoth Patuxet Museums) on November 5, 2025. The two presenters explored the historical origins of Thanksgiving, challenging colonial narratives, and reflecting on how public memory shapes our understanding of the holiday today. […]

The Epidemic of 1616–1619: How It Wiped Out Native Americans on the East Coast

In a bitter winter in the early 17th century, an invisible storm swept across the East Coast of what would become the United States — not with swords and guns, but with something far more terrifying: epidemic disease. Between 1616 and 1619, an unknown epidemic devastated countless Indigenous communities, erasing up to 90% of their […]

In May, 2025, the Pokanoket Tribe added a link on their official website to a video produced by Tribe Member Winter Hawk that describes the history of Potumtuk, or The Lookout, on their historic land in Bristol, RI, to which they recently regained access after 340 years. Click here for the five-minute video. Quoting from the video, “This 255 acre property sits […]

Rhode Island Senate honors members of Pokanoket Tribe on May 9, 2025

STATE HOUSE – The Senate honored members of the Pokanoket Tribe at the State House Wednesday, approving a resolution sponsored by Sen. Linda L. Ujifusa (Dist. 11, Portsmouth and Bristol) that honors the tribe’s ancestors and living descendants. The resolution commits to promoting and protecting their cultural heritage, sacred lands and rightful place in Rhode […]

Quakers in the History of King Philip's War with Elizabeth Cazden

Providence-based Quaker historian Elizabeth Cazden spoke about the role of Quakers in the history of King Philip’s War at the Rogers Public Library in Bristol, RI, on April 23, 2025. Cazden is a direct descendant of John Borden, one of the participants in the meeting that was held between Rhode Island Deputy Governor John Easton […]

King Philip's War with author Eric B. Schultz

King Philip’s War, one of America’s first and costliest wars, began in 1675 as a raid on several farms in Swansea, MA but quickly escalated into a full-scale war engulfing all of southern New England. In a video presentation, author Eric B. Schultz describes the major events of the War and how it was interpreted […]

35 show up for King Philip War book club meeting in Bristol

More than 30 readers showed up at a Book Club meeting on February 1, 2025 held at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, RI in cooperation with the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society. The meeting was the first of three in a monthly series covering the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War that broke out […]