(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 50-year alliance that changed the course of history,

Whereas,

This landscape is also the setting for other pivotal events in our nation’s history. Here, King Philip’s War began and ended; Roger Williams founded Rhode Island and the seeds of religious freedom took root; the business of slave trading ignited a trans-Atlantic economy, and moral outcry; and the dynamic interplay of land and water defined the history and culture of the region for millennia.

Whereas,

National Heritage Areas are grassroots, community-driven programs that celebrate a region’s contribution to America’s heritage; are designated by U.S. Congress, but are not owned, controlled, or managed by the federal government; and are intended to encourage heritage conservation, community development, and regional collaboration,

Therefore,

We are proud to join the communities of Sowams in endorsing the designation of Sowams as a National Heritage Area.